Shakespeare and the Early Modern Self 167
Plutarch’s Caesar demands to be fi rst at all times, and he usually
is. But when Shakespeare depicts Caesar, he is a timid, supersti-
tious, uxorious man, vain and befuddled. He is gaudily boastful
and refers to himself frequently in third- person. Brooding on the
threat Cassius poses to him, he informs Antony:
I... tell thee what is to be fear’d
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
(I.ii.211–212)Immediately, Shakespeare undercuts the great man’s boast, in
which, if Plutarch and many other historians are to be believed,
there is more than a little truth. “Come on my right hand,” he tells
Antony, “for this ear is deaf ” (I.ii.213). The fi gure Shakespeare
gives us could never have conquered the Western territories or come
in ruthless glory across the Rubicon. He is a tottering beast, fi t for
sacrifi ce. Shakespeare’s Caesar is confused, vulnerable, vain, and
easy to eliminate.
And Coriolanus, whom Plutarch gives to us as large, bold, proud,
and desirous always of the fi rst place? Coriolanus is one of Shake-
speare’s most interest ing works, featuring as it does the two forces
that seem to give the playwright the most uneasiness, the aris-
tocracy and the mob. The play’s major opposition is between
the crowd and Coriolanus. Shakespeare disliked and feared the
crowd, though he can feel some mea sure of sympathy for it, too.
Coriolanus is, emotionally, a large child. But he’s also a potent
warrior, who spends the time when he’s not engrossed in fi ghting
insulting the members of the lower orders. They insult him back.
The play lets Shakespeare show both elements, aristocrats and
plebeians, in their worst light, and he takes constant advantage of
the opportunity.