Editing Titus Andronicus (section)

=== Setting ===
The story of ''Titus Andronicus'' is fictional, not historical, unlike Shakespeare's other Roman plays, ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'', and ''[[Coriolanus]]'', all of which are based on real historical events and people (or, in the case of ''Coriolanus'', believed to be historical by late Romans, as well as in Shakespeare's time). Even the time in which ''Titus'' is set may not be based on a real historical period. According to the prose version of the play (see below), the events are "set in the time of [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]]", who ruled from 379 to 395. On the other hand, the general setting appears to be what Clifford Huffman describes as "late-Imperial Christian Rome", possibly during the reign of [[Justinian I]] (527–565).<ref>{{harvp|Huffman|1972|p=735}}</ref> Also favouring a later date, Grace Starry West argues,
: "the Rome of ''Titus Andronicus'' is Rome after [[Lucius Junius Brutus|Brutus]], after [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], and after [[Ovid]]. We know it is a later Rome because the emperor is routinely called [[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]; because the characters are constantly alluding to [[Lucius Tarquinius Superbus|Tarquin]], [[Lucretia]], and Brutus, suggesting that they learned about Brutus' [[Roman Republic|new founding of Rome]] from the same literary sources we do, [[Livy]] and [[Plutarch]]."<ref>{{harvp|West|1982|p=74}}</ref>

Others are less certain of a specific setting, however. For example, [[Jonathan Bate]] has pointed out that the play begins with Titus returning from a successful ten-year campaign against the Goths, as if at the height of the Roman Empire, but ends with Goths invading Rome, [[Sack of Rome (410)|as if at its death]].<ref>{{harvp|Bate|1995|p=19}}</ref> Similarly, T.J.B.&nbsp;Spencer argues that
: "the play does not assume a political situation known to Roman history; it is, rather a summary of Roman politics. It is not so much that any particular set of political institutions is assumed in ''Titus'', but rather that it includes ''all'' the political institutions that Rome ever had."<ref>{{harvp|Spencer|1957|p=32}}</ref>