Titus vs. Tamora

The common battle between the hero and the villain is a classic in any storytelling but I find it very complex in the case of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. I feel to call Titus a hero is wrong in the sense that while he is noble, he does not kill for defense or justice but out of revenge. In the first act Titus kills his son and later on kills his only daughter, these are not the acts of hero. Titus is more of an anti-hero, meaning while he is not a villain, he doesn’t not meet the criteria to be a hero. Through acts 3-4 he shows that he cares for his children and is willing to even cut off his own hand (3.1:183-192). Tamora on the other hand while she the main antagonist, is she really that much of villain? In the opening act (1.1:70-168) it explains a war between the Romans and Goths, Tamora the Queen of the Goths along with her children and secret lover are captured by the Roman general Titus, Titus in revenge for his sons deaths at battle, kills Tamora’s eldest son, Alarbus while she pleads and begs him not too. Now the question becomes is Titus wrong for killing the son? While I can understand his motives and his reasoning however irrational, I don’t think he’s in the right for the fact this was battle. His sons died in battle not because of some malicious targeted attack from Tamora that we the audience know of, but him killing her son was a targeted, malicious attack. Tamora a grieving and angry mother makes it her mission to get revenge on Titus and his family, while neither of their acts of revenge throughout the play are truly right or justified. I don’t think one should be painted as a hero and other as a villain, when the so called hero started the cycle and the so called villain retaliated because of it. While Tamora did take her revenge very far and malicious, her insidious attack can be view objectively as her way of getting “justice” for her son knowing that he will never get any. Meanwhile Titus on the other hand after Tamora’s vicious retaliation was able to get “justice” for his daughter, Lavinia’s rape and the innocent murders of his two sons, Martius and Quintus by killing Tamora and her two remaining sons who raped Lavinia in the final act. In this vicious circle of revenge, I don’t think it’s justified or fair to call Tamora a villain or solely call Titus a hero, they both did very questionable acts throughout acts 1-5, especially by today’s standards.