A Telling Paradox

"O cruel, irreligious piety!" (I.i.130)

Tamora describes the offering of her eldest son Alarbus as a human sacrifice in this oxymoron. In one sense, the murder of the Goth renders justice; for all the sons of Rome that have been killed, vengeance must be enacted. Yet is murder ever justified? In a sense, this line delves to the core of any of the plays we're going to read. Is revenge ever legitimate, or is an eye for an eye "irreligious" as Tamora describes it? Although there is no definitive answer to this question, I think the terrible misfortune Titus experiences after he gives the orders to murder Alarbus hints at the morality of this play.