Coriolanus is one of the several plays in which Shakespeare explores the ways in which man's presentation of himself balances precariously on the seesaw of tragic and comic modes. Coriolanus, by the very intensity with which he asserts masculine independence from circumstance, binds himself to maintain a public and self-image of an almost Godlike warrior, but his uncontrollable need to maintain this image denies its truth. From this paradox emerge the opposite views of Coriolanus presented in the play: Roman patriot and traitor, man of ultimate modesty and braggart, most manly of warriors and boy. Furthermore, the play shows us how all these straining oppositions rise from his denial of that human tenderness in himself that is barely manifested by his love of Virgilia. Having denied his inner feeling, he must model himself on external expectations, thereby rendering his actions and reactions predictable. This predictability makes it possible for others to manipulate Coriolanus. We are, therefore, forced to see him in the coloring of a Bergsonian automaton, even though the grandeur of his stance and the consequences of it make this perception tragically painful.