A Marxist Reading of Coriolanus A popular dissection tool of any Shakespearean character is the modern tool of psychoanalysis. Many of Shakespeare's great tragic heroes – Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello, to name a few – were all understood by this method of reproducing and interpreting the layers of motivation and desire that constitute each individual. Add Shakespeare's Roman warrior Coriolanus to this list. Her strong maternal bonds, combined with her aggressive and intractable nature, were ideal fodder for modern psychoanalytic interpretation. This interpretation, however, fits into a broader political context. Indeed, although Coriolanus is a tragedy largely because of the weaknesses of the title character, its first and most lasting impression is that it is a political work. In fact, the opening scene presents the audience with a rebellious crowd of plebeians hungry for grain accumulated by the patricians. When Menenius, the patrician spokesman, enters the scene, a dialectic is immediately established, and the spectators find themselves inexorably on one side or the other of this dialectic, depending, most likely, on their particular position in life. The English nobility Those who saw this work in Shakespeare's time undoubtedly found Menenius' fable of the belly compelling, in which the belly, representing the patricians, is said to be a distribution center that can initially receive all the flour ( nourishment), but distributes it equally to the various limbs and organs, which represent all the other classes of the republic, leaving only the bran. I doubt that the audience in the audience found this corporeal trope very persuasive, especially since this play was initially for...... means of paper... object of our misery, it is like an / inventory to detail their abundance ; our / suffering is their gain" (Ii16-18). By rising up for the grain and then banishing Coriolanus, the citizens are taking the limited steps available to people of their class to effect change and receive recognition of their voices . Their insurrection will indeed launch larger themes, one of which will be emancipation. Works Cited Appignanesi, Richard (1976) London, England: Writers and Readers Publishing Co-operative (Society Limited). loves the wolf? Coriolanus and the interpretation of politics. Parker, P. & Hartman, G. (eds.), Shakespeare and the question of theory: Methuen.Jagendorf, Zvi (1990). Shakespeare Quarterly, 41(4), pp. 455-469.