Coriolanus IOC

Link to Audio File:
https://sites.google.com/a/raha-international-school.org/audio-files/deema-s-ioc-audio

IOC Passage

Act 1, Scene 1 (lines 193-230)

Coriolanus. Hang 'em! They say!
They'll sit by the fire, and presume to know
What's done i' the Capitol; who's like to rise,                                                             
Who thrives and who declines; side factions
and give out                                                                                                                                  5
Conjectural marriages; making parties strong
And feebling such as stand not in their liking
Below their cobbled shoes. They say there's                                                                 
grain enough!
Would the nobility lay aside their ruth,                                                                                       10
And let me use my sword, I'll make a quarry
With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high
As I could pick my lance.                                                                                                   

Menenius Agrippa. Nay, these are almost thoroughly persuaded;
For though abundantly they lack discretion,                                                                                15
Yet are they passing cowardly. But, I beseech you,
What says the other troop?

Coriolanus. They are dissolved: hang 'em!                                                                  
They said they were an-hungry; sigh'd forth proverbs,
That hunger broke stone walls, that dogs must eat,                                                                      20
That meat was made for mouths, that the gods sent not
Corn for the rich men only: with these shreds
They vented their complainings; which being answer'd,                                              
And a petition granted them, a strange one—
To break the heart of generosity,                                                                                                    25
And make bold power look pale—they threw their caps
As they would hang them on the horns o' the moon,
Shouting their emulation.                                                                                          

Menenius Agrippa. What is granted them?

Coriolanus. Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms,                                                          30
Of their own choice: one's Junius Brutus,
Sicinius Velutus, and I know not—'Sdeath!
The rabble should have first unroof'd the city,                                                            
Ere so prevail'd with me: it will in time
Win upon power and throw forth greater themes                                                                           35
For insurrection's arguing.

Menenius Agrippa. This is strange.

Coriolanus. Go, get you home, you fragments!    

The Theme of Power in Coriolanus

The highly pigmented theme of power is deeply penetrated through Shakespeare's play: Coriolanus, by means of mimicking the well-defined social structure present in the Elizabethan era. It is according to this schemed allocation, which one is unconsciously placed in based on wealth, that worthiness, autonomy, and power is verified. This in turn offers 'natural' privileges for those comfortably lounging in the realms of the upper class as they are granted authority and respect over the citizens bearing the loss of civilization in the grounds of the lower class. Shakespeare meritoriously illustrated this imbalance of dominance through the core representations of the main characters. The preliminary position of the plebeians in the play firms their lack of power and say to acquire a sufficient fraction of the corn, in which the patricians have an abundant supply of. Coriolanus, the protagonist, who believes that his inherited placement as a patrician grants him the entitlement to overrate himself over the plebeians, while devaluing them. This was the initial spark to his malfunction of speech that led to his collapse. But after his singular triumph against the Aufidius, Coriolanus desired the position of a higher power within the political arena and therefore applied for consul. The tribunes, Brutus and Sicinius, who are the representatives of the plebeians, however due to their quenched thirst for power, managed to manipulate the plebeians to revoke their votes and kill Coriolanus despite his victory against Aufidius for Rome. Aufidius is the leader of Volsces who also craved power to take over Rome and Coriolanus himself and rule the Volsces powerfully. Meneninus, who is also a patrician impersonates a more successful character as he maintains a healthy balance between part-taking with the commoners and the patricians. Volumnia, who also yearned for power, took advantage of her character as Coriolanus's mother and lived through him. As a result it is evident that the theme of power is prevalent in Shakespeare's Coriolanus.