Coriolanus · Chapter
Scene I explained
Menenius, Cominius, Sicinius, and Brutus discuss Coriolanus's refusal to listen to Cominius's plea for mercy.
What happens
Menenius, Cominius, Sicinius, and Brutus discuss Coriolanus's refusal to listen to Cominius's plea for mercy. Menenius initially refuses to intervene but eventually agrees to try to persuade Coriolanus, though Cominius doubts he will succeed. They decide to seek help from Coriolanus's mother and wife.
Themes in this chapter
Political Manipulation
The tribunes and patricians maneuver to use Menenius and Coriolanus's family to sway him, highlighting the strategic use of personal relationships for political ends.
Exile and Identity
Coriolanus is described as 'a kind of nothing, titleless' until he forges a new identity through his campaign against Rome, emphasizing the loss and reconstruction of self in exile.
Characters to notice
- Menenius Agrippa
Reluctant to approach Coriolanus but eventually agrees to try to persuade him.
- Cominius
Reports his failed attempt to reason with Coriolanus and suggests seeking help from Volumnia and Virgilia.
- Sicinius Velutus
Urges Menenius to plead with Coriolanus for Rome's sake.
- Junius Brutus
Encourages Menenius to test his influence with Coriolanus.
- Caius Marcius Coriolanus
Referenced as having rejected Cominius's plea and now sitting in gold, resolute against Rome.
Key passages
“He was a kind of nothing, titleless, Till he had forged himself a name o' the fire Of burning Rome.”
He had become a nobody without a title until he created a new identity for himself through the destruction of Rome.
Cominius describes how Coriolanus has redefined himself through his campaign against his former city.
“I am one of those; his mother, wife, his child, And this brave fellow too, we are the grains: You are the musty chaff; and you are smelt Above the moon: we must be burnt for you.”
We are the valuable grains—his mother, wife, child, and I—while you are the worthless chaff that stinks to high heaven, and we will be destroyed because of you.
Menenius uses the fable of the belly to blame the tribunes for the impending destruction.
“He does sit in gold, his eye Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his injury The gaoler to his pity.”
He sits on a golden throne, his eyes red as if they would set Rome ablaze, and his sense of injury has imprisoned his capacity for mercy.
Cominius vividly portrays Coriolanus's wrathful and unyielding state.