Aaron the Moor

"Aaron the Moor" is Tamora's secret lover and the diabolical mastermind behind the plot to
destroy the Andronicus family. He's also, in my opinion, the play's most fascinating character.

When, at the play's end, Marcus looks around at the bodies that litter the stage, he declares that
Aaron is the "chief architect and plotter of these woes" (5.3.3). Think of all that Aaron is
responsible for: Aaron convinces Demetrius and Chiron to rape Lavinia (2.1), he's responsible
for framing Martius and Quintus for the murder of Bassianus (2.1), and he even convinces Titus
to lop off his own hand (3.1).

OK, we know Aaron causes a lot of suffering – but why does he do it? Because he wants to help
his lover, Tamora, get revenge against Titus? Maybe, but Aaron never comes out and says as
much. There's got to be some better explanation. We could argue that Aaron's only motive for
going after the Andronicus family is that he just likes to be bad. Check out what Aaron says
when Lucius demands to know whether Aaron is sorry for his "heinous deeds."

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…
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. (5.1.10)

Yet later, when Aaron lashes out at the nurse for calling his dark-skinned child a "joyless,
dismal, black and sorrowful issue" that should be "christen[ed] with a daggers point" (4.2.6), we
can see that Aaron's behavior may be a response to the way the Romans and Goths treat him as
loathed outsider. This seems especially true when he shouts at the nurse, "'Zounds ye whore! Is
black so base a hue?" (4.2.11).
Aaron’s Race:

As we've seen, Titus Andronicus makes a very big deal out of Aaron's blackness, and
Shakespeare draws on some 16th century stereotypes in its portrayal of Aaron's character. For
example, Aaron's blackness is synonymous with evil throughout the play. He's referred to as a
"barbarous" Moor more times than we can count. (FYI: for Shakespeare, the terms "Moor" and
"blackamoor" generally refer to any black character.) Also, Aaron displays the kind of
hypersexuality so often associated with black characters in Elizabethan literature.

The interesting thing about Aaron is that he simultaneously embraces and defies these
stereotypes.
Timeline

1.1: A prisoner of war, Aaron is paraded through the streets of Rome along with Tamora
and some Goth prisoners.

2.1: After being set free, Aaron delivers a soliloquy (a long speech revealing a character's
innermost thoughts). He says he's psyched that Tamora is now a powerful empress. She's
his love slave, which means that Aaron is now powerful enough to destroy Rome.

2.1: Aaron hears Demetrius and Chiron bickering over who should get to court the newly
married Lavinia. Aaron convinces the brothers that they should rape her in the forest
while everyone else is out hunting.

2.3: Aaron hides a bag of gold under a tree in the woods. When Tamora shows up and
wants to make out, Aaron says he's too busy thinking about vengeance to have sex with
her. Aaron gives Tamora a forged letter and instructs her to give it to Saturninus. He then
runs off when he sees Lavinia and Bassianus approaching.

2.3: Aaron sends Demetrius and Chiron to the place in the forest where Tamora, Lavinia,
and Bassianus are standing so they can rape Lavinia.

2.3: Aaron lures Quintus and Martius to a pit in the forest where Demetrius and Chiron
have dumped Bassianus's dead body. When Martius falls in, Aaron runs off and fetches
Saturninus.

2.3: Back at the pit, Aaron watches his plot unfold – Saturninus sees his brother's dead
body and reads the forged letter that makes it look like Quintus and Martius paid a
woodsman to kill Bassianus. Aaron is all "Aha – here's the bag of gold to prove it!"

3.1: At Titus's house, Aaron lops off Titus's hand after duping Titus into believing
that Saturninus will free Martius and Quintus if Titus sacrifices a limb.

4.2: Aaron discovers that Saturninus's wife, Tamora, has given birth to his son. He
kills Tamora's nurse so the woman can't tell anyone about it.

4.2: Aaron hatches a plan to substitute a white baby for his black son so the
emperor won't know Tamora has been cheating.

4.2: Aaron takes his baby to the forest, where he plans to raise it to be a warrior.

5.1: Aaron is captured and confesses to everything so the Romans won't hang his son.

5.3: Aaron is sentenced to be buried up to his chest in the ground, where he'll be left to
die.