The Dramatic Use of Imagery in Shakespeare's Coriolanus

Abstract

Coriolanus is the last of Shakespeare's tragedies and it is also the one perhaps least often discussed or performed. In contrast with Antony and Cleopatra of a year or so earlier,' it seems a fairly cold and unpoetic work and suggests an exhaustion of Shakespeare's powers after a period of great tragedies. WTith the exception of such critics as Granville-Barker and G. Wilson Knight, this interpretation of Coriolanus has been the dominant one. The ordinary criteria of richness of imagery, complexity of thought, and penetrating character analysis do not seem to apply here. Yet from a dramatic point of view, the play has a surprising force and vitality. It uses a difficult two-part form that succeeds where Julius Caesar fails, for by a series of mounting climaxes it reaches the high point of Coriolanus' yielding in V, iii, whereas Julius Caesar seems to fall apart after the murder of Caesar in the third act. There is also a masterful handling of mob scenes in Coriolanus, and these emphasize the thoroughly political tone of the tragedy. In this context, the sparseness of verbal imagery and imaginative effects give the impression of a lean vigor-a kind of classical perfection of form. The recent production of Coriolanus at the Phoenix Theater 2 seems to justify the otherwise bewildering remark of Eliot that this play is, with Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare's most assured artistic success. 3 We need to adjust our criticism to the fact that the language of the play is almost a subordinate factor in its effect. Thus a literal analysis of the verbal imagery