Poor I was slain when Bassianus died. Tam. What begg'st thou then? fond woman, let me go, Lav. 'Tis present death I beg; and one thing more That womanhood denies my tongue to tell. O! keep me from their worse than killing lust, 175 Tam. So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee: 180 Dem. Away! for thou hast stay'd us here too long. Chi. Nay, then I'll stop your mouth. Bring thou her husband: 185 This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him. Tam. Farewell, my sons: see that you make her sure. although life is no longer life for her since Bassianus is dead. Now she asks only for death, or even to be cast into the horrible pit, so long as she is spared outrage. But the unfortunate allusion to Titus has steeled Tamora's heart afresh, and she ruthlessly hands over Lavinia to the two Bashibazouks. 182. beastly creature] like a beast, coarse, bestial. Addressed to Tamora. 183. The blot and enemy, etc.] the blot on, and enemy to the good fame of women in general. 185. Nay, then, etc.] Chiron, who was the more sentimental in his speeches, is the worse ruffian of the two. 186. Demetrius throws, etc.] As pointed out above, they do not use Bassianus's body as proposed. Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor, Re-enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARTIUS. Aar. Come on, my lords, the better foot before: 190 [Exit. Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit 195 [Falls into the pit. Quint. What! art thou fall'n? What subtle hole is this, Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briers, A very fatal place it seems to me. Speak, brother, hast thou hurt thee with the fall? 190. Now will I hence] Tamora is swayed by the two strong passions of revenge and desire, and the latter, if possible, gains the ascendant. Our ower " 190, 191. Moor... deflower] These are good rhymes, as in Shakespeare's " and 66 time words in " rhymed with "moor,' poor," etc. 191. spleenful] here in the sense of hot, eager, hasty, 2 Henry VI. III. ii. 128. The spleen was regarded as the seat of the emotions, and was used in Middle English where we would use heart. Dunbar has "fro the spleen"= from the heart, The Thistle and the Rose, 12. 191. trull] a drab, a loose woman. Of course a gross libel on Lavinia, 205 but Tamora is thinking that Lavinia, having been so dreadfully outraged, will be reduced to the condition of one of these unfortunates. 192. the better foot before] best foot foremost. The better foot is the more correct, as we have only two -but modern usage is lax in this respect. 195. My sight is very dull, etc.] I confess this speech and all that follows to the end of the scene seems very poor stuff in every way. The two valiant sons of Titus behave quite out of character, unless they are to be sup posed under the influence of some spell or drug, which, if the case, should be more clearly indicated. Aar. [Aside.] Now will I fetch the king to find them here, That he thereby may give a likely guess How these were they that made away his brother. Mart. Why dost not comfort me, and help me out A chilling sweat o'er-runs my trembling joints: Aaron and thou look down into this den, [Exit. 210 215 And see a fearful sight of blood and death. Quint. Aaron is gone; and my compassionate heart 206. Now will I, etc.] This and the whole contrivance of the scene appears to me very loose and clumsy, and could have deceived no one who did not want to be deceived. All indeed that can be said in defence of it is that Saturninus was probably glad of his brother's death, and only too glad of a pretext for attacking the Andronici, to which he was of course secretly instigated by Tamora. 211. uncouth] literally, unknown, strange, unfamiliar, and here probably like the Scotch " uncanny," which is practically the same word, implying something supernatural. 219. by surmise] even in surmising, without sight or actual knowledge. What this unmeaning influence is supposed to be is not made clear. Was it the presence of the ghost of the murdered Bassianus? or some general 220 supernatural horrors spread about the place by the execrable crimes just committed there, like the portents on the night of Duncan's murder? Shall 222. embrewed] imbrued with blood, or slain. "Embrew" or "imbrue has two meanings in Shakespeare, different from the modern sense-(1) intransitive, to stab, attack, or kill, with no subject expressed, as in 2 Henry IV. II. iv. 210, where Pistol says, we have incision, shall we imbrue?" and (2) transitive, as here=stabbed, slain, or murdered, and also in Midsummer- - Night's Dream, v. 351, in Thisbe's song, "Come, blade, my breast imbrue." It is extremely curious that this word, which only occurs in these three instances in Shakespeare, should in two of them be associated with the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. All on a heap, like to a slaughter'd lamb, Quint. If it be dark, how dost thou know 'tis he? 225 A precious ring, that lightens all the hole, Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks, 230 So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus As hateful as Cocytus' misty mouth. Quint. Reach me thy hand, that I may help thee out; 223. All on a heap] all in a heap. 223. slaughter'd lamb] is a vivid and yet rather unsatisfactory image. It has not Shakespeare's usual felicity. 224. etc.] See similar but finer passage, Romeo and Juliet, III. v. 54. 227. A precious ring] It was believed as late as the time of Boyle, who credits it, that the carbuncle gave out radiance of its own in the dark. Thus in the Gesta Romanorum (where Shakespeare may have got it), "he further beheld and saw a carbuncle that lighted all the house," quoted by Steevens, who also quotes from Drayton's Muse's Elysium, "Is that admired mighty stone, The carbuncle that's named," etc. It was also supposed to enable people to walk invisible (Chambers's Encyclopædia). 229. earthy cheeks] Did Keats think of this when describing the lover's ghost ("his loamed ears") in "Isabella, or The Pot of Basil," xxxv. 7? 230. ragged] rugged. Two Gentlemen, 1. ii. 121; also Isaiah ii. 21. 235 230. entrails] inward parts, New Eng. Dict. vi. 215. So "bowels of the land," Richard III. v. ii. 3. 66 236. Cocytus' misty mouth] Cocytus, one of the six rivers in the infernal regions. Misty mouth" rings rather like one of those obvious and excessive alliterations that Shakespeare himself ridicules in Midsummer-Night's Dream. Still he may have written this in the days of his youth, as Mr. Swinburne in his Heptologia has an admirable parody on himself. Like most young writers, Shakespeare probably prided himself on his happy phrases, and he afterwards satirised perhaps even his own preciosity in Hamlet over the phrase "mobled queen.' 238. Or, wanting strength] This and similar speeches seem singularly out of place on the part of two brave and vigorous young men, unless there is some specific cause for it which is not given. Shakespeare may have got this notion from Marlowe, who uses it I may be pluck'd into the swallowing womb I have no strength to pluck thee to the brink. Re-enter AARON with SATURNINUS. Sat. Along with me: I'll see what hole is here, Mart. The unhappy son of old Andronicus; Brought hither in a most unlucky hour, 240 245 [Falls in. Sat. My brother dead! I know thou dost but jest: 250 Upon the north side of this pleasant chase; 255 Mart. We know not where you left him all alive; Re-enter TAMORA, with Attendants; TITUS Tam. Where is my lord the king? often. On the other hand, he makes Duncan "fey," i.e. in preternaturally high spirits, on the night before his murder. 242. Nor I no, etc.] A double negative, very frequent in Shakespeare and in all writers before and during his time. See Abbott, par. 406. 246. Along] Come along, etc. 255. chase] a park use for hunting. Survives in names of estates, as "Cranbourn Chase,' Dorset. See Two Gentlemen, 1. ii. 116, also Bacon's Essay on Expence, and Malory, Morte d'Arthur. |
