Original: If there were reason for these miseries,
Modern: If there was a logical explanation for all this suffering,

Original: Then into limits could I bind my woes:
Modern: Then I could put boundaries around my grief:

Original: When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o’erflow?
Modern: When the sky cries rain, doesn’t the earth flood?

Original: If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
Modern: If the winds are violent, doesn’t the ocean become wild,

Original: Threatening the welkin with his big-swoln face?
Modern: Threatening the sky with its huge, swollen waves?

Original: And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?
Modern: And do you expect me to have a reason for this chaos?

Original: I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do blow!
Modern: I am the ocean; listen, how her sighs create wind!

Original: She is the weeping welkin, I the earth:
Modern: She is the crying sky, and I am the earth:

Original: Then must my sea be moved with her sighs;
Modern: Then my ocean must be stirred up by her sighs;

Original: Then must my earth with her continual tears
Modern: Then my earth must be soaked by her constant tears

Original: Become a deluge, overflow’d and drown’d;
Modern: And become a flood, overflowing and drowned;

Original: For why my bowels cannot hide her woes,
Modern: Because my insides cannot contain her sorrows,

Original: But like a drunkard must I vomit them.
Modern: But like a drunk person, I must throw them up.

Original: Then give me leave, for losers will have leave
Modern: Then allow me this, because those who have lost have the right

Original: To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.
Modern: To relieve their pain by speaking harsh words.

In Act III, Scene 1 of Titus Andronicus, Titus and his family gather in Rome where they encounter the severed heads of his sons Martius and Quintus, who have been executed for the alleged murder of Bassianus. Aaron the Moor approaches and tells Titus that the Emperor will spare his remaining sons if either Titus, Marcus, or Lucius cuts off their hand as ransom. Both Marcus and Lucius volunteer to sacrifice their hands, but while they go to fetch an axe, Titus secretly has Aaron cut off his own hand. Aaron departs with the severed hand, promising to return with the freed sons.

Aaron soon returns, but instead of bringing the living sons, he delivers Titus’s severed hand along with the heads of Martius and Quintus, revealing that the Emperor has broken his promise. The cruel deception devastates the family, and Marcus and Lucius are overcome with grief at this additional betrayal. Titus, having reached his breaking point after losing his hand for nothing and seeing his sons’ heads, begins to laugh maniacally at the absurdity of their suffering. He then instructs Lavinia to carry one head in her mouth, while he and Marcus each take a head in their remaining hands, and they exit together to bury the dead sons.

Titus Andronicus opens with the Roman general Titus returning victorious from war against the Goths, bringing with him prisoners including Tamora, Queen of the Goths, and her three sons. Despite Tamora’s pleas, Titus sacrifices her eldest son Alarbus in revenge for his own sons killed in battle. The Emperor Saturninus chooses Tamora as his bride, and she secretly plots revenge against Titus. Meanwhile, Titus’s daughter Lavinia is betrothed to Bassianus, the Emperor’s brother, though Saturninus had wanted to marry her himself.

Tamora’s sons Demetrius and Chiron, aided by the villainous Aaron the Moor, murder Bassianus and brutally assault Lavinia, cutting off her hands and tongue to prevent her from identifying them. Aaron tricks two of Titus’s sons, Quintus and Martius, into falling into the pit where Bassianus’s body lies, and they are arrested for his murder. Aaron then deceives Titus into believing that if he cuts off his own hand and sends it to the Emperor, his sons will be spared. Titus complies, but receives back his severed hand along with the heads of his executed sons.

Lavinia manages to reveal her attackers’ identities by writing in the dirt with a stick held in her mouth. Titus feigns madness while plotting revenge and sends weapons with threatening messages to Tamora’s sons. When Tamora gives birth to Aaron’s child, Aaron flees with the baby but is eventually captured. In the final act, Titus kills Tamora’s sons and serves them to her baked in a pie at a banquet. He then kills Lavinia to end her suffering, murders Tamora, and is immediately killed by Saturninus. Titus’s surviving son Lucius kills Saturninus and is proclaimed the new Emperor, ordering Aaron to be buried alive and vowing to restore order to Rome.