Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

15 reviews

raye_charlie's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Grief, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Racism, Murder, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

kygpub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this play is fucking exhausting. somehow, that is a good thing.

okay. to be frank, a lot of things about this suck. misogyny and racism run rampant. characters get put on stage without logic or justification (

what were lavinia and bassanius  even doing there?

). all but 3 of them have something utterly hateable about them. but i can't bring myself to hate the play itself. it's too interesting of a historical case study, too crafty in its machinations, too utterly outrageous in the lengths it is willing to go to elicit the reaction it desires. it's probably blasphemy to prefer this to the greats of tragedy, but i've never been a fan of supernatural horror and this fell right in my niche: overt classical references, revenges that actually come to fruition, and buckets upon buckets of blood. borders on too nasty for its own good (for other people i'm sure it crosses that line entirely); for me, it pulls enough punches to make it bearable—if, as i said, exhausting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Misogyny, Violence, Rape, Gore, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, and Racial slurs

Minor: Pregnancy

mjones14's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed the horror aspects of this - whilst it is a bit complicated at times, you're kinda there for the gore. It's a cross between othello, romeo & Juliet, and saw

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Gore, Grief, Blood, and Colonisation

Minor: Racism and Slavery

lifeasabookbutterfly's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

so deranged???? so insane but might be up there in my top 3 Shakespeare plays???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Gore, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Death, Rape, Death of parent, Blood, Sexual harassment, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

_christinadevin's review against another edition

dark funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Rape, and Murder

megmata's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Misogyny, Rape, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Gore, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Infidelity

sophia_ryann's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Blood

malenesp's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Murder, Sexual violence, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Racism

kingcrookback's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This isn't my first time reading Titus Andronicus, but somehow the level of violence was still a bit shocking. Between the violence and the racism, this is one of Shakespeare's most difficult plays, though it's very much in the vein of revenge tragedies of the time. There are also some very interesting and complex details to be found here. Unlike Shakespeare's other Roman plays, Titus's story is fictional, not historical, but it's fascinating to see how Shakespeare drew from the Renaissance humanist education that many boys would have received in England at the time. The myth of Philomela, as told by Ovid, exerts significant influence on the play and raises some intriguing questions about women's behavior in patriarchal societies (for example, how lateral aggression between women upholds a patriarchal value system that exerts control over women). The play also sets up juxtapositions between supposed opposites that actually turn out to exhibit significant similarities--Romans vs. Goths, legitimate vs. illegitimate behavior, etc.--which brings to light the instability of concepts such as normality, propriety, and morality as social constructs and thus arbitrary. The aggressive anti-Black racism around Aaron's whole character is...upsetting, to say the very least. And even though one can argue that his villainy is in service of directing attention to the inhumane treatment he's faced, the fact remains that his character affirms anti-Black sentiments within and without the play. There may be some merit to him, but Othello he is not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gore, Racism, Rape, Blood, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: War

Minor: Xenophobia

kymberly's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

listen...this play was fantastic. Quite literally one of my favorite Shakespeare plays of all time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death