Event Analysis 4 TVS

                I went to see Titus Andronicus performed by the Evergreen Players.  This play is the cycle of revenge between an old Roman General, Titus Andronicus, and the Queen of the Goths/Empress of Rome, Tamora.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, “Theology” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and “Tableau” by Countee Cullen all have the theme of ignorance and its unexpected consequences.  Titus Andronicus shows how the ignorant acts of every character in the play led a long cycle of revnge and death.  In particular, Titus’s ignorance in believing that Tamora would not be able to take revenge for her son’s death, ignorance of Lavinia running away to her lover caused Tamora to gain the power to strike back at Titus, and Tamora’s ignorance that Titus would not then strike back, thus staring the cycle over again.  Frankenstein shows the ignorance of a very intelligent young man who believes not that he should have the right to usurp God’s authority over life, but must because he cannot deal with the loss of his love ones.  Because of his ignorant belief that he could overcome everything with knowledge, it led to his death by the fruit of his ignorance.  “Theology” can be seen in a light hearted and humorous light or a serious light, for the sake of this discussion I will use the serious outlook.  In this outlook, it seems to champion the idea that religion, or at least fanaticism in religion, is the greatest for of ignorance.  This is easily related to the fact that if Titus was not a fanatic of his religious beliefs, he would have never sacrificed Tamora’s son and this cycle of death never would have begun.  Finally, “Tableau” show the positive side of ignorance in that it allows us to move forward instead of looking back.  The ignorance of youth present in the two children within this poem allows them to coexist unlike their older counterparts. This relates to the fact that if Titus stayed ignorant about who raped his daughter, then he might have been able to move on from this feud with Tamora, but his daughter, for her own sanity, revealed her rapists, which was the straw that broke the camel’s hump in regards to Titus’s sanity.  These works all are strung together with the idea that ignorance can both help us in moving forward and towards a better tomorrow, but also hold us in the dark past.