Voice and Poetry

Act II, Scene IV of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus (1588–93) opens with a young woman, Lavinia, in a condition of voicelessness and vulnerability. She is, according to the stage directions, “ravished”, “her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out” (89). After they rape her, Demetrius and Chiron taunt Lavinia mercilessly: Demetrius

So, now go tell, and if thy tongue can speak,

Who ’twas that cut thy tongue and ravish’d thee.

Chiron

Write down thy mind, bewray thy meaning so,

And if thy stumps will let thee play the scribe.

(Shakespeare 89)