Response: Virtus

This post is a response to the following comment made earlier:

"Volumnia is the direct challenger of Virtus. Volumnia is the sole representation of Civitas, order and a feminine connotation. And, without Volumnia, Coriolanus is unable to function. As discussed in class, behind every man there is a great woman. Rome is in a state of uproar because Coriolanus desires this sense of control, order, and masculinity, but he fails at this and is completely held up by the support of his voluptuous Volumnia.In conclusion, Rome displays the virtus but deep down it is simply a hysterical nation in a masculine disguise."


I thought this was really interesting (I'm not sure if Professor Little said this in class or if it was a student conclusion), but if Volumnia is supposed to be the embodiment of Civitas, she must be really bad at it. It's true that she's the one person who is able to prevent Coriolanus from leveling Rome with her maternal influence, but her conversation with Virginia in Act I contradicts the idea of her as civitas personified:

"To a cruel
war I sent him; from whence he returned, his brows
bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I sprang not
more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child
than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man." (1.3.I'd cite the lines, but the online version I'm using right now has no line numbers)

Volumnia spends the rest of the scene explaining that men are most glorious and beautiful when bloodied from war, insisting that "Hecuba/When she did suckle Hector, look'd not lovelier/Than Hector's forehead when it spit/forth blood/At Grecian sword, contemning man" (1.3).

Almost every line from Volumia in this scene is of a violent nature, therefore implying that she is at this point the embodiment of virtus, not civitas. Of course, all of her inclinations toward violence appear in speech alone, whereas her actions toward the end of the play betray a side of her perhaps more ruled by civitas. The only reason she becomes less violent, however, is because her own country is threatened; if the defense of Rome were not in question, she would probably still be behind Corialanus, urging him to bash someone's face in.

Volumnia is certainly influencial and multi-dimensional - expressed by even her name alone - but she appears to be driven by virtus, not civitas. Perhaps the tension between her and Coriolanus is similar to the tension between Coriolanus and Audifius: as Professor Little said, both men can't be the pitcher. If Volumnia is in fact an embodiment of virtus, then she is a competitor of Coriolanus who ends up topping. Her show of civitas near the end of the play, then, is perhaps only a facade to momentarily disguise her true masculine nature in a strange sort of reversal of Rome, which is merely a nation of civitas disgused as a nation of virtus.


Vanessa Yeh
Ian Hoch
1B

Miranda's Deaf Ear

When Prospero is recounting the events that spurred him and Miranda to the island, he pauses three times in order to ask her if she is listening. Though she replies each time that she is indeed being attentive, Prospero's suspicion otherwise implies that her deaf ear is signficant on a deeper level.

As evidenced by the Masque (overly ornate and elaborate stage productions that relied on theatricality), audiences in Shakespeare's time were becoming accustomed to theater as a "visual feast," wherein the entire play is artifice. Shakespeare's possible concern was that viewers interpreted theater merely as stories that could be presented visually, rather than an audio meditation or discussion.

Miranda's deaf ear, then, is a parallel to the deaf ears of Shakespeare's audience, who may have begun to rely on the visial rather than the audio.

Vanessa Yeh
Ian Hoch
1B

Virtus and Civitas in Antony and Cleopatra

Virtus and Civitas in Antony and Cleopatra


Virtus: Manliness in War
Civitas: Civil Society

Rome=Virtus Vs. Egypt=Civitas

The problem with Egypt (Cleopatra) for Caesar is it has too much Civitas.
The problem with Rome (Antony) there is too much Virtus.
When Anthony is caught between Rome and Egypt he has an unbalanced amount of both Virtus and Civitas.
The new Rome (Caesar) wants to balance the two.




Melanie Austin
Aaron Gorelik

Coriolanus as a Scapegoat (Pharmakos)

Caius Martius, later surnamed Coriolanus, can be interpreted as the pharmakos of Shakespeare’s play, Coriolanus. The play must conclude with a death in accordance with the genre of tragedy. Coriolanus’ death fulfills this requirement. However, unlike most of Shakespeare’s other tragedies, he stands as the only character who dies in the play. This places a great deal of importance on the seemingly “lonely” death of this tragic hero. As Professor Little has said many times in lecture, the characters are not the literal focus of the play, they are merely conduits of what the play is trying to communicate. The characters are essentially indentured to the plot. They are only as important as the purpose Shakespeare composes them to serve. The tragedy of Coriolanus is about a world of confusion, specifically the confusion of Rome. As the protagonist of the play, Coriolanus is caught in the middle of this Roman crisis. The city is stuck in the midst of a chaotic transition from a society based on virtus to a society based on civitas. Coriolanus embodies the masculine and violent qualities of virtus as a successfully Roman general. We are reminded of this frequently and the plebeians of Rome long to see his battle wounds as a proof of this masculinity. Coriolanus has no affiliation to the civil concept of civitas. His death in the end does not simply signify the death of his character, but rather the death of this virtus era in Rome which he represents. In order for Rome to move on, Coriolanus and the type of Rome he embodies has to die. With this interpretation, he is the official scapegoat of the play. He is a totally virtus character and there is no place for someone like him in a civitas state. In death, he takes the poisons (virtus) of his society with him and all appears to be solved. Rome wishes to make the transition from a barbaric culture to a civil culture. Coriolanus has to die for this transition to take place.

Chris Shelton
Aaron Gorelik
Section 1C

Food Riots and Nourishment from the “Spectacular” Theater

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

The genre of romance

Shakespeare wrote four romances at the end of his career, of which “The Tempest” is one. The genre of romance can be classified as a “tragic comedy” because it is driven by the demands of tragedy but ends with a comic resolution. There is a sense of the tragic in the play, but it is resolved in a comedic, highly superficial fashion. In “The Tempest” we can see this resolution in the union of Miranda and Ferdinand, which reinforces the idea that the “best girl gets with the best boy” and their union also conveniently joins the states of Milan and Naples. The play ends with a celebration of community and regeneration. The romance also tends to deemphasize the interiority of its characters, instead casting them as representative types. For example, in “The Tempest” the names tend to reveal characterization, such as Miranda (“one of wonder”), Ariel (“air”), and Caliban (“cannibal”). Romance also requires a suspension of disbelief. For instance, it is common for characters that are presumed to be dead to come back to life. Romances flaunt their theatricality and leave no mystery, in the sense that all the things we expect to happen do occur. Romances often make free interplay between the real-world and the fantastical and are set in remote, legendary, or fantastical spaces.


Darlene Lin
Discussion 1F (5-5:50)

Masque Plays

Shakespeare incorporates the component of the masque play in Act 4 Scene 1. The reapers and the nymphs enter the stage and participate in a dance. The dance symbolizes the visual—rather than verbal—performance of the theater.

The masque play is a theatrical genre that involves elaborate dancing. It is also an ostentatious genre that involves artificial stagecraft. The masque involves two parts: anti-masque and masque. Playwright Ben Jonson (who published his plays in 1616) was most famous for this technique. In his “Masque of Blackness,” the Ethiopian women talk to the head of England and want to be white. They claim that the Italians, the Irish, and other countries lack the perfect whiteness that the English possess. Even the father encourages the Ethiopians to convert to white. This highlights racial conversion; however, only black women (not black men) can convert to white. The “Masque of Blackness” would last two hours, then the “Masque of Beauty” lasts another two hours. The white women in the court then come onstage and dance to show real beauty.

The masque plays use short, linguistic script and replace language with vision. Theater becomes a visual feast rather than attendees hearing the play. Thus, there’s a fear that the theater would become all masque-like. This poses the question: “What happens to Shakespeare without words?” Masque plays visually translate language.

Uyen Dinh
Dis. 1F (Aaron 5 - 5:50)