Titus Andronicus stands out among Shakespeare's œuvre as the most violent and gory of his plays, and in some ways the most objectionable. For that reason, critical consensus since the Elizabethan era has often dismissed the play as unwatchable, and even put into question its authorship.
However, there is much in Titus Andronicus that is of potential interest to students of the Bard's works. Firstly, it is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, and, as a work of juvenilia, much can be gleaned about the evolution of Shakespeare's typical language and themes from reading it. Secondly and more importantly, Titus Andronicus has an interesting, multilayered approach to subjects of present-day...