ABSTRACT
These and other references to the rape of Lucrece come probably from Ovid's Fasti, which Shakespeare used for his poem on the subject.2
One of the most obviously Senecan features of the play, though modified by the Machiavellian love of trickery and the Elizabethan liking for disguisings, is the device of Tamora in V.2 to mock and wiri over Titus by disguising herself as Revenge and her sons as Rape and Murder. Both her language in this
For whan him faileth paiement, Ravine maketh non other skille, But taketh by strength al that he wille. So ben there in the same wise Lovers, as I the shall devise, That whan nought elIes may availe, Anone with strengthe they assaile And get of love the sesine Whan they se time, by ravine. (Bk. V.)
In structure the play makes great use of balance and contrast between groups, persons and incidents.2 There are contrasts between the Romans and the Goths, between Titus and Aaron, the gentle, virtuous Lavinia and the fierce lustful Tamora, between Titus and his brother Marcus, who acts as a pointer to normality. The sacrifice of Tamora's son Alarbus is followed by Titus's slaying of his son Mutius. Tamora's two sons are balanced by Titus's two boys. The Queen pleads in vain for Alarbus, and soon Titus pleads in vain for his two sons. Their dishonourable deaths contrast with those of their two brothers. When Bassianus snatches Lavinia from Saturninus the latter calls it a rape (1. I .404); soon Lavinia is really raped. Her
