Let Shakespeare Remind Us of an Important Critical Thinking Question

Here is a brief summary of the stream of death and butchery in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus.

The Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from war with four prisoners who vow to take revenge against him. They rape and mutilate Titus' daughter and have his sons killed and banished. Titus kills two of them and cooks them into a pie, which he serves to their mother before killing her too. The Roman emperor kills Titus, and Titus' last remaining son kills the emperor and takes his place. 

When trying to make a decision, we dissect the consequences of each option.  Whose lives will be affected and what is the magnitude of those effects? But we often forget to ask how long various consequences will continue? In other words, it is one thing to examine the consequences of potential decisions, but we should not forget an important companion question: HOW LONG WILL THE CONSEQUENCES ENDURE?

Shakespeare warns us that war never ends as long as revenge is alive.