Greek Sacrifice in Shakespeare’s Rome

Abstract

The Titus Andronicus is perhaps the most Greek of Shakespeare's Roman plays. At first glance, Titus seems a purely—and emphatically—Roman play. Considering the relation between Titus and Iphigenia gives new context to the way in which sacrificial violence is depicted in Shakespeare's play, revealing it to be more complex and troubled than critics have recognized thus far. Iphigenia in Aulis received four vernacular translations in the sixteenth century, second again only to Hecuba with seven. Both Euripides's Iphigenia in Aulis and Titus Andronicus depict parents sacrificing their children. There is continuing debate amongst scholars as to whether George Peele collaborated with Shakespeare in writing Titus Andronicus, and as to the extent of their collaboration. The scenes of failed supplication in both Titus and Iphigenia, in which suppliants prove powerless to stop the impending violence, convey the sheer horror of sacrifice without constraints.