The relationship between Coriolanus and Volumnia The linguistic patterns of "Coriolanus" reveal the psychological turmoil of the title character. Filled with doubts about his determination, his relationship with those around him, and his relationship with his mother, Coriolanus is a man at the mercy of his environment. The environment that shapes Coriolanus is the education he receives from his mother Volumnia.1 In his relationship with his mother, Coriolanus plays the weak and submissive role. Volumnia's treatment of Coriolanus during his childhood and later as an adult profoundly shapes Coriolanus. Even when absent from scenes, Coriolanus' mother acts as an invisible force, shaping Coriolanus' interactions with the play's other characters. Volumnia's desires and ways of speaking are manifested in Coriolanus' valor and also in his stubbornness. Coriolanus attempts to recreate the relationship between him and his mother with other characters and groups in the play. However, when he recreates this relationship with others, he reverses his role in the relationship by becoming the dominant party himself. The way Volumnia speaks to Coriolanus illustrates her dominant position in their relationship. Volumnia speaks differently than the other women in the play. His language conveys the nature of a warrior and is full of references to death and blood. In her description of how she raised Coriolanus, she talks about blood: "Hecuba's breasts / When she nursed Hector did not seem more beautiful / Than Hector's forehead when he spat blood / To the Greek sword, scornful." (1.3.37-40). Volumnia, unlike Coriolanus' wife, Virgilia, does not seem happy to stay at home and sew. With great enthusiasm...... middle of paper......ultedAdelman, Janet. “‘Anger is my flesh’: eating, addiction, and aggression in Coriolanus.” In Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays. and. Murray Schwartz and Coppelia Kahn, 129-150. Baltimore, 1980.Barton, Ann. "Livy, Machiavelli and Shakespeare's Coriolanus." In Coriolanus by William Shakespeare, ed. Harold Bloom, 123-147. New York, 1988.Barzilai, Shuli (1991). Shakespeare's Coriolanus and the repetition compulsion. Hebrew University Studies in lit. 19:85-105. Cavell, Stanley. (1985). Who loves the wolf? Coriolanus and the interpretation of politics. In Parker, P. & Hartman, G. (eds.), Shakespeare and the question of theory. New York: Methuen.Shakespeare, William. Coriolanus, ed. John Dover Wilson. Cambridge, 1969. Jagendorf, Zvi. (1990). Coriolanus: body politic and private parts. Shakespeare Quarterly, 41(4), pp. 455-469.