Title: National Power and the Metaphor of Plague in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus

Abstract: Without any direct references of plague, Coriolanus is haunted by the metaphor of plague in which Shakespeare compares citizens’ turbulence to the plague within. Analysing the historical evidence, the author finds that citizens’ riots were more prevalent than the plague at that time. When Shakespeare wrote Coriolanus, James I, who considered national power and stability to be the first agenda of the country, rose to power. Hence, public riots were deemed a plague which would devastate the whole country. However, while Shakespeare’s plague metaphor of plague displays anxiety about safeguading national power, his play also inadvertently excusses the common people and expressses skepticism about the myth of the divine right of kings.

Keywords: Coriolanus, plague, national power, Shakespeare

Author: Fang Yuan, Lecturer, School of Humanities, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2021.04.003