# Scene I explained — Coriolanus

> Chapter companion for Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/coriolanus_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/coriolanus_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/coriolanus_se/chapters