Aaron: The Villain Who Glories in It
First appears: Act 2, Scene 1
Aaron is Tamora's lover and the play's most self-aware villain. Where Tamora acts from grief and revenge, Aaron acts from what appears to be pure pleasure in wickedness. He does not pretend otherwise.
His speech cataloguing his crimes (burying men alive, setting others at each other's throats, forging letters that lead to executions) is delivered as a boast. 'Aaron will have his soul black like his face,' he says. He means it as a statement of pride.
His one deviation from absolute wickedness is his love for his infant son, the baby Tamora wants killed to hide the evidence of their affair. Aaron kills men to protect the baby. It does not redeem him, but it complicates him.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Aaron will have his soul black like his face.”
Aaron the Moor — Act 3, Scene 1
“Even now I curse the day--and yet, I think, Few come within the compass of my curse,--”
Aaron the Moor — Act 5, Scene 1
Themes
Other Characters in Titus Andronicus
Test Your Knowledge
Think you know your Shakespeare? Put it to the test with one of our free quizzes.
See all quizzes →