Sympathies

While reading Shakespeare's tragedy Titus Andronicus, we were asked to keep track of which characters aroused our sympathies, and if our sympathies changed at all while reading.

At the beginning of Titus Andronicus, I felt bad for Tamora. She and her sons were held as captives by Titus Andronicus. If that weren't bad enough, her eldest son is sacrificed despite her pleas. Tamora begins her pleas, crying:

Stay, Roman brethren! Gracious conqueror,
Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed--
A mother's tears in passion for her son--
And if thy sons were ever dear to thee,
O, think my son to be as dear to me! (1.1, 104-108)

Titus Andronicus in this scene appears as an evil and insensitive man. He doesn't seem to be phased by Tamora's begging. He responds to her request:

Patient yourself, madam, and pardon me.
These are their brethren whom your Goths beheld
Alive and dead, and for their brethren slain
Religiously they ask a sacrifice.
To this your son is marked, and die he must
T' appease their groaning shadows that are gone. (1.1, 212-126)

Tamora's son must die in order to please the citizens of Rome, who are mourning for those who died in battle. Due to their religion, which is not specified, there must be a sacrifice. The eldest son is chosen to fulfill this need.

Contrary to my sympathy for Tamora's situation in the beginning of the tragedy, I soon began to see her as a villian instead of a victim. In Act 2, Tamora's sons Chrion and Demetrius express their lust for Lavinia. Aaron catches them fighting, and comes up with a solution: rape her in the woods (2.1, 115-119). Aaron takes this plan to Tamora, who agrees and voices her opinion:

And had you not by wondrous fortune come,
This vengeance on me had they executed.
Revenge it as you love your mother's life,
Or be ye not henceforward called my children. (2.3, 112-115)

Instead of trying to stop her sons, Tamora encourages them, saying that if they do not seek revenge she will disown them. Chrion and Demetrius take her words to heart, stabbing Bassianus (Lavinia's husband). Lavinia responds to the actions, stating "Ay, come, Semiramis--nay barbarous Tamora, / For no name fits thy nature but thy own." (2.3, 118-120) Lavinia then begins to plead, trying to appeal to Tamora as a fellow woman. Tamora refuses to listen, "I will not hear her speak. Away with her!" (2.3, 137)

Once Tamor refused to help Lavinia, and instead condems her to be raped and mutilated by her sons, I quickly lost any sympathy for her. Instead, my sympathy fell on Lavinia, who is most certainly the victim of that situation. However, I can't help wondering if, and this is merely speculation, if Titus Andronicus had spared Tamora's son, would Tamora still allow her sons to sexually assault Lavinia? Is Titus Andronicus' behavior in the beginning of the tragedy part of the reason Lavinia is hurt?

I don't know what would have happened, but I do know that I no longer am sympathetic for Tamora. Will my sympathies change again as I continue to read? Time will tell, and I will keep you posted.