Sacrifices of the Offspring

In Titus Andronicus, fate ties the fortune of both the characters of play and the setting itself. In this play, most of the characters face tragedies that ultimately leads to their demises, which appears to be fated occurrences of their lives. In the beginning of the play, Titus comes back from the land of the Goths and declares that one of her sons be sacrificed in place of the fallen sons of Titus. This action presents the idea of children having to play the sacrifices in their parent’s game, which is a similar occurrence in Romeo and Juliet. In both of the plays, the children of the adult figures in the play are tied into the same web the adults and forced into their unfortunate chains. The Capulets have been fighting with the Montagues for years over an issue that neither of them seem to remember, but still pervades their spaces. Romeo and Juliet are forced to blur the boundaries of the families and sacrifice themselves for the potential of a reconciliation of these groups. In Titus Andronicus the offspring of Titus and Tamora are also forced to sacrifice themselves in the name of their parent’s mistakes. Titus and Tamora are also from conflicting tribes whose children have to pay the price of their problems. In both of these plays, the younger generation operates in a manner where their fates are usually destined for tragedy because of the faults of the previous group.

Relating fate to offspring, Aaron’s child seems to represent the potential fate of a union in Rome. There is the idea that the child blends together two aspects of these groups that were once thought to be separate groups (Goths and Moors) that should not intermingle, yet their child represents the integration of these groups. However, unlike the above examples the child manages to survive through the end of the play (which given the horror-esque setting of the play is a welcome change of events). However, similar to the above events, the child’s life was endangered because of the opposing groups’s conflicts. The nurse who delivered the child saw that he was mixed with Moor blood and sought to get rid of the child because of this. However, Aaron breaks the pattern of children being sacrificed and instead uses the nurse’s life in place. This outcome is interesting to note since in the above examples, the two opposing groups were angry at each other for an offense they committed against each other. In Aaron’s case, the misdeed that he committed was not being the same color as the other characters, which relates a biological difference that he had no control over. This in a way absolves him of the similar fate that the other members are faced with. Because the conflict he had with the opposing group was out of his control, the child does not need to be sacrificed to right his wrongs.