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How have the extremes of emotion expressed in Titus Andronicus and selected WWI poetry been effectively created by the writers’ craft and performance of the drama text on stage, on screen and in the classroom?
Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in his lifetime, in this essay I am going to talk about his first: Titus Andronicus.
Similar to plays are poems, this essay is going to draw a comparison between both Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and Wilfred Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth. Separated over a period of 400 years you would have expected literature to have changed however there are more similarities between these two authors than meets the eye as both of their works were made to be projected by the voice. This causes a range of similar techniques and styles throughout the literature that they created to ensure that the message of the words were heard by their audience which caused a stir of thoughts inside the masses.
Emotions are the key to empathy. Both writers triggered the release of emotions in their works to develop an emphatic link with their audience. Wilfred Owen, born in March 1893 was a soldier stationed on the front lines at the time he was 21. He died on the 4th of November 1918, 7 days before the armistice. He was most famous for his war poems. The reason that he wrote poetry was to spread word of the actual happenings in war as there was a large amount of propaganda giving false information about the glory that war would bring you to ensure the support the war effort. The fact that he died in the war in which he was forewarning produces a large amount of dramatic irony within all of his works. This amplifies the concepts that reside in them and in particular the emotions that they induce.
Similarly Shakespeare wrote for a large audience, however he wrote for the audience of the theatre in Elizabethan England. This consisted of a dominant male figure as the equality between male and female genders was unbalanced in those times resulting in more gore and masculine content such as anger and violence. Being Shakespeare’s first play, he may have written Titus Andronicus commercially speaking, which may be the reason for the fact that the revenge tragedy holds so many scenes of violence and anger. Overall it is seen that his first play was the most violent; with the ending consisting of most of the characters being killed off and giving the effect of pure disgust and pain.
Shakespeare interacts with his audience through acts instead of sole emotion. Acts such as revenge consist of emotions such as anger, grief and hatred, which altogether induce a higher effect of empathy to the audience than just by themselves. So it could be said that the effects of emotions arise when being done by an act and this act is one of the ways that Shakespeare communicates the thoughts of his characters.
A major emotion in Shakespeare that is felt by the audience is Schadenfreude. This German lend word means taking pleasure in others misfortune. A great example of this emotion being exploited would be in Act One Scene One where Titus announces the execution of Alarbus, the heir to the throne of the Goths and Tamora’s first born.
Alive and dead, and for brethren slain
Religiously they ask for sacrifice:
To his your son is mark’d, and die he must,
T’ appease their groaning shadows that are gone
Being the opening scene to a revenge tragedy, it seems just right to open up with the death of a character. This is Titus’ revenge for the death of his 21 sons fighting in the war, hence the quote “Alive and dead, and for brethren slain. Religiously they ask for sacrifice:”
Shakespeare uses the technique of repetition of the words associated with death, such as dead, sacrifice and die. This is Shakespeare building tension in the play as words repeated suggest that something drastic is going to occur and the words that reside with death are some of the most powerful.
The line “Religiously they ask for sacrifice” is the most interesting line of the stanza, as it is a metaphor that refers to family vengeance as a religion. Meaning an eye for and eye was more than accepted in this play but actually promoted. This reflects the thoughts of those who dwelled in the ancient Rome, who thought that avenging a family member was justified due to family being a religion.
Overall the effect of Schadenfreude is greatly induced by this act of revenge as it communicates the emotions of the characters on stage and in particular those of Titus. Taking pleasure in others misfortune is generally shun upon however we as people do enjoy it and that is exactly what to kick start the chaos of his revenge tragedy but also pleasing that of the audience by providing them with the feeling of Schadenfreude.
Wilfred Owen uses acts such as betrayal in his poem “An anthem for doomed Youth” which communicates also emotions of anger and grief but moreover the emotion of despair. This act of betrayal is caused by the propaganda that prophesised that whoever went to war would come back with glory and honours. Wilfred Owen wrote this poem to tell those on the motherland that glorification of war was nothing but a mere façade and that joining the war would lead you to your death. Ultimately the poem was created for the younger audience, around the age of 14-21 as people that were underage were put under heavy pressure to join the war as their fathers and brothers had.
An anthem for doomed youth is a poem in a sonnet styled structure, 14 lines, with 10 syllables per line and it talks about the utter despair and pointlessness of fighting on the front lines. This is enveloped by features such as assonance that reside in the title, “An anthem for Doomed Youth”. The assonance of the “oo” sound is quite depressing and communicates the emotion of despair as death by “the monstrous anger of the guns” is not a pleasing nor glorified way to die in battle.