Roman Shakespeare: Warriors, Wounds, and Women
Roman Shakespeare: Warriors, Wounds, and Women is a 1997 book by Coppélia Kahn that reads Shakespeare’s Roman plays through a gender lens. It focuses on how masculine identity is formed within Roman ideas and how that shows up on the English stage. The book is part of the Feminist Readings of Shakespeare series and covers Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus, with a postscript on Cymbeline. The long poem The Rape of Lucrece is also examined from a feminist perspective.
The work has six chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of Kahn’s main claim about how Roman male identity is constructed. Each of the following chapters analyzes a different Shakespearean Roman text to reveal the gendered ideas in the plays. The book is introduced by Ann Thompson, editor of the series, who links its aims to earlier feminist work that asks where women fit in culture, history, religion, society, and family.
Reviews note both strengths and criticisms:
- Naomi Conn Liebler argues that misogyny runs through discussions of Shakespeare’s Roman plays. She largely agrees with Kahn but says women are underrepresented in the book, which is a missed opportunity for a feminist study.
- Linda Woodbridge thinks Kahn’s arguments will influence classroom debates and teaching, but questions whether the book fully proves that the works critique Roman gender ideology.
- Lynn Enterline focuses on the subtitle, suggesting that the order “warriors, wounds, and women” creates an uneasy bridge between the genders and highlights tensions that affect both sides.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:56 (CET).