No questions this time, but we'll have an in-class response over an important scene/moment from these acts. Read carefully and try not to simply read for the plot (read all the summaries in the book first, perhaps, and then go back and enjoy/explore the language). Also, don't be bashful--read aloud! Especially a great speech like Titus' "If there were reason for these miseries," from Act 3, Scene 1 (p.107).
Also consider some of the following ideas:
* If we assume that Titus Andronicus was a play that was given to the young Shakespeare to write, or edit, or collaborate with another poet (Marlowe?), then where do we see him writing against the play? That is, where does he give more life and interest to the play than the plot requires or deserves? What scenes or moments stand out as truly artistic?
* Where does Titus change in these acts? What is the cause for his transformation?
* How does the theme of fathers/mothers and children continue to get developed in Acts Three and Four? Why do you think Shakespeare brings Aaron into this development?
* What scenes are inadvertently funny on the page? While this is a tragedy, and nothing is supposed to be comic (no prose, after all), why might some of these scenes be played for laughs? Do you think Shakespeare was aware of the comedic potential of some of the more absurd tragedy?
* Why does Shakespeare lavish such attention on Aaron in this play? He is potentially a one-note villain (similar to Barabas, who we will read about in The Jew of Malta), but certain moments rescue him from being a cardboard cut-out. What do you think interests Shakespeare about this early villain?
* Act 4, Scene 3 offers us a refreshing breeze of prose through the character of the Country Fellow. Though a brief moment, what effect does this have on the play? Is it similar to Marlowe's comic scenes? Or does Shakespeare try anything different?
What is "If there were reason for these miseries" monologue mean?
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