Revenge and Sacrifice: an investigation of violence in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and Julius Caesar

Abstract

My thesis is a comparative study which centres on the issue of violence in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and Julius Caesar, particularly with reference to sacrifice and revenge. It is basically focussed on sacrificial rites and revenge murders as examples of gratuitous violence. Throughout my study I also investigate the element of blood as a purifying means as well as the denominator between sacrifice and revenge. Blood is analysed also in relation to family bonds and to the religious imagery which is often connected with it. The last chapter of my research is devoted to the issue of the dismembering of the body, and to the study of its parts as sources of power.