To say that "all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" would be to describe many of Shakespeare's plays. Many of the characters in Shakespeare's plays are subconsciously playing parts in their own soap operas. For instance, in "Titus Andronicus," the outcome of Titus' life is a direct reflection of the consequences of his actions. Titus' tragic life unfolds before us like a horrible nightmare. Had he foreseen the suffering he would endure by his own actions, he would have been able to avoid such an untimely death. Perhaps the character of Saturninus is the best example of the famous quote from the play "As You Like It," because he is always pretending to be something he is not to the masses while showing his true colors in private. The first indication that Saturninus is not a very nice man is when he decides to thank Titus for his loyalty by choosing Lavinia's hand in marriage as if doing Titus a favor. Throughout most of the play, Saturninus acts as if he is Titus' friend, only to be stabbing him in the back for the most part. Saturninus is quite possibly one of the best true-to-life actors in the play. There is only one other character that plays to more than one audience far better than Saturninus, and that would be his wife Tamora, Queen of the Goths.
             Tamora plays the part of the loving wife to her husband, the emperor, but shows a much different side of herself when together with her lover Aaron the Moor. This play describes to me more than any other play how people are playing roles in their everyday lives as if we were all part of one huge sitcom on television that perhaps someone, somewhere is watching. In these sitcoms, we can choose to be true to ourselves and to others, as Tamora reveals her true identity while in the company of Aaron, or we can wear masks to the multitude in order to trick them into believing we are far more desirable than ...