# Coriolanus — Character guide

> Key figures in Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.

- [Caius Marcius Coriolanus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/caius_marcius_coriolanus.md): A patrician general whose battlefield fury earns him the surname Coriolanus, he returns from Corioli to find Rome's citizens and tribunes already measuring his pride. He cannot flatter, cannot wear humility like a costum
- [Menenius Agrippa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/menenius_agrippa.md): Menenius is the patrician everyone tolerates: a talker, a peacemaker, a man who calls Coriolanus his friend and Rome his family. He tries to keep the general's temper in check — 'Be calm, be calm' — and to keep the tribu
- [Tullus Aufidius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/tullus_aufidius.md): Aufidius is Rome's mirror-image enemy: a general whose personal hatred of Coriolanus has become almost a form of devotion. He curses his own troops for yielding Corioli, retires to Antium, and lets it be known he would p
- [Volumnia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/volumnia.md): Volumnia raised her son on stories of blood and honour, and she measures his worth by the wounds he carries home. She pushes him toward the consulship, dismisses his reluctance as squeamishness, and treats his victories 
- [Sicinius Velutus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/sicinius_velutus.md): Sicinius is one half of the tribunician pair that guards the plebeians' hard-won voice against patrician contempt. He watches Coriolanus's triumphal return not with awe but with calculation, noting that a man who cannot 
- [Junius Brutus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/junius_brutus.md): Brutus shares the tribuneship with Sicinius and shares his suspicion of Coriolanus's popularity, but his voice is the cooler, more strategic one. He notes how the whole city crowds to see the returning general — nurses, 
- [Cominius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/cominius.md): Cominius commands Rome's armies and shares the field with Coriolanus, whose battlefield glory he publicly proclaims by bestowing the name 'Coriolanus' before the assembled city. He prizes old comradeship and the blood he
- [Virgilia](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/virgilia.md): Virgilia waits at home while her husband wins glory, refusing Valeria's invitations and vowing not to step outside until he comes back from the wars. Where Volumnia glories in blood and honor, Virgilia weeps at his trium
- [Valeria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/valeria.md): Valeria moves easily between Rome's great houses, visiting Volumnia and Virgilia with gossip, warmth, and an eye for the family's boy, whose violent play with a butterfly she recounts with delight. She presses Virgilia t
- [Titus Lartius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/titus_lartius.md): Roman general who fights alongside Coriolanus at Corioli.
- [First Citizen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/first_citizen.md): Leader of the plebeian revolt who argues against Coriolanus's pride.
- [Second Citizen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/second_citizen.md): Plebeian who supports Menenius's fable of the belly.
- [First Servingman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/first_servingman.md): Servant in Aufidius's house who mocks Coriolanus in disguise.
- [Messenger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/messenger.md): Bearer of news about the Volscian army's movements.
- [Senator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters/senator.md): Roman senator who summons Coriolanus to the Capitol.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/coriolanus_se/characters