Module 5: Drama

4. William Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus

The following example is a fragment (the front matter, and scene 2 of the second act) of William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, encoded and made available by the Perseus Digital Library.

The text of the play is preceded by front matter, consisting of a character list, and a prologue. The character list is encoded as a <castList> structure within a <div1> container in the <front> part. The cast list consists of <castItem> elements, listing the roles (<role>) with their description (<roleDesc>). Each role is identified with the @xml:id attribute. Three named groups of characters are grouped into <castGroup> elements; one nameless group of minor characters is listed as <castItem type="list">. Notice, how in the latter type of lists, both <role> and <roleDesc> are used a bit indiscriminate at first sight (e.g., both <roleDesc>Romans</roleDesc> and <role xml:id="tit​-11">Goths and Romans</role> occur). On second sight, however, <role> appears to be used for all speaking characters, who are formally identified with an @xml:id attribute. The front matter is concluded with a prologue (<prologue>) consisting of 28 lines spoken by the Chorus. The cast list is succeeded by a general description of the setting in which the action takes place, in the <set> element.

The body of the play (<body>) consists of 14 scenes, grouped into 5 acts. Acts are encoded in <div1> elements, in which the scenes occur as <div2> elements. Each speech is marked with <sp>, containing the indication of the speaker as it occurs in the source text (<speaker>), as well as a formal indication (using the @who attribute). Stage instructions are encoded inside <stage>. The speeches are encoded as verse lines (<l>) Notice, however, how logical lines (<l>) are distinguished from typographic lines: the latter are explicitly encoded with the <lb> element, occurring inside <l>.

Note

Notice, how the <lb> elements in this example make use of the @ed (edition) attribute, for indicating the specific edition in which the specific line breaks occur. For an explanation of this feature, see section 3.10.3 Milestone Elements of the TEI Guidelines.
<text xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xml:lang="en">
<front>
<div1 type="act" n="cast" org="uniform" sample="complete">
<head>D​RAMATIS P​ERSONÆ</head>
<castList>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-22">S​ATURNINUS</role>
<roleDesc>son to the late Emperor of Rome and afterwards declared Emperor</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-4">B​ASSIANUS</role>
<roleDesc>brother to Saturninus; in love with Lavinia</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-25">T​ITUS A​NDRONICUS</role>
<roleDesc>a noble Roman general against the Goths</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-15">M​ARCUS A​NDRONICUS</role>
<roleDesc>tribune of the people and brother to Titus</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castGroup>
<head rend="braced">sons to Titus Andronicus.</head>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-13">L​UCIUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-21">Q​UINTUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-16">M​ARTIUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-18">M​UTIUS</role>
</castItem>
</castGroup>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-14">Y​OUNG Lucius</role>
<roleDesc>a boy, son to Lucius</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-20">P​UBLIUS</role>
<roleDesc>son to Marcus the Tribune</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castGroup>
<head rend="braced"> kinsmen to Titus.</head>
<castItem type="role">
<role>S​EMPRONIUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role>C​AIUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role>V​ALENTINE</role>
</castItem>
</castGroup>
<castItem type="role"/>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-2">A​EMILIUS</role>
<roleDesc>a noble Roman</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castGroup>
<head rend="braced"> sons to Tamora.</head>
<castItem type="role">
<role>A​LARBUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-10">D​EMETRIUS</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-8">C​HIRON</role>
</castItem>
</castGroup>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-1">A​ARON</role>
<roleDesc>a Moor, beloved by Tamora</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="list">
<role xml:id="tit​-7">A Captain</role>
<role xml:id="tit​-26">Tribune</role>
<role xml:id="tit​-17">Messenger</role>
and
<role xml:id="tit​-9">Clown</role>
<roleDesc>Romans</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="list">
<role xml:id="tit​-11">Goths and Romans</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-24">T​AMORA</role>
<roleDesc>Queen of the Goths</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-12">L​AVINIA</role>
<roleDesc>daughter to Titus Andronicus</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role">
<role xml:id="tit​-19">A Nurse</role>
</castItem>
<castItem type="list">
<roleDesc>Senators</roleDesc>
<roleDesc> Tribunes</roleDesc>
<roleDesc> Officers</roleDesc>
<roleDesc> Soldiers</roleDesc>
<roleDesc>and Attendants</roleDesc>
</castItem>
<castItem type="role"/>
</castList>
</div1>
<set>
<p>Scene: Rome, and the country near it.</p>
</set>
</front>
<body>
<!-- ... -->
<div1 n="2" type="act" org="uniform" sample="complete">
<head>A​CT II</head>
<!-- ... -->
<div2 n="2" type="scene" org="uniform" sample="complete">
<head>S​CENE II</head>
<stage type="setting"> A forest near Rome. Horns and cry of hounds heard. </stage>
<lb n="699" ed="F1"/>
<stage type="entrance">Enter T​ITUS A​NDRONICUS,
<lb n="700" ed="F1"/>
with Hunters, etc., M​ARCUS, L​UCIUS, Q​UINTUS, and M​ARTIUS.</stage>
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="701" ed="F1"/>
<sp who="#tit​-25">
<speaker>Tit.</speaker>
<l>The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="702" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>The fields are fragrant and the woods are green:
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="703" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Uncouple here and let us make a bay
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="704" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>And wake the emperor and his lovely bride
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="705" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>And rouse the prince and ring a hunter​'s peal,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="706" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>That all the court may echo with the noise.
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="707" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="708" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>To attend the emperor​'s person carefully:
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="709" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>I have been troubled in my sleep this night,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="710" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>But dawning day new comfort hath inspired.
<lb n="711" ed="F1"/>
<stage>A cry of hounds, and horns winded in a peal.</stage>
<lb n="712" ed="F1"/>
<lb n="713" ed="F1"/>
<stage type="entrance">Enter S​ATURNINUS, T​AMORA, B​ASSIANUS, L​AVINIA, D​EMETRIUS, C​HIRON,
<lb n="714" ed="F1"/>
and Attendants.</stage>
<lb n="11" ed="G"/>
<lb n="715" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Many good morrows to your majesty;
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="716" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Madam, to you as many and as good:
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="717" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>I promised your grace a hunter​'s peal.
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="718" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-22">
<speaker>Sat.</speaker>
<l>And you have rung it lustily, my lord;
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="719" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Somewhat too early for new​-married ladies.
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="720" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-4">
<speaker>Bas.</speaker>
<l>Lavinia, how say you?
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="721" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-12">
<speaker>Lav.</speaker>
<l>I say, no;
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="722" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>I have been broad awake two hours and more.
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="723" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-22">
<speaker>Sat.</speaker>
<l>Come on, then; horse and chariots let us have,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="724" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>And to our sport.
<stage>To Tamora</stage>
Madam, now shall ye see
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="725" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Our Roman hunting.
<lb n="20" ed="G"/>
<lb n="726" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-15">
<speaker>Marc.</speaker>
<l>I have dogs, my lord,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="727" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="728" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>And climb the highest promontory top.
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="729" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-25">
<speaker>Tit.</speaker>
<l>And I have horse will follow where the game
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="730" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>Makes way, and run like swallows o​'er the plain.
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="731" ed="F1"/>
</l>
</sp>
<sp who="#tit​-10">
<speaker>Dem.</speaker>
<l>Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound,
<lb ed="G"/>
<lb n="732" ed="F1"/>
</l>
<l>But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.
<stage>Exeunt.</stage>
</l>
</sp>
</div2>
<!-- ... -->
</div1>
<!-- ... -->
</body>
</text>
Example 4. Adapted from a TEI P4 encoding of William Shakespeare’s play Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare 1594). TEI XML source available from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/dltext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0037.

Bibliography