... , she has sent Coriolanus, her son, to his death at the hands of the Volscions. Traditional academic critics have received this scene without much analysis, taking the character at face value and condemning Volumnia as a cruel and abusive mother, and insist that she is not "given a moment of ... the ambiguities of feminine silence [and this] should make critics wary of too hastily judging Volumnia's." 5 Indeed Volumnia's silence, when viewed with other characters written in the period in mind, might be considered a turning point for the play, and change the dynamic of the climax, such th...

• Word Count: 1648
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate