Source: "Othello and Coriolanus: The Image of the Warrior," in The Heroic Image in Five Shakespearean Tragedies, Princeton University Press, 1965, pp. 92-170.

[In the excerpted essay that follows, Proser examines Coriolanus's character and his relationship to the theme if honor, which the critic calls the "central paradox if the play." Proser finds Coriolanus's defining characteristic to be his constancy; he never changes, thus fueling his inability to perceive ambiguity and to read: to it appropriately. Proser notes the purity if Coriolanus's motivations- he is heroic and honorable to the death- but that he lacks a sense if self-recognition. The critic adds that Coriolanus's honor derives only from his warrior nature and not from any sense if duty to defend his country. I.ikewise, his honor has little to do with the pursuit if fame although Volumnia continually equates honor with renown. In the end, Proser obs erves...