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Motifs
Definition of Personification
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down... read full definition
Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the... read full definition
Act 4, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Terras Astraea Reliquit:
Justice is frequently personified as a woman throughout the play. One of the most potent examples of this phenomenon occurs in Act 4, Scene 3, when Titus gathers his family to ask for divine aid in their pursuit of justice:
Terras Astraea reliquit.
Be you remembered, Marcus, she’s gone, she’s fled.—
Sirs, take you to your tools. You, cousins, shall
Go sound the ocean and cast your nets;
Happily you may catch her in the sea;
Yet there’s as little justice as at land.
No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it.
’Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade,
And pierce the inmost center of the Earth.
Then, when you come to Pluto’s region,
I pray you, deliver him this petition.
Tell him it is for justice and for aid,
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Terras Astraea Reliquit:
Justice is frequently personified as a woman throughout the play. One of the most potent examples of this phenomenon occurs in Act 4, Scene 3, when Titus gathers his family to ask for divine aid in their pursuit of justice:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Terras Astraea reliquit.
Be you remembered, Marcus, she’s gone, she’s fled.—
Sirs, take you to your tools. You, cousins, shall
Go sound the ocean and cast your nets;
Happily you may catch her in the sea;
Yet there’s as little justice as at land.
No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it.
’Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade,
And pierce the inmost center of the Earth.
Then, when you come to Pluto’s region,
I pray you, deliver him this petition.
Tell him it is for justice and for aid,
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—I am Revenge:
In Act 5, Scene 2, Tamora and her sons Demetrius and Chiron disguise themselves as personified representations of Revenge, Rape, and Murder to trick Titus. Although Titus suspects he knows the identities of the three figures at his door, Tamora is quick to try and convince him of their purported identities:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora.
She is thy enemy, and I thy friend.
I am Revenge, sent from th’ infernal kingdom
To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind
By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes.
Come down and welcome me to this world’s light.
Confer with me of murder and of death.
There’s not a hollow cave or lurking-place,
No vast obscurity or misty vale
Where bloody murder or detested rape
Can couch for fear but I will find them out,
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,
Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake.
Related Themes:
