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Show Coriolanus: classic struggle... Coriolanus depicts the struggle between the plebians and the patricians of ancient Rome during the 5th Century B. C.Coriolanus is a Roman aristocrat and great warrior. He is reared by his mother, Vohmnia, to fight, to be an "engine of war", to be nobly proud and to despise the plebians. Ironically, the qualities of pride and valor, his greatest virtues, are also his greatest weaknesses, and cause his ultimate ruin. Coriolanus is victorious against the Volsces and is honored as the savior of Rome. He is extended every honor including the esteemed civil post of Consulship. However, when he is called upon to display his several combat wounds to the general populace (a necessary pre-election requirement), Coriolanus vehemently protests and refuses to oblige the citizens of their demogogues. He is denied the Consulship and subsequently banished from Rome. A vengeful jWiiiJBnnwii.tiiwyjjiiii mmiii juxJJU.-.u-.111' -'H '''J" ' rtn iiii."'ij.'.'ui.i.ii mi mm iTrjiir-ijininv i iinjTi ir irrTrrTir 1 rn rrrrrTTii h irr nri r it r-"ii v 1 r--""1 p-y ' - ' Vp ' 7 if "IX If r h fir ' V ' !' ' i-i '; ti ' f !v If K v ' I , ! . , i i - k. ' J ; I X, I." toii-rtiiiii,mnniingirMrrLJMirr' -'J"nnriii)r 'iWimirimifa) viivi.a.riitiiwffiYiiiiMfl-riiniir-lttow vwtfS? mtmttium&MatiitMvtidiKilUMmMnA within a man Coriolanus joins the Volscian forces and prepares to invade Rome. Volumnia meets with her son, appeals to his sense of pride, and persuades him to spare the city. A victim of his own pride and the dominating influence of his mother, Coriolanus agrees to Volumnia's request even at the expense of his life. In the final scene, Coriolanus is put to death by the Volscians whom he has betrayed. U ncom mon pride, arrogance, and greed clash with the values of loyalty to home and country in this tragedy, the last Shakespeare wrote (c.1608). The play's scope is tremendous, its clash is monumental, and its resolution a valid statement of the Roman culture. |