In the Play of “Titus Andronicus”, Shakespeare’s
character Titus is a Roman general who gives up the throne to another and kills
the son of Tamora, the Queen of Goths, who later plots revenge against him. This
revenge is the rape and brutal savagery attack of Titus daughter, Lavinia, by
Tamora’s sons, Demetrius and Chiron, who cut off Lavinia’s hands and tongue so
that she will not speak of her rapists. Titus’s who has gone insane, kills
Tamora’s sons Demetrius and Chiron and has them baked into a pie, which is
eaten by Tamora and others. In the end, Titus has his revenge after killing his
own daughter, and almost everyone important to the story is dead.
Given the plot of the play, how
would Shakespeare react to the modern crime show “Law Order: Special Victims
Unit.”
Let’s take a moment to explore how
similar the two forms of entertainment are. “Law and Order : SVU’s” episodes
are mostly filled with cases of rape and brutal murder, more than often enough
young females. While the show’s main target of villains is perverts and aggressive
men, once and a while the show’s victim is a victim of revenge, due to jealousy
or wrath that the villain felt for the character. Shakespeare’s rape victim,
Lavinia, is the product of revenge on Titus from Tamora, who ordered it for the
death of her son. In addition to victims of crimes, Law & Order: SVU has
the father or close confidant of the victim target the rapist out of revenge. In
Shakespeare’s case, it is Titus killing and cooking Tamora’s sons into pies.
Both the show and the play portray the
darker sides to humanity and society of mankind. Do you think that Shakespeare
would be appalled by “Law and Order’s” plots? Is it possible “Law and Order:
SVU” is inspired by the play of Titus Andronics? What are your thoughts?
Alex,
ReplyDeleteI think Shakespeare would be bored with the plots explored in Law and Order: SVU. Like you said, it is only sometimes where the case at hand is a product of revenge. Based on what we have read in Titus Andronicus and other of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, there is simply not enough revenge present in the show. Occasionally, as all SVU viewers knows, Elliot will have a freak-out on the perpetrator because of his overwhelming discuss for the perp, and I would argue that Elliot’s lashing out is a form of revenge, but I think it would be a difficult argument to make that the action of the investigators as part of the Special Victims Unit is triggered by revenge. Too many people would argue that pursuing the perpetrator is simply part of their job. I am more curious to explore how the victims of the SVU cases relate to Lavinia, you mentioned in your post the similarities regarding their female identity, but is it more than that? Are the victims of SVU as submissive as Lavinia, or are they given more agency? I think the role that Olivia plays also needs to be explored, she is a women of authority, but at the same time she has also played the role of the victim, does this imply that no matter what, women will always fall to be a victim?