Mojo, The Bard, & Me

Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!



-Tamora



Titus Andronicus                                 Act II, scene iii, line 51



Okay, now before you start thinking that we’ve got a nice sweet line here, remember what play we're looking at. Yes, Titus. So even though the word sweet is used twice in this line, beware; it is not a sweet line. You don’t believe me? Okay, here’s the context.


Tamora, who’s married to Saturninus, has just run into Aaron the Moor, her old buddy. She tries to get Aaron to make love to her, but he’s too busy. Busy doing what? Well he’s plotting the murder of Bassianus, Saturninus’s brother. And he’s going to see that two of Titus’s sons will get blamed for it. And just to make it a little more interesting, he’s going to set up the rape of Lavina by Tamora’s two sons. And of course after the rape they’ll cut out her tongue and cut off her hands.

And when Aaron explains to Tamora what he’s up to, what does she say?



Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!



So, still think it’s a sweet line?

Okay, no tricks here. This really is a sweet picture. We need one after that unsweet line. That's Nina sitting in a clothes basket banging down some milk, and that's her cousin Laura with what appears to be an empty glass, perhaps wondering how she can get a little of cuz's beverage. I'm not sure exactly how this scene ended, but I'm pretty sure it turned out okay for all involved.