Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare at the Shakespeare Theater

It is hard to imagine Shakespeare as a young man. We think of the great Shakespeare plays, and we do not think of him as a young man just getting started in the theater, just learning his craft, just beginning to write plays. This play, Titus Andronicus, was one of Shakespeare's first plays, written sometime between 1587 and 1592. He was only in his mid-twenties. Plays that were popular in London at that time were horror plays, much like horror movies of today. It is easy to imagine the young Shakespeare, in his mid-twenties, deciding to write a horror play, filled with lurid violence and gore and much like two plays that were very popular at that time, Marlowe's Tamburlaine and Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. Undoubtedly, the young Shakespeare desired to become successful and decided to write a play like other successful plays. In Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare one-upped other playwrights. His play was even bloodier than theirs. And it was very successful.

Although Shakespeare's later plays were based on historical events or historical figures, this play was purely fictional. The play refers to historical Rome, but the figures in the play and the events in the play were fictional. However, it is interesting that Shakespeare had great knowledge of ancient Rome and was able to base this play and later plays on that period. It is also interesting to me that the London audiences -- mostly men -- related to those historical references.

I was expecting to be revolted by the blood and gore of the play, but I found that I was not. I was fascinated by the play itself. I was fascinated by a young man writing this play, both to entertain and to be a successful business venture. I found it not sad or depressing, but comical, much like one feels at a horror movie. The purpose was to entertain, and this play was entertaining. It turned out to be one of Shakespeare's most successful plays.