Shakespeare set Titus Andronicus in Ancient Rome, during the Empire’s decline. However, the play is set in a fictional alternate retelling of the history of Rome—not during a specific year, under the rule of any actual Roman Emperor. Thus, none of the characters in the play are real figures from Roman history. This lack of depictions of actual historical figures as characters within the play is a departure from Shakespeare’s other works set in Ancient Rome, like Antony and Cleopatra or Julius Caesar. By writing a drama set in this version of the Roman Empire, Shakespeare is able to craft a convincing otherworldly setting for his audience to immerse themselves in without sullying the reputation or history of the actual Roman Empire.
The Elizabethan era was a time when criticisms of the government, and especially of the monarchy, could be quite tenuous. Setting plays in the world of Ancient Rome provided Shakespeare and his contemporary playwrights with a protective layer of distance that allowed them to examine their society with a degree of plausible deniability. Thus, it is precisely because this play is set in a fictional, distant, ancient, faraway setting (in terms of both location and time) that Shakespeare is able to interrogate the extremely debauched and violent events that occur within this drama.
