Critical Essay | Critical Review by Mary Lindroth

Critical Review by Mary Lindroth

SOURCE: Lindroth, Mary. “‘Some Device of Further Misery’: Taymor's Titus Brings Shakespeare to Film Audiences with a Twist.” Literature/Film Quarterly 29, no. 2 (April 2001): 107-15.

In the following review, Lindroth assesses Julie Taymor's film Titus and examines the way her film molds Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus into a twenty-first century idiom.

[After] viewing the film Titus by Julie Taymor, I am in awe at how well she has brought this Shakespearean play to life. … [A] scene that will stay with me forever … [occurred] after the brutal rape of Lavinia … [Lavinia] was standing on a stump in the distance. We could see that she was hurt and in pain. In her white dress she stood there needing help. Her hair had been let out and it was all over. Her hands were replaced by sticks. As Marcus approached her he asked her to speak. We were then shocked...
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