Volumnia

Volumnia
Coriolanus character
Veturia at the Feet of Coriolanus by Gaspare Landi. Shakespeare follows Plutarch and his Parallel Lives where Coriolanus's mother is named Volumnia.[1]
Created by	William Shakespeare
Based on	Veturia
In-universe information
Family	Coriolanus, her son; Virgilia, her daughter-in-law

Volumnia is a character in William Shakespeare's play Coriolanus, the mother of Caius Martius Coriolanus. She plays a large role in Coriolanus' life, encouraging him in his military success and urging him to seek political office. When the people of Rome put her son in exile and he joins their military enemies, she manages to persuade him not to besiege Rome and becomes a heroine to the city.

Scholars have noted her profound control over her son and her effect on his attitude towards life throughout the play. Rather than offering nourishment, Volumnia constantly urges her son towards aggression. Psychoanalytic literary scholars even suggest that she protects him as if he were her sexual partner, even keeping Coriolanus' own wife away from him. Performance of the role has changed over time as focus shifted from male roles to female roles. During the Romantic Period, she was portrayed as a stately, calm woman. More recently roles have made her much more emotive. Act 1, scene 3 also separates her from the other women in the play: Volumnia speaks of "blood", "swords", and "death", while women like Virgilia speak of "sewing" and "butter".^{[citation needed]}