Myth, Historical Metaphor, and Figuration: Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus

Metaphor is crucial in Titus Andronicus and in the historical interpretation of it. Aaron, its villain, thinks mythically, reducing metaphors, myths, and their aestheticizing of violence to physical actuality, with Lavinia as the prime exhibit of both physical brutality and the myth of Philomela. Aaron is revealed progressively, as if layers were being peeled off to find his malignant core.