Excerpt from My First Article

“‘Like a Dull Actor Now I Have Forgot my Part:’ Coriolanus and Shakespearean Autism”

In the second act of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, the otherwise honorable and stereotypical Roman hero makes a startling decision. Faced with the prospect of listening to other Romans conduct an oration hailing his achievements, Coriolanus flees the room, contesting that he would “rather have one scratch my head i’th’ sun / When the alarum were struck than idly sit / To hear [his] nothings monstered.” Thus begins the endlessly frustrating cycle of Coriolanus’s political career; he is called upon to observe tradition, but his unyielding rigidity in social situations prevents a successful and ritually-conscious campaign. His later refusal to show the plebeians his wounds, another traditional Roman gesture, only exacerbates this issue, ultimately becoming the catalyst for his exile and death. 

Although a similar version of Roman modesty is displayed by the eponymous characters of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus’s actions go beyond a typical performance of humility. This dynamic has frustrated scholars for generations, but those who seek to interpret Coriolanus’s actions generally belong to two schools of thought. Some, like Janet Adelman, argue that Coriolanus attempts to mask his vulnerabilities through phallic displays of force, aggression, and rigidity. In true Freudian style, his outbursts can be blamed on his overbearing mother, Volumnia. His rejection of tradition is thereby an attempt to circumvent his maternal origins. Others, like Terrell Carver, take a Marxist or materialist approach, arguing that Coriolanus’s social failings stem from his disregard for the common people. Under this interpretation, Coriolanus’s idiosyncrasies derive from his confidence in the superiority of himself and his class. His apathy towards tradition represents his belief that he is above the Roman system of social gestures implemented to elect conscientious leaders with mass-appeal. While these approaches certainly have their merits, I argue that a third theory, incorporating both sociological and neurologic elements, is equally viable. Far too little attention has been paid to Coriolanus’s social cognition, that is, his ability to understand the nuances of “normative” social actions/gestures. Furthermore, upon closer inspection, one reaches the conclusion that Coriolanus’s behavior exposes his deviating social perception, a finding commonly associated with those who are neurodivergent, specifically autistic.