Act 2, Scene 1 begins with a soliloquy delivered by Aaron the Moor, revealing his romantic relationship with Tamora:
Upon [Tamora’s] wit doth earthly honor wait,
And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown.
Then, Aaron, arm thy heart and fit thy thoughts
To mount aloft with thy imperial mistress,
And mount her pitch whom thou in triumph long
Hast prisoner held, fettered in amorous chains
And faster bound to Aaron’s charming eyes
Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.
The illicit relationship between Aaron and Tamora is one of the most significant in the play. Their romantic partnership fuels much of the violence that ensues throughout the rest of the play, as Aaron’s gruesome plans are inspired by a desire to help his lover seek vengeance. As Aaron praises Tamora’s wit, beauty, and character, he also reveals the couple’s plans to bring about the downfall of Rome and Saturninus:
Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts!
I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold
To wait upon this new-made emperess.
To wait, said I? To wanton with this queen,
This goddess, this Semiramis, this nymph,
This siren that will charm Rome’s Saturnine
And see his shipwrack and his commonweal’s.
Despite the divine pedestal he places her on in the passage above, Aaron’s bloodthirsty devotion and desire to fulfill the wishes of Tamora does not last forever. When the product of their love bears fruit in the form of their mixed-race child, his loyalty swiftly changes from lover to father, and the preservation of his child takes precedence over duty to his queen. The extreme and bloody lengths Aaron goes to in order to protect and avenge those he cares for throughout the play are similar in scale to Titus and Tamora’s own scheming. With this soliloquy, the audience gets a hint of the psychology behind one of the three biggest schemers in the drama.
