Saturday, February 25, 2017

What is Shakespeare’s larger purpose in his characterisation of Coriolanus in Act I?

In the play Coriolanus, Shakespeare designates his leading character with qualities that correlate with other classical heroes, yet depicts his flaws as well, while setting the stage for further conflicts ahead.

As the main protagonist and central character, throughout who the play revolves around, Coriolanus proves to be a severe, yet highly respected warrior within Rome. Shakespeare illustrates him with great leadership and authenticity to his character  through glimpses within the act 1 in lines such as "Hang em! They say!", the exclamations providing emphasis upon his control over the public. His great hate for the plebeian's or lower class of Rome crafts further exaggeration in this politically centralized play. The text "Hang ye! Trust Ye? With every minute you do change a mind, And call him noble that was now your hate, Him vile that was your garland. What's the matter, That in these several places of the city You cry against the noble senate, who, Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else Would feed on one another? What's their seeking? " contains rhetorical questions, as Coriolanus argues upon the worthiness and significance of the public, speaking of their rapidly shifting emotions and using diction such as "garland" "awe" to emotionally derail the citizens and their perspective of the wealthy.

He can also be categorized as an active character who (throughout act 1) creates various mistakes, one of the most significant being his  avoidance of disposing-off of his arch enemy Aufidius, providing sparks of attitude and self-centeredness. The lines "he's a lion that I'm proud to hunt" contain animal imagery, conveying prowess to Coriolanus's tone of speech, yet is highlighted as irony of circumstance, as he has esteem for his enemy and is aware of the fact that there is non who may challenge him in his quest more than Aufidius, becoming an important form of reasoning as to why Coriolanus leaves him wounded rather than dead.

As a result, Shakespeare uses his characterization to foreshadow key moments to occur as the tale progresses, producing an entrance towards the political scenario of Rome. Shakespeare provides no personal touch of thought towards Coriolanus's character, though, avoiding the implementation of soliloquies, yet crafts an unusual hero, almost unlike the connotations of good, regardless of his strong physical stature. Nevertheless, with lack of rational decision making and slight absence of mind, Coriolanus could walk along the path of evil as the play moves forth.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Ali ! Thank you for writing, I really enjoyed reading your blog post on Coriolanus Act one, I like the fact that you have spoken about how Shakespeare has used a variety of figurative devices. I thought that your opening statement was really engaging and it grabbed my attention because of how you were able to connect Coriolanus to the 'classical heres'.

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