56 pages • 1 hour read
William ShakespeareA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Shakespeare uses the symbolic imagery of animals throughout the play. In line with The Paradigm of “Civilized” Rome against “Barbarian” Other, the Roman characters frequently compare the outsider characters to animals. The Romans dehumanize the non-Roman characters whose actions they view as inhumane, creating an entrenchment of opposing groups who are increasingly alienated from each other’s humanity.
The raven is mentioned multiple times in the play, building tone through its literary association with death and status as a bad omen. Lavinia compares Tamora to a raven during her fruitless appeals for compassion, suggesting she embodies doom and terror. The raven’s dark wings connect to its characterization as a symbol of evil, with both Lavinia and Titus describing Aaron as a raven, referencing his skin color and suggesting it is a signifier of his wickedness. Tamora also uses the image of a raven in her speech about the pit in 2.2, alongside other animals like snakes and toads, turning the pit into a portal of death and destruction with her words before prompting her sons to turn it into one physically by dumping Bassianus’s body there.
By William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 2
William Shakespeare
Henry V
William Shakespeare
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
King John
William Shakespeare
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Measure For Measure
William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare