Coriolanus hasn't exactly won any popularity contests with audiences in the last 400 years or so—kind of like he doesn't win any popularity contests with the plebeians, who kick off the play by rioting in the streets and threatening to go after him with a bunch of clubs and pikes and what not. He may be the war hero who saves Rome from its enemies and who once helped to banish the old tyrant king Tarquin, but let's face it: Coriolanus just rubs people the wrong way. First, he's a lower-class hating snob who thinks the plebeians don't deserve any political power (or even any food, apparently). He's the poster boy for the kind of aristocratic arrogance that dominates the play. Plus, he's got a seriously hot temper, an unwillingness to compromise, and a tendency to say the first thing that comes to his mind. Result? One seriously flawed hero. Here he is in action, when the plebs riot on the streets of Rome and demand better access to the city...