Titus Andronicus Lesson Plan

Why does Titus’s revenge involve killing his defiled daughter Lavinia?

The honor killing of Lavinia is likely to be one of the more frustrating and opaque parts of the play for students, because it's one of the most unjustifiable in terms of modern morality. Although even the Roman Emperor protests at Titus's brutality, he does not seem to take issue with a man killing his daughter as a result of her being raped. Indeed, the Latin root for "rape", rapere – meaning to "steal" or "grab and carry off" - reflects a conception of rape as a violation of a man's property rights, and most students will interpret Titus's actions in this light.

In this act of the play, Titus...