Remember at the end when Aaron is caught and is getting buried in that pit saying his beautiful Shakespearian lines? Is he saying he regrets all that he's done or is he glad he got his revenge and doesnt actually care about anything? I was kinna confused
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he only has one regret. remember, he states all the horrible things he has done, and he says his one regret is that he could not do more. it's very chilling, Aaron is one of the greatest Shakespearian villains, or villains in general, him and Iago from Othello are two of the greatest villains ever written.
sharehe said something like "if there was one good deed that i did, it is only that that i regret..."
he was awesome in that role
Aaron's the ultimate villain. He's so completely unrepentant and serious, and Shakespeare's later villains (most notably iago and Richard III) have absolutely nothing on him. I mean, digging up corpses and propping them at their friends' doors with horrid little notes on their skin - you just can't beat that.
The only thing he cares about, to answer one of your questions, is his child. He knows that the promise extracted from Lucius will guarantee the child's life, which is really all he cares about other than basically being as evil as possible. He's also not only glad that he's had revenge, but he's happy about all the nastiness he's perpetrated.
I absolutely love Harry J. Lennix in this film, too. Such an awesome performance. Love him.
I disagree about Aaron... he's a polished version of Barabas from Christopher Marlowe's 'The Jew of Malta'.
He's nowhere near as serpentine as Iago, or as brilliant as Edmund (from King Lear).
Aaron spoke of all the wrongs the he bore that murdered any conscience that he was acused of not having (referred to as a god)
Aaron inflicted on those only what he was given to reveal what it feels like to be maliciously violated
His only justice was to ensure that his seed survived
The child was a blessing and a reward that he, whether on purpose or not,
achieved that allowed him to be survived and carry the message that his works were not in vain.
A villain Aaron was not,he was a prophet.
One of the most chilling things about Iago is his absolute joylessness. Aaron, in contrast, finds evil fun, and draws the audience into enjoying what he's doing. We admire his ingeniousness even as we recoil from the uses he puts it to.
shareI read an interesting analysis of Aaron recently. I think it was the Arden edition of Titus. It basically said, 'if you can see an Aaron in Iago, see an Othello in him too'. He does love and care for his son, after all. I think it's a little unfair on him to say he only loves him so the boy can carry on his evil works.
I think Lennix (I hope I spelt that right) was amazing as Aaron, but even at the end, I felt he had been transformed a little by his son and couldn't really believe him when he repented any good he had done.
As others have written his only regret is not to have done worse. He is not the most evil of Shakespeare's antagonist because he has been a slave who does not hold with religion or conscience (ref his appeal to Lucius) but he does have feeling for his son whereas Iago has feeling for no one including his own wife. Iago is evil supreme as he has no need to perpetrate the acts he does and he relishes the tragedy he visits on those around him.
my vessel is magnificent and large and huge-ishshare
Here are the exact lines with the answer in bold:
Aaron - I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand,
And, when I had it, drew myself apart
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter:
I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall
When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his :
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She swooned almost at my pleasing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.
Lucius - Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
Aaron - Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,—
Wherein I did not some notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devise his death,
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it,
Accuse some innocent and forswear myself,
Set deadly enmity between two friends,
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends' doors,
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.'
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
👆Badass!