Unraveling the Intrapsychic World of Coriolanus in William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (1605 – 1608) and Bertolt Brecht’s Coriolan (1962): An Intertextual Web of Historical Conflicts كشف العالم النفسي الداخلي لكوريولانوس في مسرحية وليم شيكسبير "كوريولانوس"(1605– 1608) ومسرحية برتولت بريخت "كوريولان" (1962): شبكة تناصية من الصراعات التاريخية | ||
| مجلة بحوث الشرق الأوسط | ||
| Volume 13, Issue 117, November 2025, Pages 393-412 PDF (2.62 M) | ||
| Document Type: المقالة الأصلية | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/mercj.2025.373461.1756 | ||
| Author | ||
| داليا سعد محمد منصور منصور* | ||
| كلية الدراسات اللغوية بالجامعة العربية المفتوحة بمصر | ||
| Abstract | ||
| William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (1605 - 1608) is one of the most political plays that call for different historical and psychological interpretations resulting from the politically charged adaptations in the post-pandemic world of decaying liberal democracies and mass protests. Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) worked on his version of Coriolanus in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) between 1951 and 1955, but it was only performed for the first time by the Berliner Ensemble in Frankfurt in 1962. In the post war GDR (German Democratic Republic), where Brecht had taken up residence, the fate of Coriolanus was framed by a different mix of political, social and economic pressures. This study aims at disambiguating the socio-political, historical and psychological intertextual webs by conducting a comparison between William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (1605 – 1608) and Bertolt Brecht’s Coriolan (1962), highlighting the long-lasting historical conflicts between the evil tyrants (Stalin/Ulbricht/Coriolanus) and the virtuous masses (East German workers with Nazi elements /the plebeians of Rome). The comparison includes the Brechtian theatrical techniques of “alienation effects” that are set in sharp contrast to the theatre of empathy which is directly related to the rise of Fascism in Brecht’s perspective. These alienation effects reduced the impact of the intrapsychic world of Coriolanus represented in his relationship with his mother Volumnia in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. The comparison, therefore, questions Coriolanus’ claim to self-sufficiency as a heroic figure as it unravels Coriolanus’ dilemma of maintaining his rigidity as soldier’s steel and his inner feeling of being a parasite’s soft silk. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Alienation effects; intrapsychic world; dilemma; Self-sufficiency vs. Dependence | ||
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