2.2 DESCRIPCIÓN DEL FUNCIONAMIENTO
2.2.2 SISTEMA DE ALIMENTACIÓN ININTERRUMPIDA DE ENERGÍA
H ated of all the Greeks, hated of T ro y . . . The Greeks have done me nothing b u t ill.
Ajax,n.
457-458,666 For Coriolanus, like the Sophoclean heroes, his d ty , his hom e, is never a place of refuge, of stability, or of harm ony. The only love an d understanding he gleans are encom passed in his precious m om ents w ith Virgilia, in her noble silence (n.1.166). Otherw ise he is effectively at w ar, a focus of antagonism and discord, from the m om ent the play opens until the end. W hether battle is joined, or during the dubious peace, he is irreconcilably in opposition w ith Romans and w ith Volscians. Rome, even in the hiatus betw een external conflicts, is a field of open hostility. It is a city in which citizens are ^mutinous* and carry 'staves, clubs, and other weapons' and in w hich Caius M arcius, Rome's m ost glorious son, is considered to be 'chief enem y to the people' (S.D. 1.1.1,1.1.6).A n arena of strife, antagonism, and aggression, Rome is a battleground potentially m ore threatening to Coriolanus than an enem y city m ight be; a bitter paradox, in which spurious peace is destroyed by the open hostility and treachery of the citizens. It is in Rome, specifically because he is the
quintessential Roman, that Coriolanus is substantially m ore dishonoured and degraded than he is in Antium. Like Antigone's w orld, Coriolanus's w orld neither understands nor appreciates him; his nobility, like hers, is rew arded w ith isolation, w ith banishment, and ultim ately w ith death. His adoptive city, an illusory second hom e and place of precarious asylum becomes, like Rome, dangerous, and finally m ortal to him.
Surrounded as he is by antagonism, the Sophoclean hero strives always to be allowed to be himself, to rem ain true to his inherent m oral principles. For him there is no punishm ent, not even the threat of death, w hich could be m ore intolerable or m ore degrading than being compelled to sacrifice his individual integrity by bow ing to outside persuasion:
AJAX: H onour in life.
Or honour in death; there is no other thing A noblem an can ask for. That is all.
A/ax, 11.480-482 This is the creed which clearly defines the irresistible conviction by which the
Sophoclean hero lives; for him there can be no compromise, no rew ard w hich w ould be an acceptable alternative to the m aintaining of his heroic integrity. D eath is inevitable, and is indeed preferable if life w ithin the com m unity w ould challenge his right to assert his individual m oral
standards. He characteristically exhibits a suprem ely disdainful disregard for personal safety; death is a lesser menace than dishonour w ould be:
AJAX: Long life? W ho b u t a cow ard w ould ask for i t . . . ?
Ajax, 1.475
ANTIGONE: I kn ew th at I sh o u ld h av e to die, o f course. W ith or w ithout your order. If it be soon. So m uch the better.
Antigone, 11.466-468
Cor. Let them pronounce the steep Tarpeian death, I w ould not buy
Their m e rc y . . .
N or check m y courage for w hat they can give
Coriolanus, in.3.89-94
Coriolanus, like Antigone, endures intense pressure throughout the dram a to surrender to the laws or customs of the com m unity and to speak and act in a m anner w hich he feels w ould be detrim ental to his code of honour:
ISMENE: H ow could you dare, w hen Creon has expressly forbidden it?
ANTIGONE: He has no right to keep me from m y ow n.
Your w ay seemed right to some, to others mine.
Antigone, 11.47-48,557
Cor. W hy in this wolfish toge should I stand here To beg of Hob and Dick that do appear Their needless vouches?
n.3.112-114 W hy d id you w ish m e m ilder? W ould you have me False to my n a tu re ? ---
M ust I go show them my unbarb'd sconce? M ust I W ith my base tongue give to m y noble heart A lie that it m ust bear?
m.2.14-15,99-101 The im puted self-destructiveness of the Sophoclean hero is bo rn of his pride
in his incorruptiblity, his fierce, driving com pulsion to effect his perception of right conduct. For him there can be no conceding, no m iddle road. The
essence of his nature is intem perance rather than self-control, and he m ust live his life according to his ow n absolute standards, rather than feign to espouse law s or m ores prom ulgated by the unscrupulous for the weak.
Sôphrosyné is the Greek term for self-control, tem perance, or sobriety, which
has come to denote the virtue of m oderation, the golden mean, and is a
principle often m aintained to have been endorsed in Sophoclean tragedy. It is in fact anathem a to the Sophoclean hero, w hose very extremes of
tem peram ent are fundam ental to his heroic persona. In his virtues and his excesses, C oriolanus exemplifies the Sophoclean hero w ho recognizes no confines or obligations b u t the unbridled expression of his ow n individuality. Any code of m ediocrity which threatens his essence is to be actively defied, w hatever the p en alty .^
5. The enduring noble memory of the heroic individual
Sophoclean heroes die violent, lonely deaths. The tragedy lies not in the fact of their deaths, b u t in the incongruity betw een their impressive m oral and physical dignity, their unseem ly treatm ent by their compatriots, and their ignom inious m ode of death. It is a characteristic and central Sophoclean notion that true heroic essence endures, an indestructible quality w hich cannot be destroyed by censure or death. All adverse judgem ents and
criticisms levelled at the hero throughout the course of the dram a are show n to be creations of self-deception, of rancour, or of moral insensibility on the p a rt of his d e t r a c t o r s . ^ 5 The conclusive affirmation of the hero's m oral stature
and inherent nobility, despite insistence throughout the play to the contrary, is the approbation afforded at the end, after his death, by his form er enemies:
ODYSSEUS: H e w as the bitterest enem y I had; and yet. Such though he was, I could not bring m yself To grudge him honour, or refuse to adm it H e was the bravest m an I ever saw.
The best of all that ever came to Troy, Save only Achilles.
Ajax,
11.1338-1343
A nd m oum you for him. Let him be regarded As the most noble corse that ever herald Did follow to his um .
Auf, My rage is gone.
A nd I am struck w ith s o rro w . . .
Though in this city he H ath w idow ed and unchilded m any a one.
Yet he shall have a noble memory.
Coriolanus: V.6.142-145,147-15446
Sophoclean heroes go willingly, w ith prescience, to their deaths. For them there is no sense of negation, no despair at the end; there is, instead, a form of elation for, facing certain death they affirm and m aintain their heroic
integrity:
ANTIGONE: N ow you have caught, will you do m ore than kill me?
W hy then delay? There is nothing more that you can say
T hat I should w ish to hear, . . .
I have given my brother burial. W hat greater honour could I wish?
Antigone, 11.498-503
The corroboration of their heroic status, the noble m em ory they are granted posthum ously, especially by erstwhile enemies, is the dram atist’s comm ent on their w orth.
Uniquely, am ong Shakespeare's tragic heroes, and in com m on w ith his Sophoclean counterparts, only Coriolanus is specifically guaranteed a noble m em ory in the dram a. For the others, only H am let is regarded as 'lik ely . . .
/T o have p rov'd m ost royal' (V.2.389-390). M acbeth is allowed only a passing denunciation: 'Behold w here stands /T h ' usurper's cursed head (V.8.54-55). Othello, stripped of com m and, is acknowledged to have been 'great of heart' (V.2.364). King Lear is pitied for having suffered so harshly and for so long:
Kent. Break, h e a rt;. . .
The w onder is he hath en d u r'd so long:
Kmg Lear, V.3.312,316 It is only Coriolanus which concludes on the Sophoclean note of the lasting, distinguished honour of the heroic: 'Yet he shall have a noble m em ory’ (V.6.154).