The Disruption of Order and Hierarchy in 'Coriolanus' Anton Surace 12th Grade

Penned against the backdrop of the 1608 corn riots, William Shakespeare’s highly political Jacobean tragedy, Coriolanus, explores and oscillates between three inter-woven domains of the civil, political and military – in order to exploit a complex socio-political matrix and to expose the ways in which power underpins the transactional framework of human society. Coriolanus’ intransigent nature can be seen in his inability to form relationships as well as a fixation on ‘stoic virtus’ and traditional gender roles which all partly contribute to his own decline, as well as the decline of the Roman government. However, Shakespeare also wishes to vocalise the unfavourable evaluation of the unbalanced power dynamic that underpins macro-political rule. This social fragmentation in conjunction with Coriolanus’ hamartia of an inability to connect with others disrupts the cosmic harmony of the play and forms the crux of Shakespeare’s exploration of the human psyche and government.

Shakespeare exposes Coriolanus’ inability to form and develop functional relationships which is used to highlight his child-like immaturity. Throughout the play, Coriolanus holistically does not form a consistent, healthy relationship with any of the characters...