"In Titus Andronicus almost every spectacle, deed, and character is absorbed into the titanic presence of the protagonist. Certainly Lavinia and Tamora, as utter victim and as consummate avenger, threaten to usurp Titus' centrality. But just as Elizabeth's gender was submerged, in interludes and entertainments, "in the complex iconography of her paradigmatic virtue," always in accord with patriarchal notions of her power as prince, so Shakespeare's notable and notorious female characters are here made to serve the construction of Titus-patriarch, tragic hero, and, from our vantage point, central consciousness. But contradictions beset this enterprise. I maintain that the pressures of Shakespeare's characterization of Titus, of creating this tragic protagonist, are evident in the Others-notably Aaron, Tamora, and Lavinia-who surround the revenge play's central Self. In the case of Tamora and Lavinia, on whom I will focus, gender both marks and is marked by Shakespeare's first experiment in revenge tragedy. It is largely through and on the female characters that Titus is constructed and his tragedy inscribed. "
- Green, Douglas E. "Interpreting "Her Martyr'd Signs": Gender and Tragedy in Titus Andronicus." Shakespeare Quarterly Autumn 40.3 (1989): 317-26. JSTOR. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.
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