Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's exploration of violence of all kinds: religious, domestic, political, sexual, and corrective violence. Titus shows how quickly private revenge can spiral out of control if the law does not contain it. Revenge never evens the odds, but rather triggers counter-retaliation and creates an escalating cycle of revenge. The growing dynamic soon turns into a real feud between two clans to which the perpetrator and the victim belong. In the play, Titus' sacrifice of Tamora's eldest son, Alarbus, begins the cycle of violence that ultimately engulfs all Goths and Romans. The play begins with Titus Andronicus returning triumphant in his war against the Goths. It was during his ten-year campaign that he lost all but four of his twenty-five sons, but now he has achieved a final victory, as demonstrated by his captives: Tamora, her three sons, and Aaron, who is Tamora's servant and her lover. As Titus buries his dead sons in the family tomb, his eldest surviving son Lucius reminds him to make a human sacrifice. The sacrifice is offered “ad manes fratrum” – “in the shadow of our brothers” – to prevent them from disturbing the Romans with “wonders” or supernatural calamities. Tito offers Alarbo because he is the highest ranking male among the prisoners of war. Tamora begs for her son's life and begs Titus to be merciful. He tries to appeal to Titus as a parent. Tamora then goes on to argue that both the Romans and the Goths died on the battlefield, fighting with “pity” for their respective countries. Killing more Goths after they have been taken prisoners of war from that camp is a cruel excess. Titus sees the balance differently and, in his view, the Roman dead cry out for vengeance... middle of paper... as expected and fully supported in Shakespeare's time. The political and religious structures of the time did not reject the vengeful mentality prevalent in that era. For many people it was the right of the King or God to exact revenge for the wrongs of others because it was believed that they were the ones to whom the greatest injury had been caused. "Rome is nothing but a desert of tigers" is the perfect summary of the conflicts that Shakespeare creates between morals, ethics and philosophies. Many of these ideas are introduced and foreshadowed throughout the show. Shakespeare presents us with characters so fixed in their visions of honor, justice, and devotion that it may seem as if there is a clear line between what is right and wrong and right, yet he proceeds to blur that line through the single-mindedness and attachment of each character. has its own moral code.