Shakespeare S Tragedy Of Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the sixteenth century. The play is set during the latter days of the Roman Empire and tells the fictional story of Titus, a general in the Roman army, who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with Tamora, Queen of the Goths. It is Shakespeare's bloodiest and most violent work and traditionally was one of his least respected plays. Although it was extremely popular in its day, by the later seventeenth century it had fallen out of favour. In the Victorian era, it was disapproved of primarily because of what was considered to be a distasteful use of graphic violence, but from around the middle of the twentieth century its reputation began to improve.

Turmoil hits the Roman Empire when its current emperor dies and his two sons Saturninus and Bassianus start to fight over the throne. As a matter of the dead emperor's apparent wishes, his brother Titus is offered the throne but he refuses and lets Saturninus take the coveted seat. After coming to power, the new emperor desires his brothers betrothed as his wife and Titus agrees but ends up killing one of his own children when disagreements occur as to who is in the right. The sons of Titus then plot to rape their own sister so that such a thing will not happen and Titus, her father, will be forced to take the situation into his own hands but ends up going to further extremes.

This is an annotated edition of William Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus. The editor, W.J. Rolfe, provides explanatory notes, historical background, and critical analysis of the text. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Shakespeare's Tragedy of Titus Andronicus It was my purpose to omit Titus Andronicus from this edition of Shakespeare, and I include it now only in deference to the advice of many friends on both sides of the Atlantic. Most of them agree with me that Shakespeare probably had little to do with writing the play; and one eminent critic - an Englishman, not an Irishman - has suggested that I print the entire text in small type, like the non-Shakespearian portions of Timon and Pericles. It seems to me, however, very like a "bull" to print a play as nominally Shakespeare's while allowing him no possible share in its authorship. I prefer to put it all in the ordinary type, to allow the advocates of its authenticity their full say in its behalf (as I have done in the Introduction), and to leave the student or reader to decide for himself, if he can, how much of it is Shakespeare's. The text is given without expurgation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.