The Tragedy of Coriolanus

Read

1. ACT I.

   Famine sets the Roman plebeians rioting against the patricians and against Caius Marcius above all. War with the Volscians breaks out, and at Corioli Marcius performs prodigies of valour, earning the surname Coriolanus. His rival Aufidius, twice beaten, vows to destroy him by any means.

   1. Scene 1 — Rome. A street.

      Mutinous, starving citizens arm themselves against the patricians, naming Caius Marcius their chief enemy. Menenius calms them with the fable of the belly and the members; Marcius enters and pours scorn on them. News comes that the Volscians are in arms and that the people have been granted five tribunes — among them Sicinius and Brutus, who already resent Marcius's pride.

   2. Scene 2 — Corioli. The Senate House.

      At Corioli the Volscian general Aufidius and the senators learn that Rome has discovered their war plans. Aufidius longs to meet Marcius in the field.

   3. Scene 3 — Rome. An apartmnet in MARCIUS' house.

      In Marcius's house his mother Volumnia glories in the wounds and danger of war, while his gentle wife Virgilia sits in dread. Valeria visits and describes Marcius's small son tearing a butterfly apart — already his father's child.

   4. Scene 4 — Before Corioli.

      Before Corioli, Marcius curses the retreating Roman soldiers, chases the Volscians through the gates, and is shut inside the city alone, given up for lost.

   5. Scene 5 — Within Corioli. A street.

      Roman soldiers plunder Corioli for trash while Marcius, emerging bloodied and alive, scorns their greed and hurries to reinforce Cominius against Aufidius.

   6. Scene 6 — Near the camp of COMINIUS.

      Marcius, covered in blood, rejoins Cominius's army, is embraced, and begs to be set straight against Aufidius's best troops.

   7. Scene 7 — The gates of Corioli.

      Titus Lartius leaves a garrison to hold the captured Corioli and marches to join Cominius.

   8. Scene 8 — A field of battle between the Roman and the Volscian

      Marcius and Aufidius meet at last and fight; Aufidius is rescued by his own soldiers, to his shame.

   9. Scene 9 — The Roman camp.

      In the Roman camp Cominius and the army hail Marcius's deeds; he is given the honorific surname Coriolanus. Embarrassed by praise, he refuses any special share of the spoils and asks only that a poor Volscian host of his be freed — then forgets the man's name.

   10. Scene 10 — The camp of the Volsces.

       Beaten and humiliated, Aufidius swears to ruin Coriolanus by whatever means — open valour having failed, he will use wrath, fraud, or guile.

2. ACT II.

   Coriolanus returns to Rome in triumph and is put forward for consul. The office requires him to stand humbly in the marketplace and beg the citizens for their 'voices' — a custom his pride can barely endure. The tribunes, watching, prepare to use it against him.

   1. Scene 1 — Rome. A public place

      Menenius trades insults with the tribunes Sicinius and Brutus, exposing their malice. Volumnia and Virgilia greet the wounded, garlanded Coriolanus on his return. Left alone, the tribunes resolve that his certain contempt for the people will be the tool of his undoing.

   2. Scene 2 — Rome. The Capitol.

      In the Capitol two officers debate Coriolanus's worth and his open scorn for the commons. Cominius formally recounts his heroism; the Senate names him their choice for consul. Coriolanus shrinks from the ritual of showing his wounds and begging the people's voices.

   3. Scene 3 — Rome. The Forum.

      In the gown of humility Coriolanus grudgingly solicits the citizens one by one; they grant their voices. But the tribunes work on the crowd afterward, persuading them they were mocked, and the people revoke their approval.

3. ACT III.

   Provoked by the tribunes, Coriolanus erupts in public against the very idea of giving the people power, and is denounced as a traitor. Volumnia persuades him to go through the motions of repentance, but the tribunes bait him into rage again, and he is sentenced to banishment.

   1. Scene 1 — Rome. A street

      Hearing his voices are revoked, Coriolanus rails against sharing authority with the rabble. The tribunes pronounce him a traitor and call for his death; the scene erupts into near-riot, and only Menenius's pleading gets him offstage.

   2. Scene 2 — Rome. A room in CORIOLANUS'S house.

      Volumnia, putting policy above her son's nature, urges Coriolanus to return to the marketplace and beg pardon — to dissemble, flatter, and humble himself for once. Against everything in him, he agrees to try.

   3. Scene 3 — Rome. The Forum.

      The tribunes stage-manage the confrontation, deliberately calling him 'traitor' until his temper breaks. Sentenced to perpetual banishment, he turns on the city: 'I banish you,' and leaves declaring 'There is a world elsewhere.'

4. ACT IV.

   Coriolanus parts from his family and goes, disguised, to his enemy Aufidius in Antium, offering either his throat or his sword. Aufidius joyfully takes him as partner against Rome. As the two march on the city, the complacent tribunes are seized with panic — and Aufidius privately resolves to be rid of Coriolanus once he has served his turn.

   1. Scene 1 — Rome. Before a gate of the city.

      At the city gate Coriolanus takes a stoic farewell of his weeping mother, wife, and friends, promising to be seen no more 'or' to be heard from in greatness.

   2. Scene 2 — Rome. A street near the gate.

      Volumnia, raging and grief-stricken, curses the tribunes in the street as the authors of her son's exile.

   3. Scene 3 — A highway between Rome and Antium.

      On the road between Rome and Antium, a Roman traitor (Nicanor) meets a Volscian agent (Adrian) and reports that Coriolanus's banishment has left Rome ripe for attack.

   4. Scene 4 — Antium. Before AUFIDIUS'S house.

      Disguised and alone before Aufidius's house in Antium, Coriolanus muses bitterly on how slight a thing turns friends to enemies and enemies to friends, and steels himself to join his greatest foe.

   5. Scene 5 — Antium. A hall in AUFIDIUS'S house.

      Aufidius's servants scorn the ragged stranger until Coriolanus unmuffles and names himself, offering his life or his service against Rome. Aufidius embraces him with a lover's rapture and gives him half the command; the servants marvel at the great man now in their house.

   6. Scene 6 — Rome. A public place.

      The tribunes congratulate themselves on a quiet, prosperous Rome — until messengers bring word that Coriolanus and Aufidius are leading the Volscian army on the city. The people who banished him now wish him back, and turn on the tribunes.

   7. Scene 7 — A camp at a short distance from Rome.

      Aufidius, watching Coriolanus eclipse him in the soldiers' affection, confides to his lieutenant that he will let his ally take Rome and then break him.

5. ACT V.

   Rome sends Coriolanus's old friends and at last his family to plead for mercy. He rebuffs Cominius and Menenius, but cannot resist his mother. Volumnia's great appeal turns him from the city — saving Rome and dooming himself. Returning to the Volscians, he is denounced by Aufidius as a traitor and murdered.

   1. Scene 1 — Rome. A public place

      With the city in terror, Cominius reports that Coriolanus would not hear him. The tribunes beg Menenius to go; reluctantly, for Rome's sake, he agrees to try his old friend.

   2. Scene 2 — An Advanced post of the Volscian camp before Rome. The Guards at their station.

      The Volscian guards turn Menenius away from the camp, and Coriolanus coldly rebuffs him before them, giving him a letter and refusing to listen — to Menenius's heartbreak.

   3. Scene 3 — The tent of CORIOLANUS.

      Volumnia, Virgilia, Valeria, and young Marcius kneel before Coriolanus. In a long, overwhelming appeal his mother shames and implores him to make peace. He yields — 'O mother, mother! ... you have won a happy victory to Rome, but for your son, believe it, most dangerously you have with him prevailed' — and turns the army back.

   4. Scene 4 — Rome. A public place.

      In Rome, Menenius and Sicinius despair of mercy — until a messenger brings word that the women have prevailed. The city erupts in joy and prepares to welcome its saviours.

   5. Scene 5 — Rome. A street near the gate.

      The Roman matrons are welcomed home in triumph, the senators decreeing public honours for the women who saved the city.

   6. Scene 6 — Antium. A public place.

      Back in Corioli, Aufidius primes the lords and a band of conspirators against Coriolanus, denouncing him as a traitor who sold their victory for a few womanish tears. Goaded past endurance, Coriolanus boasts of having beaten the Volscians at Corioli; the conspirators stab him down. Aufidius, his fury spent, repents and orders his great enemy a noble funeral.

Characters

• Caius Marcius Coriolanus protagonist

  Rome's greatest soldier, surnamed Coriolanus for single-handedly storming the Volscian city of Corioli. Magnificent in battle but contemptuous of the common people, he cannot bend his pride to beg the citizens for the consulship; banished from Rome, he turns traitor and leads his old enemy's army against his own city, until his mother's pleading stops him and costs him his life. (Labelled MARCIUS until Act 1 ends and he is given the name Coriolanus.)

• Menenius Agrippa major

  An old patrician, witty and genial, a fatherly friend and champion of Coriolanus. He pacifies the mutinous citizens with his fable of the belly and the members, mediates between the patricians and the tribunes, and is heartbroken when the banished Coriolanus turns him away from the Volscian camp.

• Volumnia major

  Coriolanus's formidable mother, who raised him to prize honour and wounds above life itself. Fiercely ambitious for him, she at last kneels before him in the Volscian camp and, in the play's turning point, persuades him to spare Rome, knowing the mercy may doom him.

• Tullus Aufidius antagonist

  General of the Volscians and Coriolanus's great rival, who has fought and lost to him many times. When the banished Coriolanus comes to him in disguise, Aufidius embraces him as a brother-in-arms; then, eclipsed and resentful in his own city, he brands him a traitor and engineers his murder.

• Sicinius Velutus major

  One of the two newly created tribunes of the people. Shrewd and demagogic, he and Brutus turn the citizens against Coriolanus and engineer his banishment, then quail when news comes that his vengeance is marching on Rome.

• Junius Brutus major

  One of the two tribunes of the people (a namesake, not the Brutus of Julius Caesar). With Sicinius he speaks for the plebeians, goading Coriolanus into the contemptuous outburst that gets him banished.

• Cominius supporting

  The Roman general and consul under whom Coriolanus serves at Corioli. A steady, admiring patron, he reports Coriolanus's valour to the Senate and later pleads with him, in vain, to spare Rome.

• Virgilia supporting

  Coriolanus's quiet, loving wife, his 'gracious silence,' who dreads the wars that her husband and mother-in-law glory in. Her tears in the Volscian camp help move him to mercy.

• Titus Lartius minor

  A Roman general who fights beside Coriolanus at Corioli and is left to govern the captured city.

• Valeria minor

  A noble Roman lady, friend to Virgilia and Volumnia, who joins them in the embassy that begs Coriolanus to spare Rome. Coriolanus calls her 'the moon of Rome.'

• Young Marcius minor

  Coriolanus and Virgilia's young son, who already shares his father's fierce temper. He comes with the women to the Volscian camp.

• Gentlewoman minor

  A waiting-woman who attends Virgilia.

• First Citizen minor

  A leader of the mutinous Roman commoners in the opening scene, and one of the plebeians whose 'voices' Coriolanus must beg for the consulship.

• Second Citizen minor

  One of the Roman commoners; in the opening riot more mindful of Coriolanus's past services than the First Citizen.

• Third Citizen minor

  One of the Roman citizens in the marketplace who grant, then withdraw, their voices for Coriolanus's consulship.

• Fourth Citizen minor

  One of the Roman citizens debating Coriolanus's bid for the consulship in the marketplace.

• Fifth Citizen minor

  One of the Roman citizens debating Coriolanus's bid for the consulship in the marketplace.

• Sixth Citizen minor

  One of the Roman citizens debating Coriolanus's bid for the consulship in the marketplace.

• Citizens ensemble

  The Roman plebeians speaking as one, the 'many-headed multitude' whose votes and anger Coriolanus despises.

• All ensemble

  The full company on stage answering in unison, by turns the mutinous citizens, the acclaiming soldiers, or the assembled people.

• First Senator minor

  A presiding senator (Roman, and at Corioli and Antium a senator of the Volscians) who speaks for the council and welcomes the victorious army.

• Second Senator minor

  A senator who speaks in the Roman or Volscian council.

• Senators ensemble

  The assembled senators speaking together.

• First Patrician minor

  A Roman patrician supporting Coriolanus against the tribunes and the crowd.

• Second Patrician minor

  A Roman patrician supporting Coriolanus against the tribunes and the crowd.

• Herald minor

  The Roman herald who proclaims Coriolanus's triumphant return and his new name before the people.

• Aedile minor

  An officer attending the tribunes, sent to summon the people and, at their command, to arrest Coriolanus.

• First Officer minor

  One of two officers laying cushions in the Capitol, who discuss Coriolanus's worth and his open contempt for the people.

• Second Officer minor

  The second of the two officers in the Capitol who weigh Coriolanus's merits against his pride.

• First Soldier minor

  A soldier in the Roman army before Corioli.

• Second Soldier minor

  A soldier in the Roman army before Corioli.

• Lieutenant minor

  Aufidius's lieutenant, who warns him that Coriolanus is eclipsing him in the soldiers' and the people's affection.

• Messenger minor

  A messenger bearing news between Rome, the camp, and the cities of the war.

• Second Messenger minor

  A second messenger bringing battlefield or city news.

• Roman (Nicanor) minor

  Nicanor, a Roman in the pay of the Volscians, who meets the Volscian agent on the highway and reports that Rome, having banished Coriolanus, is ripe for attack.

• Volsce (Adrian) minor

  Adrian, a Volscian intelligencer who meets the Roman traitor on the road and brings him to Aufidius.

• Romans ensemble

  Roman soldiers carrying off plunder from the sack of Corioli while Marcius scorns their greed.

• First Servingman minor

  One of Aufidius's serving-men, who first scorn the ragged stranger Coriolanus, then boast of him once he is honoured.

• Second Servingman minor

  One of Aufidius's serving-men in his house at Antium.

• Third Servingman minor

  One of Aufidius's serving-men, who delivers the comic praise of war over peace once Coriolanus is welcomed.

• First Guard minor

  One of the Volscian watchmen at the camp before Rome who refuse the disgraced Menenius entry to Coriolanus.

• Second Guard minor

  One of the Volscian watchmen who turn Menenius away from Coriolanus's tent.

• First Conspirator minor

  One of Aufidius's fellow conspirators who help him cut down Coriolanus at Corioli.

• Second Conspirator minor

  One of Aufidius's fellow conspirators against Coriolanus.

• Third Conspirator minor

  One of Aufidius's fellow conspirators against Coriolanus.

• Conspirators ensemble

  Aufidius's conspirators speaking together.

• First Lord minor

  One of the lords of the Volscian city who try to protect Coriolanus and mourn his murder.

• Second Lord minor

  One of the Volscian lords who decry Aufidius's murder of Coriolanus.

• Third Lord minor

  One of the Volscian lords who call for Aufidius to answer for the killing.

• Lords ensemble

  The Volscian lords speaking together.

• Both Tribunes ensemble

  Sicinius and Brutus speaking together.

Cross-references

• Folger Shakespeare
• MIT plain text
• Wikipedia