Act IV, Scenes i and ii
Young Lucius flees from his aunt Lavinia, fearing that she is crazed. In fact, she merely wants to get to the book he is carrying, Ovid's Metamorphoses. She turns through its pages until she reaches the story of Philomela and Tereus (Tereus rapes his sister-in-law Philomela and then cuts off her tongue so that she cannot reveal the crime), which she shows to her father and uncle to indicate what has been done to her. Marcus urges her to carve the name of the culprits in the sand. Holding the staff with her mouth and guiding it with her stumps, she writes, "Stuprum[Latin for rape] -- Chiron -- Demetrius." They all kneel and take a vow to not rest until the treacherous Goths have been made to pay with their blood.
On Titus's orders, Young Lucius delivers weapons from his armory to Chiron and Demetrius, along with a scroll bearing a quotation of Horace, stating, "The man of upright life, and free from crime, has no need of the Moore's javelins or arrows." The insult is lost on the young Goths, but Aaron notes it. Then a nurse enters with a blackamoor child, the bastard son of Tamora and Aaron, and asks that Aaron kill it before it brings shame to the empress. Aaron roars to the defense of his son, and claims that black is the best color because it does not deign to take on any other colors. He kills the nurse to keep the secret of the child safe, then decides to return to the Goths so that he may protect his son.
Act IV, Scenes iii and iv
Titus brings Marcus, Young Lucius, and his kinsmen Publius, Sempronius, and Caius to shoot arrows at the constellations. These arrows are tipped with petitions to the gods for justice. Marcus adds a practical touch by advising the men to make certain their shafts fall into the court so as to scare the emperor. Along comes a clown carrying two pigeons; he tells them he is going to court to settle a personal dispute. Titus convinces the clown to bring a message on his behalf to the emperor, with the promise of a hefty monetary reward.
In the court, Saturninus is furious about the arrows he has found, for they have advertised his crimes to all of Rome. The clown enters with the two pigeons and Titus's letter. Saturninus reads the letter and immediately has the clown hanged. Next, the messenger Aemilius enters with word that Lucius has gathered an army of Goths and is already advancing on Rome. Saturninus flies into a panic; he has often heard rumors that the people would support Lucius over himself. Tamora calms him by comparing him to an eagle that tolerates the song of smaller birds because he can silence them at will. Furthermore, she promises him that she can persuade Titus to entreat Lucius to desist in his war efforts. She sends Aemilius to the Goth camp to ask Lucius to go to a meeting at the house of Titus.
Act V, Scenes i and ii
In the Goth camp, Lucius tells the Goths that he has received news from Rome detailing how much the Romans hate their emperor, and how eagerly they await Lucius's coming. The Goths are proud to fight alongside the man who was once their bane, and promise to follow his lead into battle. A Goth soldier has discovered the fugitive Aaron, along with his baby, in an abandoned monastery, and brought him back to camp. Lucius's impulse is to hang the father and child, letting the child hang first so that the father will have to watch. The Goths bring a ladder and make Aaron climb it. From that position, he makes a bargain with Lucius to preserve the child in exchange for Aaron's knowledge of all the horrors that have occurred. When Lucius swears by his gods that he will spare the child, Aaron reveals the parenthood of the child, the rapists of Lavinia, the murderers of Bassianus, his own trickery to get Titus's hand; finally, he takes credit for every act, saying, "And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue, / Wherein I has no stroke of mischief in it?" (V.i.109- 10) Lucius is aghast, but the inveterate Moore goes on to list the other crimes he has committed in his life, claiming his sole regret is that he does not have the chance to commit ten thousand more. Lucius is so horrified that he has Aaron taken down, claiming hanging is too sweet a death for the Moore. Aaron is gagged so that he will stop speaking.
Aemilius enters then with the request from Saturninus for a meeting. Lucius agrees.
In the second scene, Tamora and her sons appear to Titus in disguise, masquerading as Revenge and her attendants Rape and Murder. She says to Titus, whom she believes to be mad, that she will punish all his enemies if he will convince Lucius to attend a banquet at Titus's house. Her plan is to wreak confusion among the Goths while their new leader, Lucius, is at the banquet. Titus, who has simply been playing at madness all along, agrees on the condition that Revenge leave Rape and Murder (Chiron and Demetrius in disguise) with him. Upon Tamora's departure, Titus gets his kinsmen to gag and bind the two young Goths. With Lavinia holding the basin to catch their blood, Titus "play[s] the cook" who slits their throats. He elaborates on his plan to grind their bones to dust and to make a paste of it with their blood, which he will turn into "coffins," a word that also meant pie crust. He will then bake Tamora's sons in their "coffins," and serve the dish to their mother at the banquet.
Act V, Scene iii
Lucius speaks to Marcus at his father's house; he asks Marcus to take custody of Aaron so that they might later get testimony of Tamora's crimes. Saturninus enters with his empress, and is heartily welcomed by Titus, who is dressed like a cook. Titus asks Saturninus if Virginius (a heroic Centurion) should have slain his daughter because she had been raped; Saturninus responds that a girl should not survive her shame. At this, Titus kills Lavinia. The emperor is horrified but Titus claims that her real killers are Chiron and Demetrius. When Saturninus calls for them to be brought out, Titus replies that they are already present, in the dishes from which Tamora has already eaten. With this revelation he stabs the empress. The emperor kills Titus. Lucius kills the emperor.
Marcus and another nobleman (possibly Aemilius, depending on the edition of the play) are grieved by the state to which Rome has fallen. Lucius speaks up to defend his actions by citing all the crimes that have been committed against the Andronici. Marcus asks the judgment of the Roman people, saying that he and Lucius will give up their lives if they are judged to be in the wrong. To this, Aemilius calls for Lucius to be emperor, a call taken up by Marcus. Lucius accepts, after which he, Marcus, and Young Lucius pay tribute to Titus's corpse. Lucius orders that Aaron be buried breast-deep and left to starve to death, but Aaron is still unrepentant. Lucius's closing words are for Tamora's corpse to be thrown to wild beasts since she was beastly while alive.