Aaron the Moor - Monologue

Aaron the Moor monologue from the film "Titus" from William Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus. Harry Lennix plays Aaron and give an epic speech.

Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them:
That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay:
I wrote the letter that thy father found
And hid the gold within the letter mention'd,
Confederate with the queen and her two sons:
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
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.
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.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• william
• shakespeare
• titus
• andronicus
• aaron
• the
• moor
• monologue
• harry
• lennix
• theatre
• play
• film

[tethrum]

Fabulous. I get delicious chills every time I hear it. Definitely my favorite lines.

[BrooklynJackBlue]

I love his defiance. He's going down, and he's doing it with middle fingers raised.

[ravenouscolonelhart]

@NitimurInVetitum7 you know what you basically got me, I have read the plays (thanks for the condescending phrasing) but I do try to avoid the dominant PC interpretations of Shakespeare (and everything else). My point was that it's easy to make an already-demonized minority the bad guy (like Marlowe's hilariously awesome Barabas the Jew, or Aaron), harder to make them the hero (like Othello). Your point about the racelessness of psychopathy is well taken BUT Aaron does say, "like a black dog."

[NitimurInVetitum7]

@ravenouscolonelhart Shakespeare doesn't so much display "a much more sophisticated understanding about race"in Othello ,than he does a more sophisticated understanding of pyschopathy. Was Iago, also a figure of loathing in Italian society?Of course not. Iago's personality is a lot like Aaron's.Why would you even compare Aaron to Othello.Try to read the plays without the modern filter of racial identity.Race doesn't explain everything.Most times evil is just evil.

[NitimurInVetitum7]

@ravenouscolonelhart I sorry, but you're simply wrong.If you read the play,line for line,there in nothing to indicate that he was "loathed" by Roman society.Outsider yes,object of loathing no.Your idea is more of a hollywood conceite.A well saturated to the point of conventional wisdom conceite,but never the less a Hollywood production value conceit.The aliennation Aaron probably felt was the alienation common to most psychopaths. TA wasn't about 'race',but tragic heroism and revenge.

[ravenouscolonelhart]

@NitimurInVetitum7 actually I think that this, Shakespeare's first tragedy, is a little one-dimensional. Aaron was strong and smart, yes, but he is loathed by the Roman society because of his race (more a projection of Shakespeare's society than the Roman Empire) and this, I think, makes him plan to be just as evil as everyone thinks him. Many years later, Shakespeare displays a much more sophisticated understanding of race and alienation in Othello.

[NitimurInVetitum7]

@HellsHord You've misunderstood Shakespeare and Aaron's reasoning.You've given Aaron the reasoning of a lowlife malcontent.Aaron was a superior man brought down by fate.He was a Lion entrapped by wild dogs of "stature".Just because he was "black",doesn't mean he was a victim lashing out;and you shouldn't view his character that way.

[HellsHord]

this was an excellent movie the sets and costumes where just as good as the dialogue Aaron reasoning was that since he was a moor who was loathed by men of stature that he was going to be the most loathsome thing men have ever seen. and take pride in it..even in paradise the devil took his rightful place

[ravenouscolonelhart]

ummm.... jesus CHRIST.

[KSmoothSaxG]

omgsajpoifjoapidsfpjojsf TESTOSTERONE IS PUMPING THROUGH MY BODY!

[TheVikingElvis]

Oh man - I love that so much.