The Roman general Caius Martius - also known as "Coriolanus", can be described as a brave man who is quite impressive in battle and is extremely honorable. However, he can also be considered as a man of too much pride, someone who is immature, stubborn and a social snob. Although they acknowledge his heroism they accuse Coriolanus of being too proud, as one citizen points out in Act 1 Scene 1: “Very well, and could be content to give him good report for 't, but that he pays himself with being proud. The fate of Coriolanus is mainly determined by his pride. Although most of his pride comes from his own knowledge of his abilities and capabilities as a general and a hero, it destroys his own career and brings his downfall. Unfortunately it is these negative attributes that lead to his exile from Rome and it is his pride that ultimately brings down his demise. Moreover, when he gets banished he has quite an arrogant …show more content…
Volumnia is the most influential person in Coriolanus' life. She adores her son, maybe a little too much, and boasts about how she raised him to be the deadliest warrior in Rome. According to Volumnia, the only way for her son to prove his worth as a man was for him to become a warrior. This leaves a psychological effect on Coriolanus as he is constantly proving his worth to his mother which as mentioned affects his decisions. In Act 1, Scene 3, Volumnia describes her son from his boy-like beginnings to his manhood but then goes on describe him as a force to dealt with when he becomes a soldier going off to war and coming back as a conqueror and how proud of that fact she is rather than giving birth to him: “To a cruel war I sent him, from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child than now in first seeing he had proved himself a man.”
What we do know is that this lack of intellectual integrity is the opposite of the behavior that is required of an ethical leader (CF03SG, 2013, p. 7). Most assuredly, his actions confused his team of warriors, and affected their view of his professional character, especially since non-Roman captives had been released to their respective countries. You just found out that the bully in the hood is coming to reclaim the marbles he gave you last week. This happens to be the same bully that stole the little guy’s lunch money last week; and oh, by the way, you’ve had a sincere dislike for him ever since you were “knee-high to a grass hopper”.... ...
During the Republic, the people of Rome had a major disinclination towards any sort of Royalty, which is why when Caesar attempted to lead undemocratically indefinitely, he disrupted one of the core stances that romans shared communally. Caesar over indulged in power when he retitled himself as ‘dictator in perpetuo’. “And as Caesar was coming down from Alba into the city they ventured to hail him as king. But at this the people were confounded, and Caesar, disturbed in mind, said that his name was not King, but Caesar, and seeing that his words produced an universal silence, he passed on with no very cheerful or contented looks…..But the most open and deadly hatred towards him was produced by his passion for the royal power.” Caesars egotism and self-importance made him uncherished by members of the senate. “Everybody knew that Caesar's ego would never allow him to play second fiddle to another senator, and it was equally well-known that another famous military leader, Pompey the Great, had similar ambitions. In January 49, more or less at...
The definition of pride is a feeling or deep pleasure of satisfaction that people obtain from their own accomplishments. Odysseus, the main character in The Odyssey, is full of pride throughout his long journey. Odysseus is a warrior from the ten year Trojan War and he is trying to get back home to Ithaca. He is one of the most popular war heros from his time. On his journey home over sea, the sea god and Odysseus’s enemy Poseidon, creates obstacles for Odysseus that he has to overcome if he wants to get home. Odysseus eventually returns home after another ten years. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer represents pride Odysseus’ biggest flaw throughout his encounter with Polyphemus and the Phaeacians.
For example, when Virgilia, Coriolanus's wife, worries that her husband has been wounded in battle, Volumnia says: “Away, you fool! It more becomes a man than gilt his trophy”(1.3.39-43). Instead of trying to comfort Virgilia, Volumnia shows her joy at the prospect of her son having been gloriously wounded in battle. She suggests that, along with her milk, she infused an equal measure of thirst for blood—for others' and his own blood. The unknown “breasts of Hecuba” speech, along with others like it, is usually read as a reflection of Volumnia’s cruel and uncontrolled attitude toward Coriolanus when he was a little child. He then incorporated into his personality and this formed the basis of his love of violence. And she seems to take enormous pride in what she did with
Along the same line as humility comes pride. Odysseus had more pride and cockiness than any of the characters I have read about this semester. He didn’t seem as bad in the Iliad, but the Odyssey really showed him in a different light. He had to swallow his pride when he had to come back to his home and get it back. Just in the fact that he came back at all was pride swallowing. He lost all of his men.
This flaw eventually leads to his downfall because of all the bad decisions it causes him to make. The first mistake pride causes him to make is to kill Caesar and the next mistake follows right after. “ Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar’s body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, but speak all good you can devise of Caesar, and say you do’t by our permission; Else shall you not have any hang at all about his funeral; and you shall speak in the same pulpit wherto I am going, after my speech is done.” (24) This was said by Brutus to Antony right after Caesar’s death. Brutus not only allows Antony to live but then allows him to speak at Caesar’s funeral after Brutus speaks, completely unsupervised. This choice of Brutus’ is brought about by his pride (and maybe a little bit of shortsighted stupidity).
During his second courageous act, his wife and only son are murdered and he is to be executed. This changing his journey home as I will discuss as we move on. Furthering his acts of heroism he manages to save the lives of many slaves by battling in the arena, saving a senator from execution, and avenging his wife and son by slaying the emperor. His acts of nobility occur when he saves the senator and fulfils the wishes of the dead Marcus Aurelius. He gives Rome back to the senate and returns the power back to the people.
In the play Coriolanus, Coriolanus ' mother Volumnia raises him to become this brave warrior of Rome. Volumnia is proud of who her son has become; however, she does not only think of Coriolanus as just her son, but a warrior that she has sexual desires for. Volumnia 's love and affection for Coriolanus in the play is incestuous due to her pondering the thought of having sex with Coriolanus as her husband, her over-excitement when she fantasizes about Coriolanus ' wounds, and the non-maternal indications of Coriolanus sucking on her breasts. This important to the play because Volumnia raised and taught Coriolanus to become this warrior that she fantasizes about. She uses these incestuous references to display how she really feels about her
After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to Aristotle, “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude”(Kwheeler). In order for someone to be considered a tragic hero, the person must meet the criteria of high social status, suffer from a hamartia, face a catastrophe, invoke catharsis, and experience anagnorisis and peripeteia(Kwheeler).
- Achilles, was also brought to ruin by his pride. For example, he was too
Brutus, the Noblest Roman of them All. By definition, noble is having moral character, courage, generosity, honor and bravery to do what is right. It is finding the truth and reason in everything that happens around you. Many of the characters in Julius Caesar have a selfish goal: to gain more power and wealth.
Pride is a person dignity from there own achievements. The Iliad shows pride being used to be the consequence to revenge from Achilles. In book one, Agamemnon and Achilles are seen of showing pride and revenge. Agamemnon who is an overly powerful king who only thinks about himself and having the biggest army in taking control of others can result in having pride. Achilles is known for his many battles and achievements during the war that he gains his pride. It is when Agamemnon has to suck up his pride by giving back Apollo priest daughter for the good of his people:
In Act 5, she uses Coriolanus’ love for his family when she asks “Alas, how can we for our country pray, / Whereto we are bound, together with thy victory, / Whereto we are bound?”(5.3.107-9) to lead Coriolanus into believing that he will “show a noble grace to both parts”(5.3.121) by making peace. Then he dies attempting to be the hero no both sides and his mother ends up being the hero to Rome and cheered by all the city. Menenius even says that, “This Volumnia is worth of consuls, senators, patricians”(5.4.53) at which time a woman couldn’t be held in such a high regard. At a male-dominated time, she couldn’t achieve power on her own: she gained everything through manipulating her son (intentionally or not). It also interesting that Coriolanus’ father is left out in the play, further highlighting the mother’s influence.
Despite portraying the notion of pride from different perspectives, both texts characterize pride with negative consequences to their characters, which shows extreme obsessions with pride could potentially lead to one’s downfall. Achilles, who is known as the greatest warrior of the Archean, heavily values pride as an essential virtue of honor and acts to uphold his pride
In the beginning of the play Caius Marius, a partisan general and war hero is portrayed as a courageous of man of action, though he is uncomfortable with words and political dealings. He is described a proud man of deep integrity who dislikes being praised for what he has done as he refuses monetary awards. Caius Martius prefers to be honored for his achievements by being given a high office rather than being applauded and praised, however his lack of social skills prevents him from achieving this. Plebeians believe that Caius Martius, one of the most distinguished generals of the state, is their main enemy; if they kill him, they believe they will get the liberties they desire.