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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1450-1660] Renaissance » William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus

(Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 55-80.)

[1593] William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, edited by W. J. Craig (London: Oxford University Press: 1914; Online at Bartleby.com, 2000).

  Mar. At that that I have kill'd, my lord; a fly.
  Tit. Out on thee, murderer! thou kill'st my heart;
Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny:
A deed of death, done on the innocent,
Becomes not Titus' brother. Get thee gone;
I see, thou art not for my company.
  Mar. Alas! my lord, I have but kill'd a fly.
  Tit. But how if that fly had a father and a mother?
How would he hang his slender gilded wings
And buzz lamenting doings in the air!
Poor harmless fly,
That, with his pretty buzzing melody,
Came here to make us merry! and thou hast kill'd him.