English Language and Literature ETDs

Publication Date

2-3-1972

Abstract

The aim of this study is to suggest a perhaps more satisfactory reading than has hitherto been offered of Shakespeare's Coriolanus by exploring the consequences of Caius Marius Coriolanus' view of himself as “son and Heire to Mars.” Previous studies of the play in general and its awesome protagonist in particular have led to either critical uneasiness or outright condemnation; however, an approach to Coriolanus through the Renaissance icon of Mars, I find, renders an interpretation which establishes great conceptual integrity rather than faltering artistic powers on Shakespeare’s part and, furthermore, accounts for the frequently noted absence of “that peculiar imaginative effect or atmosphere” which critics find in Shakespeare’s other tragedies.

Degree Name

English

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

English

First Committee Member (Chair)

Franklin Miller Dickey

Second Committee Member

Edith Buchanan

Third Committee Member

Joseph Benedict Zavadil

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

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