Going Roman: Richard III and Titus Andronicus compared

This chapter provides a comparison of Richard III and Titus Andronicus. Both Titus and Richard III have at their centre an elaborated picture of tyranny. While Titus comes off as a revenge tragedy, it also features a political under-plot, in which, as well as revenge being achieved by the Andronici, legitimacy is restored to a Rome ravaged by the tyranny of Saturninus and the Machiavellian atheism and evil counsel of Tamora and her lover Aaron, the Moor. While the radical purport of what actually happens in Richard III is obscured rather than highlighted by the heavily providential mix of prophecy and prodigy that suffuses the action, none of that is true of Titus Andronicus.