In Shakespeare’s play, Cleopatra’s outburst against Agrippa (who has suggested that Antony marry Octavia, Caesar’s sister) is remarkable: “That Herod’s head I’ll have” (3.3.5-6). “Herod” cannot be used in the same sentence with “head” without evoking the story of John the Baptist. I’m not sure how this functions in the play, but it’s hard to believe that Shakespeare’s audience would have missed the allusion. Read more

Some of the following notes were taken from a longer introduction to Julius Caesar posted on this site some months ago. INTRODUCTION For several generations, Julius Caesar has been a staple of high school English literature, coming from a period when education was rooted in Greek and Roman classics and English literature was a newfangled course of study. Unfortunately, this has given many the impression that it is a play for kids. Though the play is comparatively simple both in... Read more

Some of the following notes were taken from a longer introduction to Julius Caesar posted on this site some months ago. INTRODUCTION For several generations, Julius Caesar has been a staple of high school English literature, coming from a period when education was rooted in Greek and Roman classics and English literature was a newfangled course of study. Unfortunately, this has given many the impression that it is a play for kids. Though the play is comparatively simple both in... Read more

Paul Nickell’s 1951 Westinghouse Studio One production of Coriolanus is fast-paced, well-acted, and, making allowances for technological weaknesses, interesting and fun to watch. It is also very unlike the play that Shakespeare wrote. The play begins with plebs rioting (or milling around) in the streets of Rome, complaining about the price of grain, patrician greed, and their condition of life in Rome. Martius comes on the scene with the words “What’s the matter, you dissentious rogues,” and after that he... Read more

The stage history of Coriolanus is as interesting as the play itself. It has provoked riots and demonstrations, and has been used as a way of preventing riots and demonstrations. Here are a few excerpts from RB Parker’s excellent introduction to the play (The Oxford Shakespeare): RIGHT-WING INTERPRETATIONS ?In reaction against the French Revolution, John Philip Kemble was a staunch supporter of established government; and the production of Coriolanus he opened at Drury Lane on 7 February 1789, with his... Read more

INTRODUCTION For Elizabethans, Rome was not only an ancient power but a very real contemporary power. The plays of Shakespeare that are set in Rome and those derived from Roman models often work in both registers, bringing papal Rome into plays set in ancient times. I will look at some of the contemporary allusions in Comedy of Errors , and examine Shakespeare?s views on ancient Roman piety in my discussion of Titus Andronicus . COMEDY OF ERRORS Shakespeare?s Comedy of... Read more

I wonder: If we take Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as a play about both ancient and Papal Rome, then the point seems to be that ecclesiastical imperialism is unavoidable, that it will take its vengeance and return in more virulent forms. The “puritans” like Cassius attempt to cut the head off Rome, but instead of no Caesar they get an Octavius. Even with this interpretation, the play isn’t pro-Catholic, but it is more a warning to radical Reformers. Maybe Shakespeare and... Read more