Adrian is a spy for the Volscians. He learns of Coriolanus's banishment from the Roman spy Nicanor.
AUFIDIUS, TULLUS
Tullus Aufidius is the general of the Volscian army and a long-standing adversary to Coriolanus. When the Roman is banished, he makes his way to Aufidius offering his service or his life, and the Volscian accepts Coriolanus's service in the attack against Rome. When Coriolanus decides to spare the city, Aufidius realizes that the hero has become more a liability than an asset, and he orchestrates the Roman's assassination.
BRUTUS
Junius Brutus, along with Sicinius, is one of the first tribunes elected to serve as a spokesman for the common people. Recognizing Coriolanus's absolute antipathy for the tribunes and all they represent, Brutus combines with Sicinius to enflame the Roman plebeians against the hero and to engineer the warrior's banishment.
CAIUS MARTIUS
Caius Martius is Coriolanus's given name.
COMINIUS
Cominius leads the Roman army against Carioles. After the city's defeat, he first proclaims Martius as "Coriolanus" and then seeks to have the hero made consul of Rome. When Coriolanus allies himself with Aufidius and besieges Rome itself, Cominius is the first emissary to entreat the warrior to spare the city, but he returns from the visit to the Volscian camp unsuccessful.
CORIOLANUS
Coriolanus is the surname bestowed upon Caius Martius in recognition of his bravery in the attack upon the city of Corioles. His tragedy stems from his open contempt for the common people of Rome and from his inflexible notions about how honorable men must behave. Banished from the city when the people turn against him, he allies himself with the Volscian general (and former enemy) Aufidius and leads an attack upon Rome itself. Finally persuaded to spare the city by the entreaties of his mother Volumnia and his wife Virgilia, he is assassinated by Aufidius who has become fearful of Coriolanus's temporary popularity among the Volscians.
FIRST OFFICER
While preparing the hall of the Roman senate where Coriolanus's possible consulship is to be debated, the First Officer remarks to the Second Officer upon the political shortcomings of the hero. Although Coriolanus's open scorn for the common people is well known, he has lately said things to emphasize that contempt, and the First Officer sees in this a perverse attempt to stir up the commons against him. He also recognizes that, were Coriolanus to change public position now by emphasizing his services to the state, he would "pluck reproof and rebuke from every ear that heard it." The Second Officer does force the First to admit in the end that Coriolanus is a worthy man.
MARTIUS
Coriolanus is identified in the text as "Martius" until the surname "Coriolanus" is bestowed, and other characters often address him thus.
MENENIUS AGRIPPA
A patrician and orator, Menenius serves as political mentor and substitute father to Coriolanus. He attempts to manage the effort to make Coriolanus consul and tries unsuccessfully to repair the damage caused by Coriolanus's open contempt for the plebeians and his disgust at the political concessions made to them. He follows Cominius in an attempt to dissuade Coriolanus from attacking Rome. Like the hero's former general, however, he is unsuccessful.
NICANOR
Nicanor is a spy. He is a Roman who sympathizes with the city's enemies and provides intelligence to the Volscians. His tells the Volscian spy Adrian of Coriolanus's banishment from Rome.
POOR MAN OF CORIOLES
A "ghost character". Although he never appears on stage, the Poor Man of Corioles provides possible insight into the character of Coriolanus. After the battle for Corioles, the hero is embarrassed by the praise the general Cominius and others heap upon him and publicly refuses Cominius's offer of one-tenth of the treasure taken from the city. Moments later, the wounded Coriolanus remembers that, in the military action, he heard a call for help from a poor man in the city who had given him shelter there years before. He asks Cominius to grant freedom to the man, but exhausted from the battle and fatigued by his wounds, Coriolanus cannot remember the man's name. This lapse is sometimes argued to suggest Coriolanus's psychological and emotional inability to connect in the most basic ways to other human beings.
ROMAN CITIZENS
The seven Roman citizens, in their conversations with and discussions about Coriolanus, remind the audience of the contradictory responses elicited by the hero. At times the citizens generally see Coriolanus as the "chief enemy of the people," but they occasionally admit that his service to the state should not be ignored. In the end, the citizens play into the hands of the tribunes Brutus and Sicinius and demand the banishment of Coriolanus.
SECOND OFFICER
As the Roman senate makes ready to discuss Coriolanus's possible appointment as consul, the Second Officer asserts to the First Officer that the hero should be admired both for his martial exploits on behalf of Rome and for the consistency of his attitude toward the plebeians. The First Officer does conclude that Coriolanus is a worthy man.
SICINIUS
Along with Brutus, Sicinius Vetulus is elected one of the first tribunes of Rome, officials whose obligation it is to represent the interests of the plebian class. He and Brutus use their political and rhetorical skills to incite the Roman populace against Coriolanus, and they lead the movement to have him banished.
TITUS LARTIUS
Lartius is a patrician and friend to Coriolanus. Like him, he serves as a general under Cominius in the battle at Corioles.
VALERIA
An aristocratic Roman woman, Valeria has a reputation for chastity. She accompanies Virgilia and Volumnia in the effort to convince Coriolanus to spare Rome.
VIRGILIA
Virgilia is Coriolanus's wife. When she is undemonstrative during the public welcome of the hero from the battle at Corioles. He chides her gently, referring to her as his "gracious silence." With their son, she accompanies Volumnia and Valeria on the embassy to beg Coriolanus to spare Rome.
VOLUMNIA
Coriolanus's mother. Volumnia is largely responsible for the hero's absolute acceptance of the most rigid code of Roman martial discipline. Her later counsel to temporize with the tribunes until he is granted the consulship strikes him as hypocritical, but he does make an abortive attempt to oblige. In the mission to beg for Rome, she is accompanied by the hero's wife, Virgilia, his son, and the highly regarded Roman gentlewoman, Valeria. They have been preceded by Cominius and Menenius, who failed to sway Coriolanus. It is Volumnia herself who finally wins Coriolanus's submission. When he acquiesces, he does so while holding her hand (and after one of the most telling moments of silence in all of Shakespeare's plays). Coriolanus's immediate observation that she has prevailed upon him, but in a way likely to prove "most mortal to him," indicates a recognition of the reality of his situation, just as his addition of "But let it come," reveals the hero's acceptance of the fatal consequences of his actions.
YOUNG MARTIUS
Like his father, Coriolanus's son would "rather see the swords and hear a drum than look upon his schoolmaster." He accompanies Volumnia, Virgilia, and Valeria to the camp of Aufidius on the mission to beg Coriolanus to spare Rome.