#blorbus blorbius from my shakespearean tragedy

[transsexualcoriolanus]

hey can you stop moaning when we fight. i'm trying to be violent and ferocious over here and honestly it's a little off putting

[transsexualcoriolanus]

i'm not calling you a good boy caius marcius that attempt to destroy the romans was shit

[transsexualcoriolanus]

i find it super interesting that in coriolanus, a play with war as one of the main themes and the idea of death constantly there in the background, only one named character actually dies. something something casualties of war being invisible and unnamed

[transsexualcoriolanus]

i Need coriolanus to have a fandom. the discourse would be fucking unbearable

[transsexualcoriolanus]

i'm not saying coriolanus is actually transgender but. he is so trans. i mean

performs traditional masculinity to an extreme degree through his devotion to war and inability to show any emotion but anger. desperation to be seen as a "real man"

that but specifically about his relationship with volumnia. her love for him is completely conditional and she only accepts him as a man and as her son because of his fighting skill (stereotypical masculinity)

unable to function in society. comfortable in war, when he is a soldier and nothing else, but deeply uncomfortable when trying to just be a person

hates being talked about or even perceived: "I would they would forget me"

strong disregard for social norms, tradition and "custom"

lack of bodily autonomy. the way others demand to see his scars out of morbid curiosity as if his body is theirs

the way he is so deeply uncomfortable when this is demanded of him, and incredibly guarded and private about his body

deep admiration and envy of another man who epitomises traditional masculinity

emasculating terms used to insult him: "our general himself makes a mistress of him", "boy of tears"

[transsexualcoriolanus]

sexuality: bi but whenever i watch coriolanus i become a raging homosexual via osmosis

[transsexualcoriolanus]

he brings a sort of "i sin in envying his nobility and were i anything but what i am i would wish me only he" vibe to the military meeting that the other roman generals don't really like

[transsexualcoriolanus]

coriolanus is called that because he conquered corioles and because he and aufidius had- well. i shan't say

[transsexualcoriolanus]

caius marcius coriolanus should have been at the club

[transsexualcoriolanus]

it fills me with rage that in both hamlet and coriolanus, two of the only shakespearean tragedies in which the tragic hero's mother is present and important (i think the only other example is romeo and juliet), the relationship between them is just disregarded as an oedipus complex

[transsexualcoriolanus]

when analysing coriolanus, people make the mistake of assuming that he thinks he's better than everyone else. in fact, he thinks everyone else is worse than him. there is a difference

[transsexualcoriolanus]

coriolanus has many flaws but pride is not one of them: a compilation

[transsexualcoriolanus]

coriolanus and aufidius being heterosexual

bonus corminius:

[transsexualcoriolanus]

marcius being naked in his fight with aufidius but fully clothed in all of his other fight scenes in the 1984 coriolanus movie kills me every time. i love the idea that marcius and aufidius see each other across the battlefield and immediately rip their clothes off to fight

[transsexualcoriolanus]

to what extent do you think aufidius actually understands coriolanus?

ooh this is hard. when i first read the play i would have said that aufidius understands coriolanus - that's certainly a more convenient reading of their relationship - but i think it's more complicated than that.

the main argument for aufidius understanding coriolanus is their experiences fighting together. they have fought together many times, and aufidius knows coriolanus as a soldier extremely well as a result. there seems to be an agreement and understanding between them when it comes to fighting ("'tis sworn between us that we shall ever strike till one can do no more"). i think it's also true that coriolanus enjoys and feels understood by aufidius' hatred of him. he despises being idolised, and i think it's refreshing to him to find someone who he respects, unlike the people of rome, and who doesn't treat him like a god, unlike his friends and mother, even if that means he is hated.

however, there is also a disconnect between them in their rivalry. at the beginning of the play, the way they speak about each other is extremely different. coriolanus respects him, enjoys fighting him, and despite telling him he hates him, doesn't ever mention wanting him dead ("i sin in envying his nobility, and were i anything but what i am i would wish me only he", "he is a lion that i am proud to hunt"). aufidius, on the other hand, seems to have a much deeper hatred for him, genuinely wanting him dead, and even saying that he would kill him dishonourably, the ultimate act of disrespect ("where i find him, were it at home upon my brother's guard, even there, against the hospitable canon, would i wash my fierce hand in's heart"). none of this necessarily means that aufidius doesn't understand coriolanus, but it definitely shows a disconnect between them that could point to that.

while aufidius may understand coriolanus as a soldier, in my opinion he doesn't understand coriolanus as a person, which becomes clear from act 4 scene 5 onwards, when they have to interact not as soldiers but as people. when they first see each other in this scene, aufidius doesn't recognise coriolanus outside the context of war - when they aren't fighting, they are essentially strangers. after this, aufidius begins to use language similar to that which is used by many of the roman characters who misunderstand coriolanus. he compares him to a god ("why thou mars"), similar to the dehumanising idolisation that he is treated with by characters such as menenius and volumnia. he later describes coriolanus as proud, and even manipulative ("he watered his new plants with dews of flattery, seducing so my friends"), similar to the way brutus and sicinius describe him. this could be true, as we don't see how he acts when in antium before act 5, but it's very unlikely considering what we know of his character from the rest of the play.

i think, at the beginning of the play, coriolanus believes that aufidius understands him, because he understands him as a soldier, and coriolanus has only ever interacted with him in this way - he also only really understands himself as a soldier, making that the main aspect of his identity and being unable to function in real life without it. however, they do not understand each other as people - when forced to interact with coriolanus in this way, aufidius comes to the same incorrect conclusions that everyone else in coriolanus' life has. and part of the build up to the tragedy is both coriolanus and aufidius realising that the person they thought understood them is really just a stranger, and not knowing what to do with that information.

[transsexualcoriolanus]

i love him