ORBIT-OnlineRepository ofBirkbeckInstitutionalTheses Enabling Open Access to Birkbeck’s Research Degree output The representations of Hercules and Hydra in Shake- speare’s Coriolanus https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40059/ Version: Full Version Citation: Nishi, Takashi (2014) The representations of Hercules and Hy- dra in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. [Thesis] (Unpublished) c 2020 The Author(s) All material available through ORBIT is protected by intellectual property law, including copy- right law. Any use made of the contents should comply with the relevant law. Deposit Guide Contact: email The Representations of Hercules and Hydra in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus Takashi Nishi Department of English and Humanities Birkbeck College, University of London Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, October 2013 Abstract This thesis relates Coriolanus to traditions of Renaissance and Reformation thinking on Hercules and Hydra, which had acquired new connotations in the age after neglect during the Middle Ages; and this study investigates the play’s engagement with that material and more precisely its active relationships to texts and ideas at present under-represented in its critical reception and especially by Shakespearean critics. Coriolanus highlights the conflict between the patricians including heroic Coriolanus and the plebeians, and Coriolanus describes the plebeians as “the many-headed multitude” like “Hydra” (2.3.16-17; 3.1.96). Coriolanus is compared to Hercules (4.6.104), and battle between Hercules and the many-headed Hydra is suggested in the play. If Hydra symbolises subjects, likewise Hercules stands for rulers. In short, the closer examination of Hercules and Hydra leads us to a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s presentation of rulers and subjects. In the Introduction, a preliminary analysis of Coriolanus will elucidate the significance of the mythical hero and monster. Chapter 1 will discuss the roots of the phrase “many-headed multitude” in Coriolanus: it is a reflection, in complex form, of the really existing social instability in late Tudor and early Stuart England, which experienced many rebellions and famines; and it is in the tradition of Renaissance Humanism. Building on this material, Chapter 2 explores the way some European monarchs compared themselves to Hercules. The next two chapters analyse Herculean “eloquence” and “virtue,” which are quintessentially Humanistic terms, and they trace the use of the “eloquent” and i “virtuous” Hercules as a model for European monarchs in the Renaissance. Finally, we study Hydra as a symbol of “the flexibility of the self” in the Humanistic tradition. This study employs the methodology of the iconology of the Warburg School and the history of ideas, referring to Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Holbein’s engravings, and Alciato’s emblem books, etc. ii List of Figures 0.1 “‘Caeretan’ Black-Figure Hydria” (the Second Half of the 6th Century BC) 3 0.2 “‘Caeretan’ Black-Figure Hydria” (the Second Half of the 6th Century BC) 3 0.3 “Lernean Hydra” (480 BC-470 BC) 3 0.4 “Lernean Hydra” (the 6th Century BC) 4 0.5 “The Gallic Hercules,” in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Augsburg (1531) 36 0.6 “The Gallic Hercules,” in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Paris, (1534) 36 0.7 Septiceps Lutherus (The Seven-Headed Luther), Engraved by Hans Brosamer (1529) 38 1.1 “The Common People,” Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (1515) 52 1.2 “The Common People,” Drawn by an Unidentified Artist (1876) 56 1.3 “The Goddess Fortune,” Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (1525) 59 1.4 “The Goddess Fortune Favouring a Fool with Wealth,” Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (1515) 60 1.5 “Fortune,” Drawn by Wenceslaus Hollar (1625) 62 1.6 “Lymage de Fortune” in L’hecatongraphie (1540) 63 1.7 Printer’s Mark of Aldus Manutius 63 1.8 “Fortune,” Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (1526) 64 1.9 “Mercury and Fortune,” Woodcut Known as Emblem 99 in Andrea Alciato’s Emblematum Libellus, Venice (1546) 70 1.10 “Mercury and Fortune,” Woodcut Illustrating Emblem XCVIII, in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Lyons (1600) 72 1.11 “Mercury,” Drawn by Wenceslaus Hollar (1628) 73 1.12 Title Page of John Dee’s A Letter, Containing a most briefe Discourse Apologeticall. (1599) 75 1.13 Title Page of John Dee’s, A Letter, Nine yeeres since, written and first published: Containing a most briefe Discourse Apologetical. (1603-04) 76 1.14 “Judgment of Fame,” Drawn by Virgil Solis (c. 1550) 78 2.1 Medal Struck by Nicolas Favyer to Commemorate the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572 86 2.2 Design for a Triumphal Arch, Project of 11 October 1570 for the Porte aux Peintres, Stockholm 87 2.3 Enlarged Part of Fig. 2.2 88 2.4 Henri III’s Entry into Mantua in 1574 91 2.5 Enlarged Part of Fig. 2.4 92 2.6 Henri IV en Hercule terrassant l’hydre de Lerne, Drawn by Toussaint Dubreuil (c. 1600) 93 2.7 Henri IV’s Entry into Lyon in 1595 94 2.8 Henri IV’s Entry into Rouen in 1596 94 2.9 Enlarged Part of Fig. 2.8 95 2.10 Queen Elizabeth I Holding the Garter George, Drawn by an Unknown Artist (c. 1575) 105 2.11 “Of the Hydra Supposed to Be Killed by Hercules,” in Edward Topsell, The Historie of Serpents (1608) 107 2.12 “DE HYDRA MVLTICIPITE, FABVLOSA, QVAM HERCVLES CONFECIT,” iii in Conrad Gessner’s Historiæ animalium libri V (1587) 107 2.13 “The Whore of Babylon,” Engraved by Hans Holbein the Younger, German New Testament (1523) 111 2.14 “The Crowned Bare-Breasted Whore of Babylon on the Seven-Headed, Ten-Horned Crowned Beast,” in H. G.’s The Mirrour of Majestie (1618) 112 3.1 Triumphal Arch of Henri II’s 1549 Entry into Paris 127 3.2 Enlarged Part of Fig. 3.1 128 3.3 Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (1523) 132 3.4 “ΗΡAΚΛΕΙΟΙ ΠOΝΟΙ (Herculean Labours),” from the Enlarged Part of Fig. 3.3 132 3.5 “The Gallic Hercules,” in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Augsburg (1531) 134 3.6 “The Gallic Hercules,” in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Paris (1534) 134 3.7 Title Page of Aulus Gellius’, Noctium Atticarum libri XIX, Engraved by Ambrosius Holbein (1519) 135 3.8 Enlarged Part of Figure 3.7 136 3.9 Mercury in an Allegory on Eloquence, Drawn by Albrecht Dürer (1514) 137 3.10 “Hercules Killing Hydra,” Drawn by Albrecht Dürer (1511) 139 3.11 Title Page of Apianus and Amantius’, Inscriptiones sacrosanctae vetustatis (1534) 140 3.12 Enlarged Part of Figure 3.1 141 3.13 “Hercules and Pygmies,” in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Paris (1542) 146 3.14 Title Page of Gabriel Harvey’s Rhetor (1577) 148 3.15 Printer’s Mark of Johannes Froben, Engraved by Hans Holbein the Younger (1523) 150 3.16 Title Page of Erasmus’ Paraphrases in Epistolam Pauli ad Ephesios, Philippenses, & Colossenses. , Engraved by Hans Holbein the Younger (1520) 151 3.17 Enlarged Part of Fig. 3.16 151 3.18 Official Insignia of the United States Army Medical Department (1902) 152 4.1 Title Page of Peter Isselburg’s Emblemata Politica (1617) 183 4.2 Title Page of Juan de Solórzano Pereira’s Emblemata Regio Politica (1653) 184 4.3 Queen Elizabeth with the Pillars of Hercules, Engraved by Crispin van de Passe the Elder (1596) 186 4.4 “Omnia nos itidem (We all likewise),” from the Enlarged Part of Fig. 4.2 187 4.5 “Principis clementia (The mercy of the prince),” Woodcut, in Andrea Alciato’s Emblemata, Padua (1621) 188 4.6 “Domat omnia virtus (Virtue conquers all things),” from the Enlarged Part of Fig. 4.2 190 4.7 “Mercury and Fortune,” Woodcut, in Andrea Alciato’s Emblematum Libellus, Venice (1546) 194 4.8 Mercury in an Allegory on Eloquence, Drawn by Albrecht Dürer (1514) 195 4.9 Enlarged Part of Fig. 3.1 (Triumphal Arch of Henri II’s 1549 Entry into Paris) 195 5.1 Septiceps Lutherus (The Seven-Headed Luther), Engraved by Hans Brosamer (1529) 206 5.2 The Seven-Headed Papal Animal, Engraved by an Unidentified Artist (c. 1530) iv 209 5.3 Title Page of Luther’s Sermon (Ein Sermon gepredigt tzu Leipssgk), Leipzig (1519) 221 5.4 Martin Luther as an Augustinian Friar, Drawn by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1520) 222 5.5 Martin Luther as an Augustinian Friar, Drawn by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1520) 223 5.6 Martin Luther as Junker Jörg, Drawn by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1522) 224 5.7 Enlarged Part of Barabbas in Fig. 5.1 230 5.8 “Two-Headed Luther,” Title Page of Johannes Cochlaeus’ Dialogus de bello contra Turcas, in antilogias Lutheri (1529) 231 5.9 Luther as “Hercules Germanicus” Fighting against the Enemies, Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (1522) 233 5.10 “The Wild Man,” Drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1528) 234 5.11 “Hercules Germanicus and Maximilian, King of the Romans,” Engraved by an Unidentified Artist (c. 1500) 235 5.12 Coin of Herculean Karl V Designed in Milan 236 v Table of Contents Abstract i List of Figures iii Acknowledgements vii Translation, Transcription, and Citation of Early Modern Sources viii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Humanistic Representations of Hydra 39 Chapter 2: Herculean Monarchs in the European Renaissance 80 Chapter 3: The Eloquent Hercules 123 Chapter 4: The Virtuous Hercules 157 Chapter 5: The Hydra-Like Changing Self 197 Conclusion 248 Bibliography 256 vi Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Susan Wiseman, my doctoral supervisor, whose patient and diligent reading of my work over the past years has greatly encouraged and inspired me to complete this project.