"She hath no tongue to call, nor hands to wash;
And so let's leave her to her silent walks."
-Demetrius, Act II Sc. 3 of
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
NameLavinia Andronicus
Age20
GenderFemale
PersonalityLavinia is a quiet presence. She’s self-conscious but not socially anxious, and has a calm inner strength that can be surprising. She’s very sympathetic, very emotionally intelligent, knows herself and her limits, and has a very acute sense of right and wrong. Her mental health, though, is occasionally shaky; she suffers from depression and PTSD, and is easily frustrated with herself. She inherited the Andronicus temper — though colder than Titus’, she can be vindictive when angry. Before her “affair” she was a romantic, and vestiges of that romanticism still remain; however, she does not trust easily, though she wants people to trust her. She’s got steel in her; she’s tough and stubborn when she wants to be. It’s just all about reclaiming her independence right now.
BiographyLavinia is the youngest of the notoriously large Andronicus family (15 kids, all boys except her). Six came from her dad’s first marriage, six from her mom’s, and the final three (Quin, Marty, and her) from their union. Her childhood was full of roughhousing, keeping up with boys, and, of course, being papa’s favorite. Titus ran the butcher’s shop in town, assisted by his small army of children, and business was good.
When she was about five, her brothers began to leave, one by one, to start businesses and families of their own. Her oldest brother, Titus’ son Lucas, entered the military, but promised he’d be back to inherit the shop. He got married, too, soon after he left, but Lavinia barely remembers the wedding.
When she was twelve, her mom died, ripping a giant hole in the fabric of the family. Titus was torn apart, not only from the loss of his wife, but also from the estrangement of six of his sons — the boys on Mom’s side suddenly ceased communication, which for Lavinia meant they stopped coming to Christmas. With the help of Titus’ brother Marcus and the birth of Lucas’ first son, Lucas Jr., they managed to pull through without too much damage. Nine kids remained for Christmas, after all, and the best holiday meat pies were still at the Andronicus household.
When Liv was eighteen, another tragedy rocked the family. When visiting some friends in London with Quin and Marty, Lavinia suddenly disappeared. After twelve hours of frantic searching, the police finally located her in an alley, raped and mutilated, with her right hand missing and half of her tongue clenched in her left fist. Her tongue was successfully reattached, fortunately, and as soon as she could write she revealed who had done this to her — shakily with her left hand, she spelled out for the police “Chiron and Demetrius.”
Titus railed against this news, threatening to kill the thugs who had harmed his daughter. It got so bad that the police were forced to detain him, but Marcus, a lawyer, saved him from any terrible legal ramifications. The whole affair caused something to snap in Titus, though, and he hasn’t quite been the same since.
It’s been three months since Chiron and Demetrius received their sentences — life in prison without parole — and things are finally getting back to normal for Titus and Lavinia in Stratford. They re-opened shop after being closed for a year or so, with Lavinia now as the full time clerk and Lucas helping out whenever needed. Liv takes online classes, goes to therapy twice a week (speech therapy for the tongue issue and counseling for her PTSD), and occasionally helps out at the hospital, but besides that lives a pretty slow (blessedly slow, sometimes) life.
OtherIf anyone else wants to be a character from
Titus, I can adjust stuff!
