Tamora: From Captive to Empress
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
Tamora begins the play as a prisoner who pleads for her son's life. Titus ignores her. She marries Saturninus and becomes Empress of Rome within a few scenes. It is the fastest social climb in Shakespeare.
From that position she directs the revenge against Titus: she uses Aaron and her sons Chiron and Demetrius to destroy everything he loves. She is clear-eyed about all of it.
Her final death (eating a pie made from her sons' flesh, then killed by Titus before she can process what she has just consumed) is the play's most extreme reversal. The mother who lost one son to Roman ritual loses all her sons to a different ritual.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.”
Tamora — Act 2, Scene 3
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 →