act 1//

In act I of Coriolanus, this is where majority of the characters were introduced. The first scene reveals a lot about the citizen’s, Menenius’ and Coriolanus’ personalities. We can see here the difference between the relationship of the citizens to Menenius and Coriolanus. Menenius is known to be good with the citizens whilst Coriolanus isn’t. In this particular scene, we can say that it foreshadows how the citizens would react if ever Coriolanus fails or does something wrong. It also shows the state of Rome at that time and that is the patricians were treated better and they had more benefits compared to the plebians. Then, in scene II, this is where the character of Aufidius is introduced. This scene is set in a Volsconian city called Corioles, the place which Coriolanus will soon conquer in scene 8. Hence, the nickname. Moving on, scene 3 is where the triple V’s characters were introduced. Volumnia, Coriolanus’ mother, Virgilia, his wife and Valeria, his wife’s friend. This scene shows how Volumnia is with his son. Volumnia may sometimes seem like he’s using his son, Coriolanus for her own good. Virgilia, on the other hand loves her husband so much, she refuses to leave the house knowing that Coriolanus is out in a war. Now from scene 4-8, this is where the whole battle in Corioles takes place. In the beginning of the scenes, the Volcsians seemed very confident about beating the Romans but once Aufidius was getting weaker and weaker, his soldiers had to come and save his life. By the end of act I, there was a change of how the civilians see Coriolanus. At the beginning of the act, the people seemed to despise Coriolanus but shortly after the battle, they had a change of heart and they started to adore and praise him. Also, after the battle, Aufidius had more courage to try and defeat Rome because he felt really embarrassed after losing the battle against Coriolanus.


I think Shakespeare’s purpose in this act is to show the readers how the character’s image throughout the play may change anytime due to the happenings. It also foreshadows what may happen on the next acts.



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