CRITICISM

Adelman, Janet. “Escaping the Matrix: The Construction of Masculinity in Coriolanus.” In Shakespeare's Tragedies, edited by Susan Zimmerman, pp. 23-45. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Offers a psychological analysis of the play's image of a mother (Rome, Volumnia) who has not nourished her children (the Roman citizens, Coriolanus).

Bathryo, Dennis. “‘With Himself at War’: Shakespeare's Roman Hero and the Republican Tradition.” In Shakespeare's Political Pageant: Essays in Literature and Politics, edited by Joseph Alulis and Vickie Sullivan, pp. 237-61. Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996.

Demonstrates the way in which Shakespeare's treatment of Roman republicanism in Coriolanus and Julius Caesar reveals the playwright's skepticism regarding Rome's ability to both nurture the virtue of its citizenry and maintain its military regime at the same time.

Bligh, John. “The Mind of Coriolanus.” English Studies in Canada 13, No. 3 (September 1987): 256-70.

Studies the philosophical lessons of aristocratic idealism and amoral realism that Volumnia teaches to Coriolanus, who, after putting these lessons into practice, finds both philosophies lacking.

Bulman, James C. “Coriolanus and the Matter of Troy.” In Mirror Up to Shakespeare: Essays in Honour of G. R. Hibbard, edited by J. C. Gray, pp. 242-60. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.

Examines the allusion in Coriolanus to the Trojan War in order to explore Shakespeare's complex adaptation of heroic tradition.

Carducci, Jane. “Shakespeare's Coriolanus: ‘Could I find out / The woman's part in me.’” Literature and Psychology 33, No. 2 (1987): 11-20.

Argues that Coriolanus, in its concentration on the mores of Rome, provides Shakespeare with the chance to investigate and ultimately reject the Roman conception of masculinity.

Lucking, David. “‘The price of one fair word’: Negotiating Names in Coriolanus.” Early Modern Literary Studies: A Journal of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century English Literature 2, No. 1 (April 1996): 1-22.

Analyzes the significance and implications of Martius's name change following his conquest of Corioles.

MacKenzie, Clayton. G. “Girding the Gods: Mythologies of Mars in Coriolanus.” Literaria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture 4, No. 8 (1994): 17-38.

Reviews the various allusions to the god of war in Coriolanus, discussing the extent to which Coriolanus is associated with Mars and exploring the significance of this association.

Motohashi, Tetsuya. “Body Politic and Political Body in Coriolanus.” Forum for Modern Language Studies 30, No. 2 (April 1994): 97-112.

Explores the relationship between Coriolanus and the Roman plebeians in order to highlight the nature of the conflict in Rome between the ideology of self-autonomy advocated by Coriolanus and the adamancy of the citizenry on the necessity of mutual dependence and exchange.

Relihan, Constance C. “Appropriation of the ‘Thing of Blood’: Absence of Self and the Struggle for Ownership in Coriolanus.” Iowa State Journal of Research 62, No. 3 (February 1988): 407-20.

Argues that Coriolanus's sense of self is based strictly in the identity, shaped by Volumnia, of the military hero. Relihan observes that Coriolanus becomes an object which others in the play attempt to appropriate in order to achieve their various goals.

Taylor, Michael. “Playing the Man He Is: Role-Playing in Shakespeare's Coriolanus.” Ariel 15, No. 1 (January 1984): 19-28.

Maintains that Coriolanus is forced to play a role in which he is required to mask his true nature and feelings which, tragically, he is incapable of doing.

Thomas, Vivian. “Sounds, Words, Gestures and Deeds in Coriolanus.” In Shakespeare's Roman Worlds, pp. 154-219. London: Routledge, 1989.

Examines the divergences between Shakespeare's characterization of Coriolanus and his deeds and how they are represented in Plutarch and Livy. Thomas goes on to observe that the play is filled with violence—expressed through noise, words, deeds, and a variety of imagery—and presents an image of Rome to which the play's politicians, but not Coriolanus, can adapt.