Coriolanus and monarchy

Abstract

There is an important issue involved in Coriolanus’ claim that government cannot be mixed and that someone must rule. English monarchy had traditionally been understood on the model of the king’s two bodies. The king is more than a person. The king or queen rules in and only with the approval of Parliament. The Stuarts, however, had a continental notion of kingship and claimed a divine right to rule. Indeed they often ruled without Parliament, which they avoided calling. Kingship was looked upon by the Stuarts as an inheritance.