Woah

The play ends as it began, with a new emperor, funeral and an execution. The staggering parallels between Titus and Tamora are carried through fully, with Titus following up the savagery of Tamora with his own incredibly brutal act. The slaughters have been exactly equal: Titus loses two sons and a daughter to Tamora, and Tamora loses three sons to Titus. 

Odder than all this is the elevation of the prime mover, the man who caused the whole tragedy by his request for a barbarian sacrifice, Lucius, to emperor. All these brutal acts were caused by him, for at his request did the son of Tamora die, and as a result of this death did Tamora engage in her bloody villany, which drove Titus to his own sanguine act. 

Still, this whole play smacks of the infamous Idiot Plot. Had Titus simply pardoned Tamora's son, none of this had happened. Had Bassanius and Lavinia not run off together, Tamora would never have gained power. Had Lavinia and Bassanius not wandered off into the woods, or ran off after hearing her threats, Tamora would never have had the opportunity for vengeance. And had Tamora not left her sons with Titus, he too would never have been revenged. So many of the consequences of this play are the result of eminently avoidable turning points. And the vile, bloodthirsty savagery of it all is so excessive as to seem comical. 

And unlike Hamlet or Lear, much of what Titus does seems completely pointless. Why does he fire arrows into the emperor's court, or send the clown to his death, or cut his own hand off? Senseless, all of it.

I'm still not sure how to feel about this play -- I get the feeling it would all be more believable on stage.