Volumnia's influence on Coriolanus
Possibly Shakespeare’s most overtly political play, Coriolanus is one of pride and ultimately self-inflicted downfall. Caius Martius, later known as Coriolanus, is a driven, plebeian-hating man of war who requires little manipulation from his perpetrators Sicinius and Brutus to find himself shunned by the popular rule he so disgusts. Although Sicinius and Brutus no doubt play a role in these proceedings, Coriolanus’ character, largely influenced by his mother, does little to help him save face, and these two merely push Coriolanus’ very obvious buttons.
Coriolanus is a classic “tragic hero” in that his fatal flaws, coupled with external forces (in this case Sicinius and Brutus) lead to his tragic downfall, and perhaps his greatest flaw is his complete and utter subservience to his mother. Coriolanus has on many an occasion fallen prey to his mother’s manipulative ways, and the effect she has had on his life is paramount to his personality, actions, and subsequent consequences. More than anything, Volumnia requires a son who is constantly proving his worth, as shown when she says that “I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man”. The use of “man-child” tells us more about Volumnia, as it clearly depicts a man still possessing childlike qualities, one of which is attachment to parental figures. It is easy to understand Coriolanus when one understands his mother’s own bloodlust. The phrase, “I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action”, shows this bloodthirsty nature, and especially when she is referencing 11 hypothetical children of hers the lack of maternal instinct is chilling. It is on multiple occasions made clear that Volumnia takes great pride in her killing-machine of a son, who she describes as a “harvest-man that’s task’d to mow” creating a warped image of harvest, which is of course associated...