SOURCE: “Characterizing Coriolanus,” in Acting and Action in Shakespearean Tragedy, Princeton University Press, 1985, pp. 140-68.

In the essay that follows, Goldman examines the unique way in which Coriolanus is discussed by the other characters in the play, noting that the other characters experience great difficulty in characterizing him.

I

Any discussion of acting is inevitably a discussion of characterization, and studies of Shakespearean tragedy, whatever their approach, inevitably concern themselves with Shakespeare's characters and how we are meant to take them. Though we may feel, for example, that we know Antony or Cleopatra rather differently from the way we know Macbeth, nevertheless we do feel we know them. And when we discuss them, we find ourselves talking about their characters as we talk about people we know in real life—though most of us will adopt a stern tone from time to time and point out that there...