A 'how it should have ended' textual intervention of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus
On her way back to the Manor from the village, Aurelia looked down at her empty basket. She smiled at the good she had done already, so early in the day. She had left the Manor earlier, with a basket full of bread buns and grapes to take to the young village girls she gathers together every third day of the week. She tells them stories about the Gods and teaches them how to write the numerals in the dust on the ground. Lucius, her husband, had taught her these same things when they were both young; he would go to his classes in the castle hall, run to the village library to meet her, and retell everything he had learned. Young Aurelia, despite her mother’s desperate attempts, did not take up cooking for she burned everything, she did not take up sewing for she would prick her finger with every stitch, she did not take up the harp for somehow by the end of playing a most awful tune, her hair would have wound its way around all forty-seven strings. She was deemed useless and left behind by most girls her age when they began to get jobs around the village and in mansions. Lucius, however, saw that kindness and generosity were the things that came naturally to this girl, and as she grew up, he was not blind to how her beauty began to complement these traits, and very soon they were married. Lucius’ sister Livinia was the only person displeased by this union. They were of the same age and had somewhat grown up together. Livinia was what Aurelia could never be: intelligent, poised, and quiet. She was a delicate seamstress, and a talented florist and she often blessed the manor with her angelic voice. Surprisingly though, the vines of jealousy only seemed to grow in Livinia. Now that Aurelia was the wife of Lucius, a respected man in the city, and no longer a little village girl who could not do right by trying, she was encouraged to spread her kindness. She gained the name Aurelia the Angel, and the title The Heart of Rome. Livinia grew greener every day. She would not speak to her sister-in-law. She would banish herself from any room Aurelia stepped into. She was rotten with hatred, creating this competition between the two. There could only be one beauty beloved by Rome, and before Lucius picked this woman up from the side of the road (in Livinia’s opinion) she was Rome’s Heart.
While skipping back to the Manor, Aurelia saw three men looking rather suspicious just outside of the castle. There had been a new emperor crowned and he had married the queen of the enemy army. It was a rather confusing matter for Aurelia to wrap her pretty little head around, what with arranged marriages, murder rituals, and treason, but she was overjoyed by her husband's return, and the family was off on a group hunting trip to rejoice. She hovered a little nearer to the men, pretending to fuss with her dress and hair. What she heard then, made her limbs freeze and her lip quiver. She had never heard such foul things in her entire life. Not even the worst of war stories she had been told by Lucius, held tales of such devilish acts.
She sped over the moat bridge, under the gate’s arch, across the castle grounds, and down the hallway that led to the stairs up to the west wing. She hitched up her dress that only now she saw was splashed with murky water and mud. She did not care at this moment. Continuing her pursuit to get this news to someone with power, she pushed herself up the stairs, sometimes taking leaps to take two at once. Down another hallway she ran, holding her dress up still so her legs could take wider strides. When she finally reached the door to her chambers she found she did not want to go in. He will believe me, she thought, he has to believe me. He would know that I would never be dishonest with him.
She pushed open the chamber door slowly. Her husband was inside Gathering together his hunting outfit.
‘Lucius,’ she started, but was interrupted.
‘Darling, you have returned, how was the village? How were the young ones?’
She did not answer him. It seemed as though she could not find words other than those that needed to be spoken. In her unusual absence of a reply, he turned to look at her. ‘Darling, whatever is the matter, you look sickly, you look as though you are to fall to the ground this very instant.’ He hurried to her and with one hand took her’s, and with the other stroked her cheek.
‘Lucius,’ she began again, ‘ The Empress’ sons…they are bad, they are so bad they are the devil’s children. They have conjured a plan for your sister. They are to do terrible things to her in the forest. They want revenge for their brother.’ She stopped speaking as though her speech had fallen out of her. As though for a moment she had been possessed, and some force was pushing the word out of her body and then had vanished, and she was herself again.
‘Aurelia darling, you must discard this discomfort with my sister. You are both as beautiful, you are both as precious to Rome. There is no need for these silly stories about one another.’
She was in fact stunned by his reply. She had expected the same amount of horror from him as she felt. Has this nonsense one-sided feud between the two women truly grown to this level?
‘I am not telling stories. It is true. I heard the men scheming just now on my return here. They plan to deflower her against her will, they plan to…’
‘Enough Aurelia, stop with this,’ this was the first time Lucius had ever raised his voice at his wife. Aurelia ran crying from her chambers. If her husband would not take her seriously, if he would be convinced that her words were untruthful all because of some silly jealousy that did not even belong to her, then she had nothing and nobody in this city. She had to take the warning straight to Livinia.
Fetching her horse and riding cloak from the stable herself, she rode fiercely down towards the forest. She slowed when she reached the guard at the back of the group, trying not to raise suspicions whilst searching for Livinia. She could be seen riding next to her father. Aurelia trotted towards the pair and approached convincingly cheery.
‘Livinia, may I have your ear for a moment, alone?”
‘If you must. I shall be two moments father, this disturbance should not take long.” The two women veered off from the group just a little.
‘Livinia you must listen to me. I overheard a terrible plan that the Empress’ sons have in store for you. It’s brutal and disgusting. You must not go into the woods, that is when they will strike. Please Livinia, we must lay our small battle to rest and you must come back to the castle with me at once.’
‘Are you ill Aurelia?’ Livina scoffed, staring blankly at her, ‘Have you a fever perhaps?’
‘What? Livinia I am well, this is the truth. I heard the three men scheming just outside the castle walls, they are seeking revenge on behalf of the new Empress.’ Aurelia thought she could not have been any clearer and any more serious. She dared not to speak of the acts which were in the men’s plans, as they were so vile she was not sure they could slip from her lips. But perhaps she could force them out if that’s what it would take for her to be believed. She looked to Livinia as they both rode on still, towards the edge of the forest. She felt frustrated tears fill her eyes.
‘Nobody, and certainly not the Empress’ sons, would dare hatch a plan against me. Besides, my father will be in the woods with me, Aurelia, and my brothers, and a dozen other men taking part in the hunt - nothing and nobody will be able to bring harm to me. Nobody out in the woods with me would see any pain strike the real Heart of Rome, think about that.’ She looked smug and turned away from the conversation. Her back was straight and her face unphased, and poised as usual. It was as if she thought Aurelia was playing some sort of game with her, and that she was the one winning.
‘Will you stop with this heart of Rome nonsense,’ Aurelia word’s bit at Livinia, her patience was running out. As was the time in which Livinia had to make her escape, ‘Livinia this is your life that is at stake. There are people who inhabit Rome as we speak, who wish to hurt you, they have spoken of awful things, I swear Livinia I heard them. They want to strip you of your beauty, they want to mangle and mutilate you, they want to make you unfit to be touched by another human. They pray to the Gods for the chance. They said they were to strike you down as though you were the doe your father is out hunting today.’
This time Livinia’s retort was quiet and sheepish, ‘You heard nothing, you…you are making it up, you want to be the only beauty out in the forest today so that the eyes of all men rest upon you only.’ She did not sound confident in her reasoning, so Aurelia, feeling as though she was finally getting through, made her final attempt. ‘I do not, dear Livinia. I no longer wish to go out on this hunt. I have ridden down here only to warn you. I want nothing to do with these men, nor Rome any longer. If being The Heart of Rome invites such cruelty I would sooner exile myself, than have that title bestowed upon me.’
Livinia stared, what seemed to be directly into Aurelia’s eyes as if she were searching her brain for evidence of lies. Alas, she seemed to find some somewhere and turned, stone-faced, away from Aurelia, ‘Leave me at once. Do not bother me again with your silly little games.’ She returned to her father.
Aurelia took a deep breath, followed by a long exhale. Her mind was barren of ideas. She slowed her horse almost to a halt as the group began to enter the forest. Titus, then Livinia, and a couple of her brothers. Maybe Livinia speaks truthfully about her father and brothers, maybe her men will protect her, and perhaps their love for her will be all the defense she needs against these criminal men. But they did not know of the plan. How could they halt danger they do not know is on its way? She could not observe any longer as she saw the sons of Tamora enter the forest. Aurelia looked around frantically, desperate to spot a tool of some sort. The rear guard passed her then and made his way through the first line of trees. She rode up to him and begged for his armour, helmet, and pilum, in exchange for her cloak. He obliged, he was merely a guard and had no right to argue.
Leaving the guard on his horse in only his toga and cloak, Aurelia galloped through the forest in search of Livinia. The oversized metal clanked together as she flew. She spotted the two men in the clearing already with Livinina in their grasp. She jumped from her horse, and the sound of clashing metal rang out through the trees making the men turn. There was fear on their faces as they stared up at what appeared to be an armed guard of Rome. Livinia screamed out for help as she writhed on the floor under the assailants’ grip. Aurelia having absolutely no idea that in fact the pilum she held in her hand was to be used as a spear, lifted it like a club above her head, gained some balance, and with a mightly audible swoop, struck the men down in one go. Blood splattered from the heads, dying the grass crimson when it landed. She removed her helmet and her long black hair spilled out, revealing who she was. Livinia gasped, and words of thanks and regret poured out as she cried.
‘Stop that Livinia, there are no thanks needed. Help me now to get these men over my horse.’ The two women picked up each body and very slowly with much struggle lifted them over the horse to carry them back to the village.
When they’d reached the village, the women pulled the bodies from horseback and lay them on the floor. In the dust, they wrote out with sticks sinners, devils, rapists, and quickly journeyed back to the Andronicus Manor. They spoke on their walk back of their plans to leave Lucius, Titus, and Rome far behind them.
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