Achilles and Coriolanus

In his study of Shakespeare's use of the heroic tradition of classical antiquity, Hero & Saint, Reuben Brower points out that Coriolanus is modeled on the ancient heroes of Greece and Rome, particularly Achilles: "Perhaps Coriolanus is most like Achilles in his passionate pride, in his 'choler,' in his shifting from 'rage to sorrow,' emotions that lie very close together, as Plutarch had noted. But he comes nearest to the essence of Homer's hero in his absoluteness, in his determination to imitate the 'graces of the gods,' in his will to push the heroic to the limit until he destroys his own society along with his enemy's. In reducing all virtues to virtus, he is the Greek hero Romanized, while in appealing to 'Great Nature' and at the same time asserting the greatness of his own nature, he betrays the Stoic ancestry of the Elizabethan tragic hero." Unlike Achilles, however, there is no reconciling scene with a Priam for Coriolanus; until the end he remains what he has always been, and thus is the "most Roman, the least 'gentle' and the least Christian, of Shakespeare's major heroes."

Brower also suggests that like Achilles Coriolanus is a great boy, as he is called by Aufidius toward the end of the play: "Both are strangely allied with their mothers, both produce 'confusion' by their over-developed sense of self and their disregard of the claims of society. The difference in the end result depends on the difference noted earlier: Shakespeare sets his hero in a much more complex social world. The noble voice that calls to battle may no longer sound noble in the Capitol. Though it calls for order, it becomes indistinguishable from the voice of tyrant and traitor. . . . Shakespeare's picture of the people is not flattering, but not unintelligent: one cannot build an orderly society by following the whims of the many-headed monster. But fixity of principle in a prince can be as dangerous to the state as the fickleness of a mob." The "boy" comment, by the way, is not from Plutarch. It is Shakespeare's invention.

Two thoughts: It is pleasant to contemplate that Shakespeare has grasped a Pauline insight here, namely, that the ancients belonged to the adolescence of the race (Gal 3-4). And, Shakespeare has also grasped an insight that pops up repeatedly in Greek drama: What happens when a hero is domesticated? Can a warrior put down his arms and become useful to a state in peacetime?

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, February 24, 2005 at 11:15 AM

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