Titus Andronicus, an old Roman general, returns home after a lifetime of defending his empire, bringing with him a bunch of prisoners of war. Among them are Tamora, queen of the enemy Goths, and Aaron, her evil servant and lover. When Titus allows his sons to kill Tamora's eldest son, a series of tragedies begins to unfold: In a rage, Titus kills one of his own sons. Then, at Aaron's instigation, Tamora's remaining sons rape and mutilate Titus' only daughter. Two of Titus' sons are charged with the crime, and though Titus cuts off his hand to save them, they are beheaded. Titus begins to go crazy, and when Tamora's sons come to his house to kill him, he instead kills them, and bakes them into a pie, which he feeds to their mother. The play ends in a stabbing frenzy: Almost all the main characters are finished off, leaving little doubt why Titus Andronicus remains one of Shakespeare's lesser-known works.