I am the quintessential REJECT. A funny age. Too old to considered for a “real” job. Too young to be given a “pity the poor dear” job.
Shakespeare wrote an incredible play that few know about. Or if they know it, they will dismiss it as BLOODY & HORRIFIC.
No, disagrees there. It IS bloody and horrific.
Way back in 2019 I wrote….
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SparkNotes Character Analysis of Lavinia in Titus Andronicus:
Lavinia – The only daughter of Titus Andronicus, she spurns Saturninus’s offer to make her his empress because she is in love with Bassianus. She is brutally raped and disfigured by Chiron and Demetrius in the forest during the hunt. Thereafter, she is a mute and horrifying presence constantly on stage, complement to her father’s loquacious sufferings, and accomplice to his bloody vengeance. Deprived of every means of communication, and robbed of her most precious chastity, she comes across as one of Shakespeare’s most incapacitated heroines. Yet, as she is physically pared down, her narrative and thematic importance escalates, drawing our attention to the importance of pantomime on the stage. The rape of Lavinia is undoubtedly the central and most horrific crime of the play, which is why Edward Ravenscroft’s adaptation of the play has the alternate name of “The Rape of Lavinia.” For this reason, her character invites especially careful scrutiny.
End of SparkNotes.
Lavinia is also Lucretia, as in the Rape of Lucretia by Tarquinius. This event from the annals of “Ancient Rome” began the Tarquinian Wars that destroyed the Kingdom of Rome.
NC equates Lavinia with the Virgin Mary and for me, she is the embodiment of the Divine Female. The Holy Mother, mutilated and destroyed by the people around her.
She is the symbol of abuse that transcends time and space. Shorn of all her divine rights.
The double rape takes away her chastity, dignity and self-respect. The cutting off of both her hands destroys her ability to function normally.
The cutting out of her tongue silences her. Forever.
She is the Sacrifice of the Innocents in every way,shape and form. The lesson always repeated but never learned.
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Tony Hopkins as Titus Andronicus is very, very good.
Here is a scene from the 1999 film that shows the fate of Lavinia.
Men get castrated because sex is their modus operandi.
Women are silenced and handless – unable to speak or to touch or to feel.
Snatch!!!
JulietChristineTudor654 subscribersSUBSCRIBEThis is the tragic story of Shakespeare’s Lavinia. I know this song is about child abuse but Lavinia takes a lot of abuse in this play. She is disowned for marrying the man she loves, then her husband is killed right in front of her. The murders cut out her tongue, cut off her hands, and rape her. Then her father kills the murders and then kills her because “The girl should not outlive her shame”.
I don’t own anything.