Titus Andronicus, revenge, and child-eating in Shakespeare's Bible
In Titus Andronicus, Titus has Chiron and Demetrius restrained and killed, to be baked up and served to their mother for revenge, a deception of cannibalism (vaguely similar to the deception at the end of The Spanish Tragedy). In The Bloody Banquet, by T.D., as punishment, an adulterer must eat the flesh of her lover. Why the fascination with revenge and cannibalism? CANNIBALISM: Many Catholics believed in transubstantiation (that the bread and wine actually became the body and blood of Christ). Protestant polemics claimed it was a form of cannibalism, which Catholics denied. “EAT THEIR OWN CHILDREN” Deut 28:54-57 (Bishop’s Bible trans.) notes note people who are “delicate and tender” (entitled, pampered, spoiled), who - if the city were under siege and food limited - would eat their own children. [1] When Hamlet calls Fortinbras a “delicate and tender prince,” it is not a compliment, but a reference to this passage. Titus stabs his own daughter, and Tamora wants the mixed-race c...
