Professional paper
'Rome is but a wilderness of tigers': Isolation in Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus
Barbara Bočkaj
orcid.org/0000-0002-9575-9751
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The titular characters of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus
are both respected soldiers of Rome. Both also ultimately turn against Rome and
its institutions, and are killed. This paper explores the relationship of the soldier
and society in these two tragedies.
The key elements determining the position of a soldier in society which are
examined in the paper are the language employed to discuss warfare (especially
that used by the protagonists), the treatment of the soldier’s body (linguistically
and otherwise), and the soldier’s relationship with his family. Aspects of the two
plays which might indicate trauma are pointed to, by expanding on the plays and
taking into account early modern warfare and the chivalric system. In addition,
contemporary war trauma theory is used, focusing particularly on one symptom
– isolation. It is precisely this element that characterizes the soldier’s relationship
with his society, which is illustrated by the comparison of the two protagonists’
narratives.
By looking at the parallels and differences between the two plays, with the aid of
history of warfare and contemporary trauma theory, the paper aims to examine
the role of the soldier in Shakespeare’s plays, centring on the idea of isolation.
Keywords
soldier, isolation, war trauma, Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus
Hrčak ID:
255693
URI
Publication date:
13.4.2021.
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