10 Most Disturbing Shakespeare Deaths

He is known for penning some of the most beautiful romances in literary history but, when writing tragedies, Shakespeare's murderous imagination ran wild. Of the countless characters Shakespeare killed off in his work, there are some pretty gruesome deaths that definitely deserve some recognition. From smothering to stabbing, Shakespeare covered all of violent bases. Here are his most disturbing and goriest deaths!

Did we miss any disgusting ways to go? Let us know in the comments!

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Chiron and Demetrius in "Titus Andronicus"

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Chiron and Demetrius's murder is possibly the most creative of Shakespeare's deaths. When Titus learns that Chiron and Demetrius have raped and dismembered his daughter, he not only kills them but bakes them into a pie that he feeds to their mother, Tamora. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but in Titus's case it was best served hot out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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Chiron and Demetrius's murder is possibly the most creative of Shakespeare's deaths. When Titus learns that Chiron and Demetrius have raped and dismembered his daughter, he not only kills them but bakes them into a pie that he feeds to their mother, Tamora. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but in Titus's case it was best served hot out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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This Death

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Ha! That's nothing. OUCH!

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Top 5 Grizzliest Deaths

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Top 5 Grizzliest Deaths

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Comments

[IXIXCHELIX]

10:46 PM on 08/05/2011

Tamora isn't married to Lucius, he's Titus' eldest son. She is married to Saturninus, who is killed by Lucius.

[mrbarolo]

01:24 PM on 08/05/2011

I think Shakespeare himself is dying a pretty grisly second death right now at the utter idiocy of this piece.
Pick this up off the Junior High wire service?

[Woods-shade]

08:19 PM on 08/04/2011

Richard III - The Duke of Clarence was drowned in a barrel of wine called a "hogshead"!!! "Two severed hogsheads"??? HP!! Get someone who READS!!!

[ESerafina42]

10:42 PM on 08/04/2011

It also helps with the irony to know that Richard's badge was the white boar.

One of my favorite plays, incidentally - as long as it's taken as FICTION.

[Woods-shade]

07:39 AM on 08/05/2011

True. : )) Oh, you wanna get me going, just mention "Braveheart" or "The Patriot".
( Come on, Gibson, let's just twist history ALL out of shape!!)

[Vickie MansourHasan]

06:13 PM on 08/04/2011

I love Titus Andronicus.....it's a bloodbath

[Woods-shade]

08:11 PM on 08/04/2011

They're dropping like flies in Richard III, too. : )

[bessielil]

04:14 PM on 08/04/2011

It's tough to bite your tongue on Parents' Night when the folks come to question why all of the books and stories their kids are reading in my class are sooooooooo depressing. 20th Century Lit (the name of the course) is sooooooooo depressing. Why don't we assign classics where there's not so much violence, death, and perversion. And also we should teach them how to write a thank you note. Sigh.

[lefty coombes]

02:48 PM on 08/04/2011

How about the sad death of Antigonus in The Winter's Tale: exit, pursued by bear. Grisly in several senses of the word. There is also a gruesome death of a boy in King John, but the child's name escapes me....I believe he was going to have his eyes plucked out, but ended up leaping to his untimely death. It's been a while since I've read or seen King John.

[GraphicMatt]

02:45 PM on 08/04/2011

Titus Andronicus is one of my favorites, but I don't think anyone ever put vanilla ice cream on a meat pie.

[FPhoebe]

11:58 AM on 08/05/2011

I was thinking the same thing; pie and meat pie are too completely different things. It's usually an epic fail whenever someone at HuffPost tries to be clever in their articles.

[GraphicMatt]

12:03 PM on 08/05/2011

Yup....massive fail. I'm thinking the 19 year old intern that wrote the copy on this saw the word "pie" and ran with it......I'm also guessing that he never actually read the play.

[demorick2]

02:40 PM on 08/04/2011

You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have heard it in the original Klingon...

[Ted Rosa]

02:12 PM on 08/04/2011

Socrates wrote:
If it is true t, that we acquired our knowledge before birth,
and lost it AT birth,
And afterward by pertinent exercise of our senses,
Recover the Knowledge which we HAD once BEFORE....

Deja-vue.
Death is but a part of life... the manner of our deaths are irrelevant to us, but are
a learning experience to those who follow !!!

[Ted Rosa]

02:06 PM on 08/04/2011

Some believe WEALTH licences those to prescribe for the rest of us.... Welcome to America !!!
In the words of Shakespeare: To be or NOT to be (Wealth means nothing to those who believe !!!!)

[Patrick Prescott]

01:43 PM on 08/04/2011

Lest we forget Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by a mob of senators with Brutus stabbing him in the groin (femoral artery) the true killing blow.

American International had a movie with Vincent Price called Theater of Blood, where a Shakespearean actor took revenge on all the critics who'd panned him by using these different grizzly ends.

[HunGirl2012]

06:51 PM on 08/04/2011

It's grisly, not grizzly. That is a type of bear, or as an adjective means grey-haired.

[M4dwoman]

09:21 PM on 08/04/2011

Death by grizzly would be pretty horrific too.

[ESerafina42]

10:45 PM on 08/04/2011

Someone should tell the person who labeled the "Top Five 'Grizzliest' Deaths" in the upper left. I wonder if I could get a job doing that kind of thing - nah, I'm too literate.

[naschkatze]

01:05 PM on 08/04/2011

I've often wondered how Titus Andronicus could be staged with a straight face.

[Economike]

01:32 PM on 08/04/2011

Check out Anthony Hopkins film, Titus

[beet31425]

02:38 PM on 08/04/2011

Even better than "Titus" (IMO): Check out the 1985 BBC production (easily rentable). Phenomenal.

[GraphicMatt]

02:49 PM on 08/04/2011

Easily one of my favorite movie adaptations of a Shakespeare play. Hopkins is amazing.

[AG creative]

01:32 PM on 08/04/2011

It would require delicious props.

[beet31425]

12:55 PM on 08/04/2011

Good list. My only quibble is with Lavinia in Titus Andronicus. She does belong on the list. But her rape and mutilation occur a while-- probably months-- before her death; I don't think they "count" in deciding how gruesome her death is.

Also, Titus doesn't necessarily kill her by "breaking her neck", as you say. Perhaps you're thinking of the Anthony Hopkins movie Titus?

[fllfthm5]

12:51 PM on 08/04/2011

Brutus's wife Portia in Julius Caesar kills herself by swallowing hot coals - brutal!

[Economike]

01:33 PM on 08/04/2011

ouCH

[AG creative]

01:33 PM on 08/04/2011

Some prefer their innards blackened....

[Woods-shade]

08:07 PM on 08/04/2011

Not a play, but Edward II's legendary death (murder) in 1327 by having a red hot poker shoved up his arse when a prisoner at Berkeley Castle.
That is an *OUCH*.

[jws2346]

12:36 PM on 08/04/2011

You have to admit old Billy was good at eliminating peeps with extreme prejudice

[HunGirl2012]

06:52 PM on 08/04/2011

I don't know why but your comment made me LOL.