Farewell to arms – Titus cuts his hand off and then laughs

Horror Moments, Shakespeare Edition

‘Horror Moments’ is a series examining horror-inflected scenes and themes in unexpected places. The ‘moments’ are published weekly on Thursday mornings, and I share bonus content on the history of magic, theatre, storytelling, and more on Monday afternoons – don’t forget to subscribe!

[Spoilers: Titus Andronicus (1592), Evil Dead 2 (1987)]

It’s been a fairly heavy couple of weeks of horror moments, but worry not, curious reader, because today things get much cheerier. Today we are going to talk about laughing! Laughing about the fact you’ve cut your own hand off.

Titus Andronicus is not having a good day. Two of his sons are in the custody of the most powerful woman in Rome who hates his guts, his remaining son has been exiled, and he’s just found out that his son-in-law has been murdered and his daughter has been savagely raped and mutilated.

But things are looking up (sort of) because the emperor has apparently agreed to return his two imprisoned sons if Titus cuts off one of his hands and sends it to him. Titus rushes to oblige, but his son Lucius and brother Marcus valiantly try to outcompete each other in offering their hands instead. It’s an oddly comic moment after the horrible revelation of Lavinia’s torture:  

AARON

Nay, come, agree whose hand shall go along,
For fear they die before their pardon come.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

My hand shall go.

LUCIUS

By heaven, it shall not go!

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Sirs, strive no more: such wither'd herbs as these
Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine.

LUCIUS

Sweet father, if I shall be thought thy son,
Let me redeem my brothers both from death.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

And, for our father's sake and mother's care,
Now let me show a brother's love to thee.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Agree between you; I will spare my hand.

LUCIUS

Then I'll go fetch an axe.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

But I will use the axe.

Exeunt LUCIUS and MARCUS

Secretly, while they are offstage arguing, Titus gives up his hand. In some productions, this is a nasty hacking affair, in some it is a disturbingly clinical amputation. Either way, the hand is removed. His sons are returned to him in accordance with the bargain – but this is Titus Andronicus, so only their heads are sent back.

Just in case we hadn’t got the full picture, Marcus decides to describe the situation at length (Marcus has a habit of doing this):  

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

Now, farewell, flattery: die, Andronicus;
Thou dost not slumber: see, thy two sons' heads,
Thy warlike hand, thy mangled daughter here:
Thy other banish'd son, with this dear sight
Struck pale and bloodless; and thy brother, I,
Even like a stony image, cold and numb.
Ah, now no more will I control thy griefs:
Rend off thy silver hair, thy other hand
Gnawing with thy teeth; and be this dismal sight
The closing up of our most wretched eyes;
Now is a time to storm; why art thou still?

And then something odd happens. Titus starts to laugh.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Ha, ha, ha!

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

Why dost thou laugh? It fits not with this hour.

Perhaps not, Marcus, but what else is there to do? Titus alone seems to understand that they are stuck in a plot that is contriving to hurt them as much as it possibly can. They are powerless in the face of the driving forces of revenge, and laughter is the only response left to them, the only act of defiance and resolve. What’s more, it readies Titus to rise above his sorrows and fix his eye upon his own revenge:  

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Why, I have not another tear to shed:
Besides, this sorrow is an enemy,
And would usurp upon my watery eyes
And make them blind with tributary tears:
Then which way shall I find Revenge's cave?
For these two heads do seem to speak to me,
And threat me I shall never come to bliss
Till all these mischiefs be return'd again
Even in their throats that have committed them…

They then gather up all the body parts – one of the oddest lines in all Shakespeare is Titus’ instruction to Lavinia – ‘Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth.’  And off they all go, strangely transformed, they have cried up all their tears and now can only laugh. 

There’s a brilliant scene in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 where our hero, Ash, realises that his right hand has been possessed with the demons that have infected his girlfriend, Linda. Horror and comedy are expertly interwoven in the Evil Dead films which have a joyously cartoonish tone despite their stomach-churning special effects.

The battle between Ash and Ash’s hand reaches its comic peak when, having cut the offending limb off with a chainsaw, Ash traps it under a bucket and a pile of books. On top of the pile is a copy of – naturally – A Farewell to Arms.

Laugher and horror have always been closely linked, even straight-faced horror films often elicit this response from a cinema audience. One of the delights of watching with other people is the moment of collective relief that comes when we laugh at our own fear the moment after it has passed.

Characters who laugh in horror films are usually sinister, but every now and then it plays a cathartic role and gives our hero a chance to delight in a triumph or to marvel at the sheer extent of their suffering.

“Who’s laughing now?” says Ash as he reaches for the chainsaw. For a moment, in Shakespeare’s bleakest play, we are all laughing with our handless hero.

Horror moments are posted every Thursday and a wide variety of articles exploring the history of magic, theatre, storytelling, and more are published on Monday afternoons.