"Coriolanus"

Part I Survey: "contextual" approaches - biographical and topical, political, history of ideas; "textual and formal" approaches, character and imagery - fictionalizing Coriolanus, fictionalizing versus epic distance, character, narrative and practical criticism, imported assumptions and prejudices, imagery - textual, the slide from imagery to moral judgement and narrative, visual imagery; "religious", "sociological" and "anthropological" approaches - Coriolanus as sacrificial scapegoat, the class struggle, Coriolanus as satyr, history as the absurd - Coriolanus in Eastern Europe, false analogies and lack of psychology, social anthropology; "interdisciplinary" approaches - Marxist, post-structural Marxist, the decentering of man, psychoanalytical, "theatre" approaches - performances, transpositions. Part 2 Appraisal - methodological problems: post-modernist theory or Jacobean theatre of mirrors; staging and some conventions; the crowd; seven scenes of warfare; distancing; an historical style - the house of mirrors; the isolated hero's tragedy; the hero, society and honour; Shakespeare's recurrent themes and techniques; language and acting as deception; revelations of character; Coriolanus and his mother; persuasion and dependency; crying; sex, love and bonding; the virgin warrior - fear of contamination; the price of love - unclean mouths; pretending love - inconstancy; the sexuality of battle; the sexuality of domination; power; V.6; Coriolanus' death; comedy?; the politics of neo-classicism; social context; Coriolanus and monarchy.