Theme Of Power

As the story revolves the audience or reader sees and witnesses Rome undergoing and transitioning from a monarchy into a democracy. The play revolves around Corioanlus who happens to be the protagonist he is a military general from Rome who eventually turns against his home city due to his egotistical prideful nature and his inability to balance between military and political power. Due to this his fate at the end happens to be death. Tullus Aufidius (his rival) is able to to be flexible in his values and to strategize politically on the long term, something that coriolanus can’t do. When Coriolanus comes to offer his service after being banished, Aufidius is able to place his grudges aside to create an alliance that will provide him with the upper hand later in the play. His opportunistic nature makes him powerful. As for Volumnia, Coriolanus’ mother, she is powerful in her disguised political puppeteering of Coriolanus and her matriarchal influence over him. This materializes itself in her ability to convince him to forge a peace treaty with Rome instead of invading it. Lastly, Sicinius and Brutus, the tribunes, are politically powerful in their ability to influence and continuously sway the opinion of the citizens and change the course of Roman politics with their votes. 

Shakespeare is implying, first and foremost, that political knowledge, strategizing and flexibility in terms of values is crucial for gaining political power. Secondly, it is implied that an autocratic government is unstable or at least, autocrats that are ignorant to the interests of the lower classes will lead to chaos.

Coriolanus Characterisation

Coriolanus Characterisation 

In the beginning of Act 1, Shakespeare presents Martuis as an arrogant leader. Not only with the use of his own dialogue, but also reflecting his character in the way the citizens of Rome view him. The play begins with the citizens rioting against his authority. The audience then begins to have preconceived conceptions about Martuis and his values. As act 1 proceeds and the battle of the Volsces unfolds we see Martuis characterised in a different light. His bravery is represented as he provides motivational words for his soldiers before the battle. Shakespeare foreshadows the hero that lies in Martius as the audience witnesses his courageous fight and his battle wounds that were left from it. Shakespeare also introduces Martuis’ perseverance as he bleeds from battle wounds but is still determined to continue fighting and approach the Cominius troops who are fighting against Tulles Aufidius. As the Romans celebrate their victory we see Martuis showing humble characteristics as he won’t accept or refuses to accept his share of the war spoils (which is one tenth). When reading this one can conclude that when it comes to battles and his troops Caius Martuis is very noble and patriotic to his people and most importantly differs or contrasts to the characteristics that were represented in the beginning of the play. To reinforce this, Martuis delivers a very heartfelt victory speech explaining how he shouldn't be thanked and this was just his moral duty, making him look like an even bigger war hero. 

In Act I, Shakespeare sets the play in a revolt, where the Roman plebeians riot against the patricians due to food shortages. Shakespeare then is bring in two characters that go against each otherMenenius and Coriolanus through direct and indirect characterization. Coriolanus is shown as he is the 'chief enemy to the people' The plebeians have anger towards Coriolanus and approach him with hatred in their hearts as if he is the main cause of their starvation and food shortage. This arrives us to the next conflict- Coriolanus its not admired as her should be . Later in the scene, when Coriolanus first confronts the plebeians he shows his enmity against them as he mocks them, showing his ill-tempered and inflexible characteristics. In contrast to Coriolanus, Shakespeare presents Menenius as ‘one that hath always loved the people’ (Act I, Scene I). Unlike Coriolanus, Menenius is loved by the people regardless of the fact that he a patrician. He is a very shrewd character and through his metaphor of a “belly” easily assuages the plebeians. Shakespeare deliberately places the two characters in the same spot to emphasize the attributes of Coriolanus, which eventually lead to his death and tragic ending.