The Noble Thing and the Boy of Tears: Coriolanus and the Embarrassments of Identity | Iii
III
On the social level, then, Coriolanus cannot accept himself as a part of Rome, as simply a Roman; but neither can he separate himself from Rome to become an autonomous individual. Either possibility would allow him to establish an identity, but in the circumstances identity becomes impossible for him. Parallel to this struggle for a social identity, Coriolanus is also engaged in a struggle for personal identity. Here the principal issue is his relationship, not to the city, but to his mother Volumnia and to the other members of his family. At times in the play, as when Volumnia persuades her son to stand for consul in Act 3, and as when she persuades him not to conquer the city in Act 5, the city and the mother may seem identical. For Volumnia defines herself as the "perfect Roman mother," and she has deliberately inculcated in her son the Roman ideals summed above. Yet an exploration of Coriolanus' relation to his city demands a socially and politically based...
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