SOURCE: Pikli, Natália. “The Crossing Point of Tears and Laughter, A Tragic Farce: Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.” AnaChronist (2000): 51-69.

In the following essay, Pikli explores Shakespeare's grotesque blending of violent tragedy and comic farce in Titus Andronicus.

The aged catch their breath, For the nonchalant couple go Waltzing across the tightrope As if there were no death Or hope of falling down; The wounded cry as the clown Doubles his meaning, and O How the dear little children laugh When the drums roll and the lovely Lady is sawn in half. 

(W. H. Auden)

The circus described by the Stage Manager in the Preface of Auden's Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest,¹ provides a highly revealing picture of the theatre in general, while highlighting how Shakespeare's plays work on stage, and in the theatre of our minds. The dramatic effect of his plays evokes two universal signs of emotion...