Coriolanus: a Tragic Hero That Stands Alone

Coriolanus: A Tragic Hero that Stands Alone The story of Coriolanus is a very unique Tragedy, for instance unlike other Shakespeare tragidies where the plays are littered with deaths; in Coriolanus, Coriolanus is the only character to die. This is not the only reason, I believe, that separates Coriolanus from all of Shakespeare’s other tragidies: Coriolanus is the most unique tragic hero, when compared to all the other tragic heroes Shakespeare has written about. Unlike most of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes there is no inner complexity to Coriolanus; he is seen completely from the outside, by the reader, as written by Sailendra’s article What Happens in Coriolanus, "Coriolanus, then, is a character not inwardly evolved, as the greater tragic characters are, but seen from without." (pg 331). This is exemplified through the fact that Coriolanus has no soliloquies in the play. This is extremely odd considering he is the main protagonist in the play and is considered a Tragic Hero. Coriolanus is truly unique in the fact that everything we learn about him is a result of another character; the most obvious example being his pride and rage, brought on by Brutus and Sicinius, and their plots against him. Similar to other Tragic Heroes Coriolanus is easily manipulated and persuaded by other characters in the play. Just like Macbeth was persuaded by Lady Macbeth to murder the King and take over as King of Scotland, Coriolanus was persuaded by Volumnia to run for Council. A significant difference between Coriolanus and Macbeth being that Macbeth ended up truly wanting to become King, and the ambitions Lady Macbeth had for him soon became his own; unlike in Coriolanus, where through-out the play it was never really evident that Coriolanus wanted any political power. There is thus many reasons to point out why Coriolanus is the most unique of Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes. In the very first scene of Act 1, the reader a hint of what Coriolanus’ true political feelings are.

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