Act I starts already with a conflict, building up the rising action of the play thanks to the battle between Rome and the Volsces. The audience is firstly introduced to the audience through Menenius and the plebeians who think of him as a common enemy of the people. From the beginning of the play Shakespeare has already portrayed Caius Martius and a despised character in the eyes of the people. The plebeians refer to Martius as a "very dog to the commonality. Furthermore Martius at this stage of Act I has just been shot at with complaints and bad personality traits.
In the first act of Coriolanus, Shakespeare introduces the audience to the main characters in an abundance of events that mainly circulates around Coriolanus. In Act I, Corionalus is known as Caius Martius since he gained his glorious name after he won the battle against the Volsces and took over the city of Corioles. Coriolanus' characterization are created through direct and indirect dialogue which implying his being as a strong, capable, extraordinary yet flawed character.As per the genre of this play, it is a political play. The people are on the verge of going against the Council and Coriolanus ats towards the people just worsen the situation they are already in. In Act I the conflict between the plebeians with Menenius contributed to the downfall of Martius following the plot of the play. It contributes towards Corionalus downfall because normally in Roman Politics, at that time, if one wanted to gain power and be part of the government it was crucial that the people of the city liked that person. If one had the support of the people it was rather easy to rise to power. However Coriolanus as described in Act I did not care much for the people as he only cared about his mother Volumnia. The plebeians were always complaining that all he does is for his mother and Shakespeare, through Martius' dialogues shapes the way that he thinks of the people by degrading them as human beings. Therefore it can be seen during that play that this is already one of Coriolanus' weakness(the political world). Shakespeare made clear that the people's opinion was important during that time in the political world which is significant later in the play and he also managed to establish Coriolanus position in the Roman society.
Further in the Act I, when the battle between the Romans and the Volsces occurs, Shakespeare finally releases Matius good characteristics to the audience. He is seen as a warrior of great power who is a passionate fighter and a glorious leader of the Roman army. At first, when the Romans are defeated, Martius gives a persuasive and threatening speech which rises the army's morale and self-esteem up with fear who then attack the city of Corioles; “If any think brave death outweighs bad life, And that his country’s dearer than himself; Let him alone, or so many so minded, Wave this to express his disposition And follow Martius.”. Shakespeare characterizes Coriolanus as a heroic and godlike figure of Rome who was born to fight in war. Towards the end of Act I, the audience witnesses Martius take over the city of Corioles on his own which indirectly portrays his as a hero and a lonely dragon who is strong and acts alone.
These brave demonstrations inside the war zone come interestingly with the main scene of the play, which assert Martius to be an adversary to the general population. His prosperity and better name got from guaranteeing Corioles is a vast occasion that occurs in the start of the play, to give Martius a more gallant picture to the gathering of people. Shakespeare does this stupendous occasion before all else and portrays Martius to be a supernatural legend to perform and overstate his fall towards the finish of the play, and underlines his contentions between the plebeians to show where the character's shortcomings are and additionally to anticipate the fall of Martius in later acts.
