The food riots occurred as English nobles and gentries forced commoners to hand over their crops in order to prevent supposed food hoarding. Many of the commoners experienced starvation because they were unable to eat their own crops and food was heavily rationed. During the riots, Shakespeare supported the people, not the nobles. In fact, throughout several of his later plays, including Coriolanus, Shakespeare explores, develops, and questions the relationship between rioting/starvation and the developing, popular “spectacular” theater and culture. He also explores the connection between food and theater, both desired forms of pleasure and sustenance. Can theater truly satiate the people and be used as an effective source of nourishment?
This emerging “spectacular” culture emphasizes visual, in-your-face entertainment and a movement away from auditory theater and entertainment experiences. Coriolanus, for example, is constantly asked to show his wounds as a form of gory, real evidence. To hear about his blood, pain, and hurt is not enough and leaves the audience hungry for more; the visual, the concrete. This appetite for the visual grows and develops and the common people attempt to allow entertainment, special effects, and evidence of exciting battle to fill their food/nourishment voids. As seen in Coriolanus, spectacle distracts people from actual hunger and fuels hunger for more and more spectacle. Soon enough, spectacle becomes a form of food. Spectacle, visuals, and theater serve to nourish the people.
Rachel-Ann Levy
Amanda Waldo
Section 1A
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