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[xiphias]

People are posting favorite lines and scenes from Shakespeare. Dunno why, but, okay.

So, the background here

Titus Andronicus, Act 4, Scene 2, the second half of it.

Background: the characters are Aaron the Moor, who is Evil But So Damn Cool, and ought to be played by Samuel L Jackson, Chiron and Demetrius, Queen Tamora's more-or-less interchangeable sons, who are also evil but nowhere near as cool, and a nurse carrying a baby.

Queen Tamora was Queen of the Goths, which is when she had these two sons, and, more recently, remarried to the Emperor of Rome, making her the Empress. And, as the scene starts, people have been waiting for her to give birth to the brand new heir to Rome.

Enter a Nurse, with a blackamoor Child in her arms

Nurse
Good morrow, lords:
O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor?

AARON
Well, more or less, or ne'er a whit at all,
Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?

Nurse
O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!

AARON
Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!
What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?

Nurse
O, that which I would hide from heaven's eye,
Our empress' shame, and stately Rome's disgrace!
She is deliver'd, lords; she is deliver'd.

AARON
To whom?

Nurse
I mean, she is brought a-bed.

AARON
Well, God give her good rest! What hath he sent her?

Nurse
A devil.

AARON
Why, then she is the devil's dam; a joyful issue.

Nurse
A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue:
Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toad
Amongst the fairest breeders of our clime:
The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal,
And bids thee christen it with thy dagger's point.

AARON
'Zounds, ye whore! is black so base a hue?
Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.

DEMETRIUS
Villain, what hast thou done?

AARON
That which thou canst not undo.

CHIRON
Thou hast undone our mother.

AARON
Villain, I have done thy mother.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Really? How do you see Aaron?

And, c'mon -- with a line like, "I've DONE thy mother," how can you NOT see SLJ in the role?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

You don't think Sam is too old for the role? I think he has the powerful gravity of a mature actor, but I don't see that working for Aaron. I think of Aaron as young and sinewy and snake-like -- and planes notwithstanding -- Sam isn't that. I would cast him in a heartbeat as Lord Capulet, or Master Ford, or perhaps even Titus himself, but I see Aaron as younger, more slithery.

I'd certainly let Sam read for it though, on the chance that he could change my mind. :-)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I always have assumed that he and Tamora are about the same age, and Tamora has three two grown sons.