At the start of Act 3, Scene 1, Titus laments to himself that he would cut his hands off, heartbroken at the tragedies that have befallen his sons, who are now slated for the execution block. His vocal wishes of self-harm are hyperbolic and excessive, demonstrating the depth of his grief and the intensity of his resolve to exact vengeance, which is growing with every passing moment:
Give me a sword. I’ll chop off my hands too,
For they have fought for Rome and all in vain;
And they have nursed this woe in feeding life;
In bootless prayer have they been held up,
And they have served me to effectless use.
Now all the service I require of them
Is that the one will help to cut the other.—
’Tis well, Lavinia, that thou hast no hands,
For hands to do Rome service is but vain.
Later in the same scene, while trying to determine what horror has happened to Lavinia (and at the same time attempting, haltingly, to comfort her), Titus builds upon his initial hyperbole:
And in the fountain shall we gaze so long
Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,
And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears?
Or shall we cut away our hands, like thine?
Or shall we bite our tongues, and in dumb shows
Pass the remainder of our hateful days?
Unable to find the words to address the harm that has obviously been done to his daughter, Titus resorts to increasingly desperate suggestions, emphasizing the extent he would go to care for his family. Titus’s frantic questions reveal a brokenhearted father on unsure territory. His instinct towards violence as an adequate solution to resolve violence is particularly telling, reflecting the ongoing descent and corruption of his character.
