Queen Tamora (Titus Andronicus)

Queen of the Goths, mother of Chiron and Demetrius in "Titus Andronicus." Though her very first speech shows her to be a caring mother who has an appreciation of the nobility of mercy, Tamora is associated with barbarism, savagery, and unrestrained lasciviousness. Indeed, Tamora exhibits extreme ruthlessness, particularly when she encourages her sons to rape Lavinia, and says that she knows not the meaning of pity. Even though she is opposite in everything to the archetypal victim Lavinia, feminist theorists like to cast her in the position of a victim of a male law of order. In this light, she becomes the dartboard for misogynistic fear of sexual appetite.