Demetrius, here’s the son of Lucius;
He hath some message to deliver us.
I have heard whispers of your sorrow, but tell me—what can I do to ease it? Perhaps there are those who have wronged you that I could help bring to justice?
I've heard about your pain. Tell me—what could I do? Who hurt you? Maybe I can help punish them.
tell me who hurt you. i'll help you get revenge. trust me.
Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.
No, Empress. Your kindness is noted, but I must pursue my own justice. There are those in your own household who have wronged me beyond measure.
No, thank you. I know who hurt me. And they're close to you, Empress. Very close.
it's your own sons. i know it was them.
My lords, with all the humbleness I may,
I greet your honours from Andronicus;
My lords, with all respect, I greet you on behalf of my grandfather Andronicus.
Sirs, I come from my grandfather with his respect.
from my grandfather. with his respect.
Gramercy, lovely Lucius. What’s the news?
Thank you, young Lucius. What news does he send?
Thank you, boy. What's the message?
what news?
For villains marked with rape. [_Aloud_.] May it please you,
My grandsire, well advised, hath sent by me
The goodliest weapons of his armoury
To gratify your honourable youth,
The hope of Rome; for so he bid me say;
And so I do, and with his gifts present
Your lordships, that, whenever you have need,
You may be armed and appointed well.
And so I leave you both, [_Aside_.] like bloody villains.
My grandfather, well advised, has sent by me the finest weapons from his armory to honor your youth—the hope of Rome. So he instructed me to say. And so I do, presenting these gifts. Whenever you have need, you may be armed and well-prepared. And with that, I leave you both—like bloody villains.
My grandfather sends you the best weapons from his arsenal to honor you, the hope of Rome. He says so, and so I say it too. When you need them, they'll be ready. And I leave you both like bloody villains.
my grandfather sends weapons. the finest from his armory. for two villains. for two rapists.
What’s here? A scroll; and written round about?
Let’s see:
What's this? There's something written around the scroll's edges.
There's writing on this scroll.
there's writing.
O, ’tis a verse in Horace; I know it well.
I read it in the grammar long ago.
It's a verse from Horace—I read that in grammar school a long time ago.
That's from Horace. I learned it in school.
horace. from school.
Ay, just; a verse in Horace; right, you have it.
Right, a verse from Horace. You've got it.
Yeah, Horace. That's it.
horace.
Before 4-2, Aaron is the play's most unambiguous villain. He orchestrated the rape of Lavinia, framed two innocent men for murder, deceived Titus into cutting off his own hand, and shows no remorse. He is a Vice figure of Elizabethan drama — witty, theatrical, completely amoral. Then his baby arrives, and something breaks open.
The shift is not gradual. It is instantaneous. The baby enters, is called a devil and a toad, and before the Nurse has finished speaking Aaron is holding the child and saying 'Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom sure.' He then fights off Tamora's sons with a drawn sword. He kills without hesitation to protect the child's secret. He plans four moves ahead to secure the baby's safety. And he leaves the stage talking to his son about berries and caves and warrior training.
What does this do to our understanding of the character? Shakespeare does not simplify it. Aaron is not redeemed. He kills the Nurse in cold blood. He will go on to boast of his crimes with relish in 5-1. But the father-love is genuine — unmistakable, unironic, and (in a play full of simulated feeling) perhaps the only authentic emotion on stage. The baby does not make Aaron good. It makes him human, which is more complicated and more interesting.
But me more good to see so great a lord
Basely insinuate and send us gifts.
What does it say for us to see such a great lord humiliate himself and send us gifts?
It's sad to see such a great man grovel and send us presents.
he's humiliated himself. sending us gifts.
Had he not reason, Lord Demetrius?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?
Didn't he have reason? Didn't you treat his daughter well—very friendly?
Didn't you give him reason? You were very friendly with his daughter.
you were friendly with her. what do you expect?
I would we had a thousand Roman dames
At such a bay, by turn to serve our lust.
I wish we had a thousand Roman women at our mercy, taking turns for our pleasure.
I wish we had more women. A thousand Roman ones to use like we used her.
more women. thousand of them. for our pleasure.
A charitable wish, and full of love.
A charitable wish, full of love for Rome.
That's real charity. Real love.
such kindness.
Here lacks but your mother for to say amen.
All that's missing is your mother here to say 'amen' to that prayer.
Your mother would agree with you.
your mother approves.
And that would she for twenty thousand more.
And she would—for twenty thousand more.
She'd bless it. For more and more women.
she'd approve. for thousands more.
Come, let us go and pray to all the gods
For our beloved mother in her pains.
Come, let's go pray to all the gods for our beloved mother as she suffers in childbirth.
Let's pray for our mother. She's in terrible pain giving birth.
let's pray for her. she's suffering.
Why do the emperor’s trumpets flourish thus?
Why are the emperor's trumpets sounding like that?
Why is the emperor celebrating?
the trumpets.
Belike for joy the emperor hath a son.
Maybe the emperor has had a son?
Maybe he has a son.
a son?
Soft, who comes here?
Wait, someone's coming.
Someone's here.
someone.
Good morrow, lords.
O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor?
Greetings, lords. Have you seen Aaron the Moor anywhere?
Sirs, have you seen Aaron?
aaron. where is aaron?
Well, more or less, or ne’er a whit at all,
Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
Well, more or less, or perhaps not at all—but here I am. So, what does anyone want with Aaron now?
I'm Aaron. What do you want?
i'm aaron.
O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
Oh Aaron, everything is ruined! You must help, or disaster will follow you forever!
Aaron, please! Help me! Everything is falling apart!
please help. it's all breaking. please.
The scene's racial debate was not abstract in 1594. Elizabethan London had a significant Black population — servants, traders, diplomats — and the Queen had issued proclamations in 1596 and 1601 about 'blackamoors' in England, citing their numbers as excessive. Audiences watching Aaron defend his dark-skinned son were watching a live cultural argument performed in front of them.
Shakespeare's presentation is not straightforwardly progressive, but it is interrogative. Every character except Aaron uses the racist vocabulary of their world: 'devil,' 'toad,' 'loathsome.' Aaron systematically dismantles each comparison. His counter-argument — that blushing skin betrays, that dark skin endures, that his son is his brother's blood-kin — uses the same logic his culture uses against him, but inverts it.
The baby scene anticipates Shylock's 'Hath not a Jew eyes' speech by two years. Both speeches put a marginalised figure's full humanity on stage, and both make the audience uncomfortable by giving that humanity to someone who has done terrible things. The discomfort is the point.
Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!
What dost thou wrap and fumble in thy arms?
What's all this noise? What are you holding so desperately in your arms?
What's all the screaming? What have you got?
what are you holding?
O, that which I would hide from heaven’s eye,
Our empress’ shame and stately Rome’s disgrace.
She is delivered, lords, she is delivered.
Something I wish the heavens couldn't see. The empress's shame and Rome's disgrace. She has given birth, lords. She has given birth.
Something I want to hide. The empress is disgraced. Rome is disgraced. She's had a baby.
she gave birth. the empress gave birth. to shame.
To whom?
To whom?
To who?
whose baby?
I mean, she’s brought a-bed.
I mean—she's been brought to bed. She's in childbed.
She gave birth. She's in labor recovery.
she's in bed. she had a baby.
Well, God give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
Well, may God give her good rest. What has he sent her?
Good for her. What did the emperor send?
what did he send her?
A devil.
A devil.
A devil.
a devil.
Why, then she is the devil’s dam. A joyful issue.
Then she's the devil's mother. A joyful issue indeed.
Then she's the mother of a devil. How happy.
a devil's mother. what joy.
A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue.
Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toad
Amongst the fair-faced breeders of our clime.
The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal,
And bids thee christen it with thy dagger’s point.
A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrow-filled issue. Here's the babe—as loathsome as a toad among the fair-faced women of our people. The empress sends it to you, your child, your seal. She orders you to name it with your dagger's point—to kill it.
It's black, ugly, and wrong. A toad among beautiful babies. She says it's yours. Your mark. And she wants you to kill it with your dagger.
it's black. it's ugly. it's yours. and she wants it dead.
Zounds, ye whore, is black so base a hue?
Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom sure.
Damn you, whore! Is black such a base color? Sweet plump woman, you're as beautiful as a flower yourself!
Shut up, whore! Is being black so shameful? You're not so pretty yourself!
don't call my child a devil. black isn't shameful. it's beautiful.
Villain, what hast thou done?
Villain, what have you done?
What did you do?
what did you do?
That which thou canst not undo.
Something you cannot undo.
It's done.
it's done.
Thou hast undone our mother.
You've destroyed our mother!
You've ruined her!
you ruined her.
Villain, I have done thy mother.
Villain? I have bedded your mother. I have done your mother.
I've done what no one else dares—I've been with your mother.
i've been with your mother. i've done what you couldn't.
And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone her.
Woe to her chance, and damned her loathed choice!
Accursed the offspring of so foul a fiend!
And by that hellish dog, you've destroyed her. Cursed be her luck and her damned choice! Accursed be the offspring of such a foul fiend!
You've destroyed her, you devil! Curse her choice! Curse the child!
curse her. curse the baby. curse all of it.
It shall not live.
The child shall not live.
Kill it.
it dies.
It shall not die.
It will live.
No. It lives.
it lives.
Aaron, it must; the mother wills it so.
Aaron, it must die. The mother commands it.
The empress wants it dead.
she wants it dead.
What, must it, nurse? Then let no man but I
Do execution on my flesh and blood.
It must? Nurse, then let no one but I execute judgment on my own flesh and blood.
Then I'll be the only one to decide. Not them. Me.
only i decide. it's my child.
I’ll broach the tadpole on my rapier’s point.
Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon dispatch it.
I'll pierce the tadpole on my rapier's point. Nurse, give it to me. My sword will dispatch it quickly.
Give me the baby. I'll stab it with my sword.
give me the baby. i'll kill it.
Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.
Sooner this sword will plow through your own bowels.
I'll kill you first.
i'll kill you.
Aaron tells the Nurse to 'go to the empress, tell her this I said' — and kills her mid-sentence. The stage direction '[He kills her]' falls in the middle of his speech, between the instruction and the aside that follows: '"Wheak, wheak!" So cries a pig prepared to the spit.'
The staging is precise in its horror. The murder happens in the middle of Aaron still talking. He kills her, makes a pig-squealing joke about her death cry, and continues outlining the plan — carrying the baby the whole time.
This juxtaposition of tenderness and murder is not accident. It is a sustained argument that Aaron's love for his son and his capacity for casual killing are not contradictions but the same force: a man who has decided that the child's survival outweighs all other calculations. He would do the same for Tamora's midwife. He will not apologise. He is not confused. He carries his son and plans the next murder in the same breath.
For directors, this sequence poses a staging problem that is also a thematic question: where is the baby when Aaron kills the Nurse? In his arms? Set down? The answer shapes the audience's experience of the entire character.
Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?
Will you betray your noble mistress like this?
How can you betray the empress?
you're betraying her.
My mistress is my mistress; this my self;
The vigour and the picture of my youth.
This before all the world do I prefer;
This maugre all the world will I keep safe,
Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.
The empress is my mistress, but this child is myself—the picture of my youth, the proof of my vigor. Before all the world, I choose this child. Against all the world, I will keep him safe, or some of you will burn for it in Rome.
Tamora is my lady, but this child is me—my life made real. I choose him over everything. I'll protect him or you'll die.
this is my son. he's me. i'll die protecting him. and so will you.
By this our mother is for ever shamed.
By this, our mother is shamed forever.
She's destroyed. Her reputation is gone.
she's disgraced forever.
Rome will despise her for this foul escape.
Rome will despise her for this scandal.
Rome will hate her.
rome will hate her.
The emperor in his rage will doom her death.
The emperor in his rage will sentence her to death.
Saturninus will kill her.
he'll execute her.
The scene opens with Young Lucius delivering a gift that is also an accusation: weapons wrapped in a Horace quotation that, correctly read, means 'blameless in life and clean of crime.' Chiron and Demetrius are neither. They do not see the accusation because they do not apply the verse to themselves.
This gift-as-weapon motif runs throughout the play. Tamora's false pastoral speech in 2-3 was a gift of seeming mercy concealing a murder order. Aaron's advice to Titus to cut off his hand was a gift of hope concealing despair. Now Titus returns the strategy: a gift of weapons that carries a message the recipients cannot decode.
The Horace quotation is particularly savage. 'Integer vitae, scelerisque purus / Non eget Mauri iaculis, nec arcu' — 'The man blameless in life and clean of crime needs neither the javelins of the Moor nor his bow.' The weapons are Titus's bow. The Mauri — the Moorish soldier — is Aaron. Titus is saying: you needed Aaron's weapons to destroy me. The verse condemns them with the very language of their own Latin education. They studied this at school and still can't see what's been sent to them.
I blush to think upon this ignomy.
I blush to think of this ignominy.
I'm ashamed.
i'm ashamed.
Why, there’s the privilege your beauty bears.
Fie, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushing
The close enacts and counsels of thy heart!
Here’s a young lad framed of another leer.
Look how the black slave smiles upon the father,
As who should say “Old lad, I am thine own.”
He is your brother, lords, sensibly fed
Of that self blood that first gave life to you;
And from your womb where you imprisoned were
He is enfranchised and come to light.
Nay, he is your brother by the surer side,
Although my seal be stamped in his face.
That's the privilege beauty grants you—to blush and reveal your heart's secrets! Here's a young lad of different appearance. Look how the black slave smiles at his father, as if to say 'Old man, I am yours.' He is your brother, lords, fed by the same blood that gave you life, born from the same womb that imprisoned you. He is your brother by blood, even though my seal is stamped on his face.
Your beauty betrays you with that blush. Look at this boy—he smiles like he knows he's mine. He's your brother, fed by the same blood that fed you, born from the same womb. He's your blood brother, even though he's my child.
he's your brother. same blood. same womb. he belongs. he's legitimate.
Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?
Aaron, what shall I say to the empress?
What do I tell her?
what do i tell her?
Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,
And we will all subscribe to thy advice.
Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.
Aaron, think about this. Tell us what must be done, and we will all follow your advice. Save the child so we can all be safe.
Aaron, we'll do whatever you say. Just save the child and keep us safe.
we'll follow you. just keep us safe.
Then sit we down, and let us all consult.
My son and I will have the wind of you.
Keep there. Now talk at pleasure of your safety.
Then sit down and listen. My son and I will stand apart from you. Keep your distance. Talk freely about your safety.
Sit. We'll stand apart. Talk among yourselves.
sit. we'll stand apart. talk.
How many women saw this child of his?
How many women have seen this child?
Who knows about the baby?
who saw it?
Why, so, brave lords! When we join in league,
I am a lamb; but if you brave the Moor,
The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,
The ocean swells not so as Aaron storms.
But say again, how many saw the child?
So, brave lords! When we ally together, I am a lamb. But if you defy the Moor, I become the wild boar, the mother lion, the raging sea. Aaron is a storm. But answer me—how many saw the child?
When you're with me, I'm gentle. But if you cross me, I'm a wild beast. A storm. Now answer—who saw the baby?
i'm gentle when we're allies. wild when we're enemies. who saw it?
Cornelia the midwife and myself,
And no one else but the delivered empress.
Cornelia the midwife, myself, and the empress who delivered it. No one else.
The midwife, me, and the empress. That's it.
three people. the midwife. me. the empress.
The empress, the midwife, and yourself.
Two may keep counsel when the third’s away.
Go to the empress; tell her this I said.
The empress, the midwife, and yourself. Two can keep a secret if the third is gone. Go to the empress. Tell her this.
Three witnesses—three loose mouths. One must disappear. Go tell the empress what I'm planning.
two can keep a secret. if the third is dead.
What mean’st thou, Aaron? Wherefore didst thou this?
Aaron, what do you mean? Why did you do this?
Why did you do this, Aaron? What's your plan?
why? what's your plan?
O Lord, sir, ’tis a deed of policy.
Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours,
A long-tongued babbling gossip? No, lords, no.
And now be it known to you my full intent.
Not far, one Muliteus lives, my countryman;
His wife but yesternight was brought to bed.
His child is like to her, fair as you are.
Go pack with him, and give the mother gold,
And tell them both the circumstance of all,
And how by this their child shall be advanced,
And be received for the emperor’s heir,
And substituted in the place of mine,
To calm this tempest whirling in the court;
And let the emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, lords; ye see I have given her physic,
Oh lords, this is a tactical stroke. If she lived to reveal your guilt—if this babbling gossip told everyone what you did—you'd all be ruined. No, lords, no. But listen to my full plan. There's a man from my country, Muliteus, whose wife gave birth yesterday. His child looks like her—as fair as you. Go to him, pay the mother gold, and tell them both the whole situation. Explain that by this exchange, their child will be advanced, received as the emperor's heir, and take my son's place. This will calm the chaos in court—the emperor will think it's his child. Listen, lords—I have already given the nurse medicine to ensure her silence.
It's strategy. If she told everyone you raped Lavinia, you'd all be executed. So here's my plan: there's a fair-skinned baby born yesterday to someone I know. We swap them. The white baby becomes the emperor's son, and my child disappears. The court stays calm. I've already given the nurse poison to shut her up.
it's strategy. if she talks, you die. so we switch babies. a white baby for a black one. no one knows. no one dies. except the nurse.
Aaron, I see thou wilt not trust the air
With secrets.
Aaron, you won't even trust the air with secrets.
You don't even tell the wind your plans.
you tell no one.
For this care of Tamora,
Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.
For this care of Tamora, she and all her family are deeply bound to you.
For protecting Tamora, she owes you everything.
tamora owes you everything.
Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies,
There to dispose this treasure in mine arms,
And secretly to greet the empress’ friends.
Come on, you thick-lipped slave, I’ll bear you hence;
For it is you that puts us to our shifts.
I’ll make you feed on berries and on roots,
And feed on curds and whey, and suck the goat,
And cabin in a cave, and bring you up
To be a warrior and command a camp.
Now I go to the Goths, swift as a swallow flies, to hide this treasure in my arms and secretly greet the empress' allies. Come on, thick-lipped child—I'll carry you. You're the reason for all my plans. I'll feed you on berries and roots, goat's milk and curds, and shelter you in a cave until you're a warrior who can command armies.
I'm taking you to the Goths now. I'll hide you, keep you safe, and raise you to be a warrior. You're my future—my legacy.
we're leaving. to the goths. i'll keep you safe. i'll raise you strong. you're my legacy. my future.
The Reckoning
The most startling scene in the play. Aaron, villain in every preceding scene, becomes something close to a hero — or at least a figure of fierce, inarguable love. His defence of the baby is the emotional pivot around which the audience's relationship to him permanently shifts. The scene also crystallises the play's racial politics: the baby is called a devil, a toad, loathsome, but Aaron turns each insult back with a logic no one can answer. The Nurse's casual murder confirms Aaron's ruthlessness, but the cradle-song exit redeems nothing and complicates everything.
If this happened today…
Imagine a man who has spent a career doing terrible things for people who've always seen him as an instrument. Then his child is born — and everyone around him wants that child erased because of how it looks. In that moment, every calculation drops and something rawer takes over. Aaron's switch from cool operator to ferocious father is the switch we recognise from the news, from history, from our own gut: the one thing that cannot be negotiated away.