Titus Andronicus [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0140297545 | ISBN-13: 978-0140297546

The noble Titus returns victorious to Rome bringing Tamora, Queen of the Goths, as his captive. When one of Tamora's sons is condemned to die, she vows revenge and, aided by the villainous Aaron, she exacts a terrible retribution, inaugurating a grim cycle of rape, murder and cannibalism.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The three individual plays launch the third edition of the venerable "Arden Shakespeare" series, which will see the entire canon reproduced in superior scholarly editions by the year 2000. The First Folio is a facsimile edition of the original 1623 publication of the bard's works.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Non Basic Stock Line (August 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140297545
• ISBN-13: 978-0140297546
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,403,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars !!! LOVE IT !!!, June 6, 2004

By 

Morgan, The Queen of the World (The Mad Cow State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Titus Andronicus (The Arden Shakespeare, 3rd Series) (Paperback)

OH MY GOSH!!! "Titus Andronicus" is one of the best plays ever written, especially when played for the comedy. DEFFINATELY READ THIS BOOK!!!

The whole play basically revolves around the action of the evil Tamora marrying another evil guy. Tamora gets really angry, and lets her two sons, Chiron and Demitrius, rape Titus's daughter, Lavinia. Ever hear that old Greek legend about how two guys raped a girl, and cut off her tounge so she could never tell the tale? In that version, the girl is, fortunately, able to miraculously weave her story into a coat and send it off for help. But Lavinia in "Titus Andronicus" is not quite so lucky. Chiron and Demitrius cut off her tounge AND her hands (I can tell THEY read there nighttime fairytales).

After this everyone runs around like madmen and there are a few casualties. Finally Lavinia is able to communicate to her father and remaining brothers using a book, etc. Eventually Tamora pretends to be a spirt-type-thing called 'Revenge' and her sons pretend to be 'Murder' and 'Rape'. But Titus Andronicus is even smarter. He pretends that he beleives there stupid bluff, and eventually captures Chrion and Demitrius after their mother leaves. Then, to make a long story short, Titus 'plays the cook' and cuts off the guys' heads and has his daughter use her stubs to gather their blood. Then he goes and cooks their guts into a pie.

That night at dinner, he serves the pastry to Tamora, who thinks she has won. After the people have eaten about half of the meal, Titus gets up and basically says, 'Look, Lady, you just ate your own sons, you idiot.' Then there is a huge blood bath and few are spared. The guy who IS spared becomes king, etc. Hehehe. Great, huh?

Seriously, though, I would deffinately recommend this edition of the book because it has REALLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY good footnotes. No joke. Hope you will take some time to read this cool book!!! :-D