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I’ll find a day to massacre them all
And raze their faction and their family,
The cruel father and his traitorous sons,
To whom I sued for my dear son’s life,
And make them know what ’tis to let a queen
Kneel in the streets and beg for grace in vain. (1.1.459–64)
These lines conclude an aside that Tamora addresses to Saturninus at the end of act 1. Despite pretending to have established peaceful relations with Titus and his family, Tamora secretly rages. As she expresses in this quote, she has not recovered from the pain and humiliation she experienced when Titus mercilessly ordered the ritual execution of her eldest son. Now that she’s risen to the position of empress, however, she is confident in her ability to get her revenge—and not just against Titus, but against the entire Andronicus family. It’s also worth noting that Tamora’s words here introduce the importance of asides as a technique in Shakespeare’s development of the revenge theme. Characters frequently express their ulterior motives as asides, indicating that they are plotting revenge but not divulging the details.
And swear with me—as, with the woeful fere
And father of that chaste dishonored dame,
Lord Junius Brutus swore for Lucrece’ rape—
That we will prosecute by good advice
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood or die with this reproach. (4.1.90–95)
Marcus addresses these lines to Titus, actively stoking his desire for revenge. Significantly, Marcus already played this role in act 3, where he sought to draw Titus out of his grief and convince him that “now is a time to storm” (3.1.278). Here again, in concentrated form, Marcus steers Titus away from woe and toward vengeance. He does so by calling on figures from Roman history whose tragic plight resembles the one Titus now faces. He refers specifically to a Roman noblewoman Lucretia (anglicized as “Lucrece”), who was raped by King Tarquin. Lucretia’s father and brother were joined by Junius Brutus in avenging the crime, and their rebellion led to the founding of the Roman Republic. In this way, Marcus’s call for revenge involves an implicit political horizon: he wants an Andronicus in power.
Brave slip sprung from the great Andronicus,
Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort,
Whose high exploits and honorable deeds
Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,
Be bold in us. We’ll follow where thou lead’st,
Like stinging bees in hottest summer’s day
Led by their master to the flowered fields,
And be avenged on cursèd Tamora. (5.1.9–16)
When Saturninus exiled him in the third act, Lucius left and took refuge among Rome’s traditional enemies: the Goths. After explaining the villainy orchestrated by Tamora, the Goths turned against their former queen and agreed to follow Lucius into battle against the current emperor. Now, at the top of the fifth act, a Goth soldier addresses these words to Lucius, explaining how the traditional hatred of “ingrateful Rome” is now directed specifically against “cursèd Tamora.” Echoing the common motif involving the deployment of animal metaphors, the soldier depicts the Goth army as a swarm of “stinging bees” who will take vengeance on their queen. In the process, they will pollinate “the flowered fields” and thereby prepare the way for Rome to flourish anew.
