{"id":316,"date":"2024-04-14T06:28:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=316"},"modified":"2025-10-10T09:56:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T16:56:44","slug":"coriolanus-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/coriolanus-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Coriolanus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Tragedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Coriolanus.<\/em> (The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 1072-1152.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. In Act 1, Scene 1, what perspectives are we offered by the ordinary citizens and by the patrician (nobleman) Menenius on social class and politics? How does Menenius\u2019 \u201cbelly\u201d analogy for the workings of the body politic help him to advance his case? What is the cause of the plebeians\u2019 present unrest, and what do they appear to think of Menenius\u2019s analogy for relations between them, their governors, and the \u201cstate\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. In Act 1, Scene 1, what can we infer about Caius Martius (later Coriolanus, pronounced with accent on \u00e1 as in b\u0101ke) from his comportment and words towards the plebeians (common citizens) of Rome? What approach does he take in speaking to them? What assessment do the people\u2019s tribunes, Brutus and Sicinius, make of Caius Martius? If his state of error or flawed quality is already apparent, what is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. In Act 1, Scene 2, how do the Volscian commander Aufidius and the Volscian Senators, respectively, weigh in on what they\u2019ve heard about the basic social and political situation in Rome, Roman preparations to attack them and the state of the Romans\u2019 knowledge of Volscian planning? In particular, what seems to be Aufidius\u2019s main concern? (In responding, it would help to do some brief research on the Roman-Volscian Wars as well as the Secessio Plebis<\/em> or \u201cConflict of the Orders\u201d of 494 BCE.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. In Act 1, Scene 3, Caius Martius\u2019s mother Volumnia and his wife Virgilia discuss him and his young son. What insights do these two women provide us not only about the temperament and bearing of a Roman matron but also about the expected character of a patrician man in the prime of life? In particular, what differences in sensibility and possibly opinion distinguish Volumnia and Virgilia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. In Act 1, Scenes 4-8, describe the ups and downs of the Roman campaign against the Volscians in and around the city of Corioles. What are the high points (including Caius\u2019s single combat against Aufidius) and low points of the military action? How does Caius Martius manage his troops and his strategic\/tactical responsibilities as a general? What is the outcome of the Roman campaign against Corioles?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. In Act 1, Scene 9, what honors does Consul Cominius bestow upon Caius Martius as a result of his generalship and personal performance as a soldier during the battle of Corioles? How does Caius handle this high praise and the gifts that come with it? How does Cominius take Caius\u2019s words and gestures as the recipient of such honors and gifts? Finally, what\u2019s the significance of Caius\u2019s requesting that Cominius free a poor man from captivity for helping him during the fighting, only to forget the man\u2019s name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. In Act 1, Scene 10 (as well as Scenes 2 and 8), we catch glimpses of Caius Martius\u2019s Volscian opponent, Tullus Aufidius. How does he size up his Roman enemy Caius, and what does Aufidius tell us will be his strategy for defeating him? To what extent does Aufidius delineate an ethos or set of values to set against those of the Romans? Describe that ethos or set of values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

8. In Act 2, Scene 1, describe the contentious meeting between the Tribunes of the People, Brutus and Sicinius, and the patrician and former consul Menenius Agrippa. What is the subject of their contention? What do the Tribunes evidently think of the returning Caius Martius \u201cCoriolanus\u201d (his new title in the wake of the Roman victory in Corioles) and, most immediately, of Menenius himself? In return, what does he apparently think of the two Tribunes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. In Act 2, Scene 1, what does Caius Martius Coriolanus\u2019s mother, Volumnia, have to say about her son\u2019s victorious return, and in particular the things others are saying as well as the wounds he has received? What is Coriolanus\u2019s wife Virgilia\u2019s reaction to these things? And what is the reaction of Menenius?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. In Act 2, Scene 1, what reception does Coriolanus get when he returns to Rome along with his fellow Roman military leaders Cominius and Lartius? How does he at first react to being greeted by his newly earned honorific name, and to Volumnia\u2019s hint that she wants Rome to make him consul? What does Coriolanus say is his first priority now that he has returned home to Rome?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Act 2, Scene 1, what role do Tribunes of the People Brutus and Sicinius intend to play in setting up Coriolanus for failure? What is their plan to bring him down, and what principle or ethos seems to underlie their determination to do so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. In Act 2, Scene 2, describe the brief debate between the First and Second Officers regarding Coriolanus\u2019s relation to the plebeians or common folk. How does each man assess the general\u2019s haughtiness and seeming contempt for \u201cbase-born\u201d Romans? And what view does each evidently hold about the plebeians themselves, and specifically about their capacity to judge people and affairs soundly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. In Act 2, Scene 2, Rome\u2019s key political actors assemble to praise and reward Coriolanus and to consider his intention to stand for the supreme office of consul. How does Coriolanus bear up under what we know must be a distressing experience for him at this formal gathering? What \u201cspecial request\u201d does he make by way of altering the usual procedures employed when one stands for the consulship? How is that request dealt with, and what reaction does the request spark in the Tribunes of the People, Brutus and Sicinius?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. In Act 2, Scene 3, how does Coriolanus\u2019s \u201cstanding\u201d for the consulship go? What attitude does he take towards the people and the whole process of standing in front of the people to seek their support in electing him consul? What at first persuades the people to give their assent, in spite of the candidate\u2019s brusqueness and evident discomfort in asking for the approval of those he despises?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. In Act 2, Scene 3, what reservations do many of the common folk or plebeians begin to have almost immediately after they assent to Coriolanus\u2019s suit for the consulship? What role do Brutus and Sicinius, the Tribunes of the People, play in directing the thoughts and emotions that sweep through the crowd? On the whole, what qualities and skills does Coriolanus lack that are essential to any successful democratic politician, and what role do those deficiencies play in his ultimate rejection by the people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

16. In Act 3, Scene 1, we hear that Aufidius is ashamed of his own people, the Volscians, as if they are an inadequate vehicle for his personal honor and valor. Coriolanus has something like the same problem with Rome\u2019s plebeians. What complaints does the haughty Roman rehearse against the plebeians and their representatives, the tribunes? What principles of statecraft does he set forth in denouncing them all? Why, in his view, shouldn\u2019t the aristocratic class (the patricians) bother mollifying the plebeians when they make economic and social demands or try to exercise authority?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17. In Act 3, Scene 1, what happens as a result of Coriolanus\u2019s almost savage ranting against the Tribunes and the common people? How does the Tribune Sicinius react to what Coriolanus has said? How do Menenius and other patricians manage to redirect the people to a less bloody course, at least for the time being? What do they end up promising the Tribunes and the plebeians by way of a resolution to the standoff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. In Act 3, Scene 2, how do Volumnia and Menenius somewhat expand the narrow definition of \u201cRomanness\u201d that Coriolanus has apparently held all his life? What arguments do they use to fight his intransigence when it comes to wooing the common people and preserving his own honor? In sum, what is their advice to the headstrong, inflexible Coriolanus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. In Act 3, Scene 3, how and why does Coriolanus fail in his attempt to temporize with the plebeians (common people) now that he has lost their favor? What do Brutus and Sicinius have to do with this failure\u2014what is their strategy to bring him down? His failure aside, however, there is<\/em> a harsh nobility in Coriolanus\u2019s final words of banishment and denunciation that it\u2019s hard not to admire. What judgment does he pronounce against the plebeians and their tribunes once they have definitively banished him from Rome?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

20. In Act 4, Scenes 1-2, in what spirits and with what expectations does Coriolanus take his leave from his Roman family and friends, and step beyond the boundaries of Rome? What are the familial consequences or fallout now that his banishment is about to take effect? What does his departure mean to Volumnia, Virginia, and Menenius, respectively?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21. In Act 4, Scene 3, what important political effects does the banishment of Coriolanus appear to have caused in Rome, according to the Roman traitor Nicanor, who in this scene meets the Volscian spy Adrian by chance on the road between Rome and Antium? What benefits may accrue to the Volscians from this crisis, and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22. In Act 4, Scene 4, describe Coriolanus\u2019 entry into the Volscian city Antium. How is he dressed as he stands in front of Aufidius\u2019s home? What are his reflections on the path, the events, that have brought him to this strange circumstances, as an exile in a foreign place about to plead his case with his longtime mortal enemy? What does he expect from Aufidius?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23. In Act 4, Scene 5,  Coriolanus first encounters three servingmen of Aufidius\u2019s household, and then comes face-to-face with his enemy Aufidius. How do the servingmen at first treat the disguised Coriolanus, and what is his response? Discuss Coriolanus\u2019s meeting and conversation with Aufidius: how does the Volscian general greet and esteem his old enemy, now that he has turned his back on Rome? What offer does he make to Coriolanus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24. In Act 4, Scene 5, once it\u2019s apparent that Coriolanus will now be signing on as the leader of a significant part of the Volscian army along with Aufidius, what do the servingmen who had earlier insulted the Roman now say about him relative to their own leader Aufidius? What do they apparently think of the coming-on of still more war between the Volscians and the Romans?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25. In Act 4, Scene 6, what do the Tribunes Sicinius and Brutus think of Rome\u2019s current condition now that Coriolanus has been banished? How does the quickly spreading rumor that Coriolanus and Aufidius have teamed up and are on their way towards Rome affect the mood in the great city, and what accusations does Menenius level against Sicinius and Brutus and the common people now that disaster impends?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. In Act 4, Scene 7, what is Aufidius\u2019s estimation of Coriolanus\u2019s deal with the Volscians, especially as it affects his own reputation among his men? How does he analyze the former Roman general\u2019s prospects for success against Rome? What ultimate outcome does he believe he can shape respecting Coriolanus once the fighting is done? On the whole, how would you describe Aufidius\u2019s intentions towards Coriolanus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

27. In Act 5, Scenes 1-2, Cominius and Menenius get a chilly reception from Coriolanus in their attempt to stop the Volscian juggernaut against Rome, but in Act 5, Scene 3, the embittered warrior relents. Why do Volumnia, Virgilia, and Valeria succeed where the men failed? Treat the women\u2019s words and gestures as a unified act of rhetoric (i.e., the means of persuasion): what finally breaks through to Coriolanus\u2019s heart and gets him to drop his vengeful stance against Rome? What does Coriolanus believe will be the consequences of the resulting peace for him personally? What does Aufidius make of this turn of events?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28. In Act 5, Scene 4, what is Menenius\u2019s assessment of his old friend Coriolanus on the eve of what still seems to him and Sicinius the certain destruction of Rome? How do he, Sicinius, and all the people of Rome receive the news that Coriolanus has relented at the instance of Volumnia, Virgilia, and Valeria? In Scene 5, what formal welcome do the women receive in thanks for their efforts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

29. In Act 5, Scene 6, how does Aufidius bring about Coriolanus\u2019s personal destruction? What steps does he take to ensure that the former Roman general will fall into the trap that he, Aufidius, is carefully setting for him? What causes for his resentment of Coriolanus, both prior and current, does the Volscian general reveal to us as the motivating forces for eliminating his rival? How and when does the assassination that Aufidius has arranged occur? Once it has taken place, what are his thoughts about the man he has killed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

30. General question. T.S. Eliot remarked in his essay collection The Sacred Wood<\/em> that while Coriolanus<\/em> is by no means among Shakespeare\u2019s most appreciated plays, it is nonetheless among the most properly classical<\/em> among his dramas, in terms of its structure and overall approach. What, then, constitutes the classical attitude and design of this play? In responding, consider the representation of the protagonist Caius Martius Coriolanus as well as the play\u2019s basic structure and action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31. General question. Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus <\/em>is set in early 5th-century BCE Rome (the 490s BCE), a period long before the final breakup of the Republic. But Roman history was always tumultuous, and while modern critics have pointed out that Shakespeare treats history loosely, there is always something authentic about his representations of Rome. What essential or authentic Roman qualities, then, does the playwright capture in this tragic tale of an arrogant nobleman, angry commoners, and determined external enemies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies + Digital Edition.<\/em>\u00a03rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93860-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document Timestamp: 8\/2\/2025 5:09 PM<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Coriolanus. (The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies, 3rd ed. 1072-1152.) 1. 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