Juxtaposition Of Lavinia's Monologue In Odysseus

In this passage, Titus expresses his grief and mourning through a monologue, in which he

illustrates his agonies. He presents this passage purely in blank verse, this suggests Titus’

mental instability but also intensity and passion as he talks through a flow of spoken thought,

in the sense of his grief. With his sons being taken for execution, he describes his current

state as ‘environed with a wilderness of sea’, suggesting he is enclosed in the unknown,

emphasising his disorientation. He talks through his family’s afflictions, with his ‘wretched

sons’ gone, the use of wretched here indicates their unfortunate states and the hardship

that has been inflicted upon them. Also, his other son, ‘a banished man’ , and his brother

However, he goes on to say that what hurts his soul the most, ‘the

greatest spurn’ , is Lavinia and her hurting. The use of spurning his soul indicates how much

Lavinia actually means to Titus, also compared to his sons, which he hasn’t described in

such intensity. He also describes Lavinia as being ‘dearer than (his) soul’ , illustrating how

she means more to him than he does to himself. The caesura in this line is Titus presenting

and emphasising a declaration of his devotion to Lavinia. As well as caesura, enjambment is

used quite often within Titus’ monologue, for example ‘wave by wave,’ and ‘sons are gone;’

this increases the speed at which the reader will read, consequently rising the sense of

ambiguity, it also gives an essence of Titus reflecting upon himself. However, Titus

describes Lavinia’s pain as ‘martyred’ , which to the opposition of Titus’ current stance for

Lavinia, accuses this pain as exaggerated for a degree of sympathy. On the other hand he refers to Lavinia’s state, after her husband’s death which her brothers have been

accused of, as a ‘lily almost withered’ , suggesting that all that has happened to her has not

defeated her, this description also indicates how women are referred to flowers, and

Either way, Titus becomes infatuated with the idea of revenge, ‘law hath ta’en revenge on

them’ , and say that her brothers are ‘condemned’ and will be dead by this time. His

sympathy for Lavinia has caused him to completely turn on his sons, making him believe

they deserve this punishment.

Shakespeare, within Titus’ monologue, uses a lot of references to nature, mostly to the sea

and water, potentially, as that is the place of no escape if you get caught in it, parallel to his

position and how he is feeling. As previously discussed, his feeling of being in a ‘wilderness

of sea’ suggests how Titus sees himself as a victim, and how he is lost in this state of

adversity. Another nature reference is ‘wave by wave’ , indicating that he is hit with

tragedies over and over again, and it has the impact of if a wave hit him, and caused him to

stray out into this ‘wilderness’ . He uses words such as ‘surge’ , which create the effect of

being captured and having no release, he describes the surge to also be ‘envious’