Bardcore: Why Shakespeare went X-rated

Was Titus Andronicus the American Psycho of its day?

Forget any ideas you might have of ‘gentle Shakespeare’ (as Ben Jonson once described him). Titus Andronicus is a shlock-horror nightmare vision of a play.

Titus returns to Rome after defeating the Goths in battle and, to appease the gods, orders the sacrifice of Alarbus, the son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths.

Seeking revenge on Titus, two of Tamora’s other sons, Chiron and Demetrius, gang rape Titus’s daughter Lavinia and kill her husband. To prevent her disclosing their identities, they cut out her tongue. Apparently not satisfied with this measure, they proceed to cut off her hands to prevent her writing their names.