Titus Act 2
Close Reading
Demetrius
Chiron, thy years want wit, thy wit wants edge,
And manners, to intrude where I am graced;…
Why, boy, although our mother, unadvised,�Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side,
Are you so desperate grown, to threat your friends?�Go to; have your lath glued within your sheath�Till you know better how to handle it.�
Aaron
The forest walks are wide and spacious;�And many unfrequented plots there are�Fitted by kind for rape and villany:�Single you thither then this dainty doe,�And strike her home by force, if not by words:�This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.�
Identify alliteration in this text.
Aaron
He that had wit would think that I had none,�To bury so much gold under a tree,�And never after to inherit it.�Let him that thinks of me so abjectly�Know that this gold must coin a stratagem,�Which, cunningly effected, will beget�A very excellent piece of villany:
Is this a soliloquy, monologue, or an aside?
Is Aaron’s motive for vengeance revealed in this passage?
�
Tamora
My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'st thou sad,�When every thing doth make a gleeful boast?�The birds chant melody on every bush,�The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun,�The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind�And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground:�Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit,…
We may, each wreathed in the other’s arms,
Our pastimes done, posssess a golden slumber,
While hounds and horns and sweet melodious birds
Be unto us as is a nurse’s song
Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep.�
How would you describe Tamora’s
tone in this passage?
What’s the significance of the underlined
Imagery?
Aaron
Madam, though Venus govern your desires,
Saturn is dominator over mine:
What signifies my deadly-standing eye,
My silence and my cloudy melancholy,…
No, madam, these are no venereal signs:
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head…
This is the day of doom for Bassianus:
His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day,
Thy sons make pillage of her chastity
And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.
Seest thou this letter? take it up, I pray thee,
And give the king this fatal plotted scroll.
Now question me no more; we are espied;
What’s the significance of the allusions to
Venus, Saturn, and Philomel?
Focus on the underlined portions—is there
Any significance to these images—what does
It say about Aaron?
Demetrius & Chiron
Stay, madam; here is more belongs to her;�First thrash the corn, then after burn the straw:�This minion stood upon her chastity,�Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty,….
And shall she carry this unto her grave?
An if she do, I would I were an eunuch.
Drag hence her husband to some secret hole,
And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust.
What’s the significance of
the first two lines? What’s
the metaphor?
Chiron makes an allusion to
a eunuch—what does he
mean with this reference?
How are these two
characterized?