Monday, March 30, 2020
Coriolanus’s MOM
Some videos about Coriolanus’s Mom, who is a great character! We are almost done with this play you guys!
10 comments:
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Just a thought on Valeria. I actually thought that maybe there might be something going on between Velumnia and her. I don't think she is always just there to be the third woman although since there is always 3 women in Shakespeare that makes sense too. There's a very outdated and inaccurate stereotype about lesbians that they just want to be more like men so they can have power so they play the role of loving other women. I wonder if Volumnia found a female partner because like her wishing she could be a man and vicariously living through her son, she also wanted to assume a stereotypical man's role of "father" and for that, she needed a "wife" who is mostly also silent just like Virgilia is Coriolanus's "precious silence." Another thing that supports this is when Minenius asks her to have dinner and she basically gives an elaborate rejection with the anger metaphor. I could go into her phrasing of it but that would be too far. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but Minenius as you say is sort of fatherly and maybe she doesn't want to be replaced in that role. I know this is a huge reach and it could totally not be the case at all but I do think there is something here with her being frustrated with gender role combined with the old stereotype of lesbians really just wanting to be men and Veleria's role in all of this.
ReplyDelete-Deborah Majowka
Uh this is an AMAZING take and I LOVE IT. It’s funny because there is also a stereotype of an older woman with a “friend” that people, children for example, never stop to consider that that is their partner. She does reject Meninius’s offer for dinner! This is just gorgeous and I am very excited.
DeleteThis is a general comment about Vulumnia. She created all this trouble. If I were use this situation as a metaphor, she used wet clay to form Coriolanus to become the man he is. Then waited until the clay was dry to reform him to her own likeness as time goes by. Which causes all of this to begin with.
ReplyDeleteAlso the comment you made about her trying to live through her son, is something that I personally see happening today. Some mothers do that to their children because they seemingly jealous their children having a better life than they do.
-Jnette Leopold
Its also interesting that she can make him once in to the perfect soldier— but trying to remake him from a soldier to a politician DESTROYS him
DeleteHi, thoughts on Volumnia: in modern film her rage reminds me a lot of mommy dearest. Obviously this story is about Coriolanus and Volumnia is more of a backdrop to understanding his psychology, but the way she eats at herself makes me question the deeper root behind her anger. She’s a character with traditionally male associated traits such as rage and violence, but what truly makes her remarkable is her play on psychology. She doesn't need to hold a gun or fight in battle in order to display her strength because her vessel is her son. The fact that she fundamentally shaped her son to be a likeness of herself is what I find most terrifying about her. In a healthy situation, parents would want their children to be their own individuals and also grow/learn from their parents’ mistakes. However, there is no other side (that we see) of Volumnia. When we first started Coriolanus you mentioned how Volumnia is like Lady Macbeth if Lady Macbeth lived on, but I actually prefer Lady Macbeth’s character to Volumnia because of Lady Macbeth’s vulnerability. Lady Macbeth becomes undone by her own guilt which psychologically seems more realistic than a character who is only ruthless and faces no real consequence. Volumnia even said that if her son were to die in battle then it would be preferable than not honoring his country. So we see even in the end that she never really lost anything because she never cared to preserve her son in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThat would be an amazing paper topic — Volumina and Mommy Dearest! This is an extraordinarily good point about the limits of Volumina — both as a part and as a person. She has no vulnerability. its interesting tho — many of my students see Lady M’s vulnerability as weakness and wish her much tougher, in other words, wish her more like Volumina who has more in common I think with the superheroes we see in many action movies, who are all strength
DeleteHere’s my take on Volumina, she projected her life desires onto her son. He was to become everything that she couldn’t because she was a woman. In the play it’s evident that she respects the military and you gather a sense of her longing to fight the good fight but being a women would prevent her from achieving her dreams. I believe this is why she has such a domineering personality. She exuded this “male energy” to be respected like a man. She was callous and dismissive in the way that she taught her son to be because this was her interpretation of how a strong man should behave. This reminds me of lady Macbeth asking her gods to unsex her and make her cold and ruthless like a man. What’s interesting to me, is that she softened herself in the presence of her son to seek mercy for their country. She played her role well, a lesson she tried to teach her Coriolanus. She knew how to manipulate her son into doing what she wanted. And I wonder if manipulation is just another trait she feels like belongs to a man.
ReplyDeleteThis is very well put! I agree!
DeleteWow. Valumina is really the OG stage mom when you think about it.
ReplyDeleteI kid, but not really.
To your point in her living vicariously through CM: Yes, I see this. In the play - where she had no outlet for herself - I really see her as a mark of feminism for Shakespeare. This woman with no power of her own and who lives at the mercy of her own son (she lives with them right?), so no other way to exercise her cunning and intellectual capabilities.
While I don't really like her at face value when reading the play, I really appreciate the complexity of her situation. And love that Shakespeare broadcast, loud and clear, how badass woman throughout history were. I'm curious if some the reasons for his explorations with feminine intelligence and influence had to do with the fact QE1 commissioned much of his work. Was he writing for her? Or just influenced by the female powerhouse that ran his country?
There's something suuuper meta in that - he writes SO much about these historical men who were largely influence by women - like the saying "behind every great man is a great woman". How much of Shakespeare's greatness was influenced by Queen Elizabeth?
I do think Queen Elizabeth had a big effect on him. One other theory of his strong women is that he met an extraordinary young man actor who he was inspired to create, in pretty quick succession Lady M, Volumina, Cleopatra and others. In my imagination he was in love with this young man, but who wouldn’t be in love with someone who was worth all those characters, his very best. But certainly you see the Queen inspiring people about strong women (but also worries about who would take over after she died and would it be a peaceful transition — that is another major theme of plays like Macbeth and Lear and the history plays)
Delete