Parody, Pastiche, Camp

While reading the first act of Titus Andronicus, I actually got the impression that the play was written to be a parody. Even before I had read the section of the introduction that we read in class, which seemed to solidify my thought even more. The reason I felt this is because it seemed humorous and over the top (such as burying the 21 sons that we mentioned in class), but it didn't feel campy as I read it. It didn't seem to me as though Shakespeare was really taking the play seriously. For example, Act I Scene I around lines 145 to 160 is where Lucius reports back to Titus that they sacrificed Alarbus. When reading this I just got the feeling that Shakespeare was having fun with it. The way it came across to me was more like: "See how we've done our jobs, and chopped him up?" "Yes look how you did do your job" It didn't read like a normal conversation, but more like Shakespeare was poking fun with the dialogue, and going a little over the top. I think examples of such dialogue appear throughout the first act as well, and help to illustrate how Shakespeare intended this to be a fun, over the top parody.