How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Riverside edition.
Quote #10
Behold this child:
Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant
Of this was Tamora delivered;
The issue of an irreligious Moor,
Chief architect and plotter of these woes:
The villain is alive in Titus' house,
And as he is, to witness this is true.
Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience,
Or more than any living man could bear. (5.3.3)
At the play's end, Marcus hold up Aaron's baby to the crowd as if the child were evidence of all Tamora and Aaron's wrongdoings – as if the product of their adulterous affair (the baby) is proof that they plotted against the Andronicus family. For Marcus, Aaron and Tamora's black child becomes the symbol of its parents' sins. What's up with that?