A New Historicist Reading of Shakespeare’s Aesthetic Autonomy and Republican Voice in Coriolanus

Abstract

This paper re-evaluates William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus through the lens of New Historicism to explore its nuanced engagement with early modern political ideologies. While earlier criticism has often aligned Shakespeare’s Roman plays with royalist values and monarchical ideology, this study argues that Coriolanus subtly reflects republican tensions embedded within the political consciousness of Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Drawing upon the works of Stephen Greenblatt, Montrose, and Paul Cantor, the research situates the play within the broader context of Tudor absolutism, civic republicanism, and state censorship. By referring to classical sources such as Plutarch’s Lives and Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita the paper foregrounds the plebeian voice and institutional experimentation in Coriolanus as expressions of resistance, revealing Shakespeare’s ambivalence toward authoritarian governance. The article also accounts for intertextual political events such as the Essex Rebellion and the Gunpowder Plot, suggesting that Coriolanus may be read as a veiled critique of absolute power. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the re-reading of Shakespeare’s political vision by emphasizing the play’s republican undertones and its relevance to contemporary debates on governance, public voice, and political agency.