Coriolanus: The Unheimliche Doppelgänger, The Uncanny and The Double

Year 2024, Volume: 41 Issue: 1

Aslı Bayram

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.1255914

Abstract

This paper attempts at a reading of Coriolanus, one of the four Roman plays by Shakespeare, within a theoretical framework drawn upon Freudian psychoanalysis, focused on the concept of unheimliche doppelganger. This reading mainly reflects on the protagonist Coriolanus, the relationship he has with the rest of the gentry, pleabians, his family and his opponent causing the tragic downfall of this great warrior, what triggered it and his personal reaction to it. This study discusses how Coriolanus’ self-perception as a noble, proud soldier within his world bears uncanny elements when he is presented ‘a new world’ –being a consul. The fact that he identifies himself with his rival Aufidius the Volscian soldier as his mirrored self-image creates a double uncanniness. By drawing on both classical and contemporary perspectives, the argument which is put forward is elaborated on with the insight into self-dividedness, projection and reflection of one’s self; the double self as both the source and the product of the unfamiliar in the familiar.

Keywords

Shakespeare, Coriolanus, doppelganger, unheimliche, uncanny double

Coriolanus: Tekinsiz İkincil Benlik

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Shakespeare’in dört Roma oyunundan biri olan Coriolanus’ ı Freudyen psikanalizinden yararlanılarak ve özellikle tekinsiz ikincil benlik temasına odaklanılarak yapılandırılan bir teorik çerçeve içerisinde okumayı amaçlar. Bu okuma, esasen ana karakter Coriolanus’ı, bu büyük savaşçının çöküşüne sebep olan, onu tetikleyen şeyleri ve buna kendisinin tepkisini, alt ve üst tabakayla, ailesiyle ve rakibiyle olan ilişkisini ele alır. Coriolanus’un kendi dünyası içerisinde soylu, mağrur bir asker olarak özalgısının, kendisine bir elçi olduğu ‘yeni bir dünya’ sunulduğunda nasıl tekinsiz unsurlar taşıdığını tartışır. Kendisini rakibi Volscili asker Aufidius ile yansıtılmış öz imajı olarak tanımlaması eş bir tekinsizlik doğurmaktadır. Hem klasik hem de çağdaş bakış açıları kullanılarak ortaya atılan bu iddia, bölünmüş benlik, benliğin yansıması ve izdüşüm -alışılmışın içinde alışılmamışın hem kaynağı hem de sonucu olarak ortaya çıkan çift benlik - gibi kavramlarla hazırlanmıştır.

Keywords

Shakespeare, Coriolanus, ikincil benlik, tekinsizlik, tekin olmayan ikincil benlik

References

• Adelman, J. (1992). Suffocating mothers. Routledge.
• Cavell, S. (1983). Who does the wolf love? Reading Coriolanus. University of California Press.
• Cavell, S. (2003). Disowning knowledge in seven plays of Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press.
• Day, T. (2006). A broken Coriolanus. poetics, politics and self-surrender. Paideuma, 35(1/2), 33-47.
• Edmunds, L. (2016). Stealing Helen. The myth of the abducted wife in comparative perspective. Princeton University Press.
• Eliot, T. S. (1928). The sacred wood. Essays on poetry and criticism. Methuen & Co Ltd.
• Freud, S., Strachey, J., Cixous, H., & Dennomé, R. (1976). Fiction and Its Phantoms: A Reading of Freud’s Das Unheimliche (The “Uncanny”). New Literary History, 7(3), 525–645. https://doi.org/10.2307/468561
• Freud, S. (2003). The uncanny. Penguin Books Ltd.
• Garber, M. (2005). Shakespeare after all. Anchor Books
• Gartrell, A. (2021). The cult of Castor and Pollux in Ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press.
• Hatlen, B. (1997). The “Noble Thing” and the “Boy of Tears”: “Coriolanus” and the embarrassments of identity. English Literary Renaissance,27(3), 393-420. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6757.1997.tb01112.x
• Hunt, M. (1991). “Violent’st” complementarity: The Double Warriors of Coriolanus. Studies in English Literature, 31(2), 309-325.
• Kristeva, J. (1991). Strangers to ourselves. Colombia University Press.
• Maguire, L. (2007). Shakespeare’s names. Oxford University Press.
• Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Doppelgänger. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.merriam-webster.com /dictionary/ doppelgänger.
• Pizer, J. (1998). Ego-alter ego. Double and/as other in the age of German poetic realism. University of North Carolina Press.
• Rank, O. (1971). Double. A psychoanalytical study. The University of North Carolina Press.
• Royle, N. (2003). The uncanny. Routledge.
• Runyan, M. (2015). Coriolanus and Early Modern Notions of Self. Occam’s Razor, 5(4). https://cedar.wwu.edu/orwwu/vol5/iss1/4/
• Shakespeare, W., Thompson, A., Kastan, D. S., Woudhuysen, H. R., & Proud foot, G. R. (2021). The Arden Shakespeare third series complete works. Bloomsbury.
• Withy, C. (2015). Heidegger on being uncanny. Harvard University Press.