e other deity than nature, / That shapes man better; and they follow himà/àwith no less confidence / Than boys pursing summer butterflies, / Or butchers killing fliesö (Shakespeare IV.vi.91-96).
For his victories against the Volscians, the god-like warrior Coriolanus is nominated by a grateful Senate to become consul. His ambitious mother is happy with the news, as she has reared him since he was a small boy to be a great warrior to do honor to Rome. She is fond of having trained Coriolanus to be a warrior since he was a child. She even becomes delighted over the sight of blood, even though it is her sonÆs, ôIt more becomes a man / Than gilt his trophy. The breasts of Hecuba / When she did suckle Hector, lookÆd not lovelier / Than HectorÆs forehead when it spit forth blood / At Grecian sword contemningö (Shakespeare I.iii.39-44). It is from this kind of upbringing and nurturing that Coriolanus has become the fiercest warrior in Roman history.
Despite CoriolanusÆs ability on the battlefield, he has little compassion or understanding for others, particularly plebeians or the common people of Rome. In the beginning of the play, when the commoners are blaming the famine on RomeÆs rulers, Coriolanus reacts to them as if they are the ôenemy.ö He views them as a drain on the public resources and threatens to take his sword to them. The Senate allows the people to elect five tribunes as a peace offering, and Coriolanus is consoled by the war against the Volscians. When he returns in triumph, he is elected at first by the people as a tribune-elect, but eventually the tribunes of the people, Sicinius and Brutus, persuade the people Coriolanus is not a good choice for tri
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