Coriolanus Reading Response

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Recommended: Coriolanus by William Shakespeare character analysis

Coriolanus Reading Response The hero of this tragedy, Martius/Coriolanus is truly different from the other heroes of the Shakespeare tragedies. He presents himself as a great man and he is treated as a great man as well. However, he is a failed political figure of a stubborn character that is unable to comprehend what is required of him which eventually results in his downfall. Unlike other Shakespearean characters, he is very hard for the audience to empathize with due to his lack of the essence of being a normal person (I also blame Shakespeare for not giving the characters more colors in this play like he does with comedies). The relationship between him and his mother is very noteworthy when it becomes obvious to the audience that she …show more content…

He reaches another climax when he becomes the lead of the Volscian army. After Valumnia has persuaded him into sparing Rome, he gets killed by his jealous enemy. Unlike any other hero, Coriolanus manages to make all of his decisions without making a big conflicting monologue out of it. His immediate reaction is final, however argued over it is. The audience begins to realize Coriolanus is obviously raised by his mother to be a solider when she makes an uncomfortable remark on battle wounds. She says “It more becomes a man / Than gilt his trophy. The breasts of Hecuba / When she did snuck Hector looked not lovelier / Than Hector’s forehead when it spit forth blood / At Grecian sword contemning.”(1.3.42-4) The audience would starts to have a second look when young Martius' tearing a butterfly apart with his teeth is celebrated by his family. Coriolanus is obviously brought up in a fatherless home, that his mother, Volumnia, has an absolute power over making who he is …show more content…

In Act 5, she uses Coriolanus’ love for his family when she asks “Alas, how can we for our country pray, / Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory, / Whereto we are bound?”(5.3.107-9) to lead Coriolanus into believing that he will “show a noble grace to both parts”(5.3.121) by making peace. Then he dies attempting to be the hero no both sides and his mother ends up being the hero to Rome and cheered by all the city. Menenius even says that, “This Volumnia is worth of consuls, senators, patricians”(5.4.53) at which time a woman couldn’t be held in such a high regard. At a male-dominated time, she couldn’t achieve power on her own: she gained everything through manipulating her son (intentionally or not). It also interesting that Coriolanus’ father is left out in the play, further highlighting the mother’s influence. At the end of the play, the audience might thinks this struggle between Coriolanus and his mother is greater than the war between two

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