Metaphoric Resonance in Shakespearean Tragedy [1 ed.] 9781443816182, 9781443814447

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Metaphoric Resonance in Shakespearean Tragedy

Metaphoric Resonance in Shakespearean Tragedy

By

Myron Stagman

Metaphoric Resonance in Shakespearean Tragedy, by Myron Stagman This book first published 2010 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2010 by Myron Stagman All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-1444-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-1444-7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction.............................................................................. 1 1. An Abbreviated Nether World example: Coriolanus .......... 3 2. Miscellaneous Examples of Metaphoric Resonance............ 9 3. A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus ... 17 Hunger-metaphor .............................................................. 17 Body-metaphor.................................................................. 23 Disease-metaphor .............................................................. 26 Body-metaphor continued ................................................. 30 Boy tearing butterfly/”boy of tears”.................................. 38 Tears-metaphor.................................................................. 39 Breaking (walls, city)-metaphor........................................ 44 Butterfly-metaphor ............................................................ 47 Dragon-metaphor .............................................................. 48 Boy-metaphor.................................................................... 49 Horse-metaphor ................................................................. 52 Fall-metaphor .................................................................... 57 Thousands-metaphor ......................................................... 58 Mark-metaphor.................................................................. 59 Dog-metaphor.................................................................... 60 Lion-metaphor ................................................................... 64 Serpent-metaphor .............................................................. 65 “Shall”-metaphor............................................................... 68 Bird-metaphor ................................................................... 70 Famous Last Words-resonance ......................................... 72 Service-metaphor .............................................................. 73 Fire-metaphor .................................................................... 74

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Table of Contents

Thunder-metaphor ............................................................. 80 Garments-metaphor........................................................... 82 Cushion-metaphor ............................................................. 85 Hat-metaphor .................................................................... 86 Name-metaphor ................................................................. 88 Volumnia ........................................................................... 92 Picture/Report/Risk Life for Country................................ 92 Amazon ............................................................................. 94 Theatrical-metaphor .......................................................... 94 Descending Sword............................................................. 95 Stamp................................................................................. 96 Son Dying for Rome ......................................................... 96 Tribe and Sword ................................................................ 97 Hector ................................................................................ 98 Virgilia .............................................................................. 99 Aufidius ........................................................................... 101 Citizenry .......................................................................... 106 Brutus and Sicinius.......................................................... 110 Menenius ......................................................................... 118 Ironic Resonance in the Finale ........................................ 123 Conclusion ........................................................................... 125

INTRODUCTION

An occasional prefigurement and echo was hardly unknown before Shakespeare. But the vast echoism—forward and backward references—which characterize some of Shakespeare’s plays were rare if not unknown before him. Who—even now—plays with language in this echoing way, setting up networks of metaphoric, symbolic vibrations underneath the surface story? and thereby stressing themes, characterizations, and messages poetically, economically, subliminally. Shakespeare magnifies ordinary echoes in certain ways: He (1) suffuses some of his plays with prefigurements and echoes, (2) establishes metaphoric trails, echoing and re-echoing a particular metaphor, perhaps throughout the text (if not an actual metaphor, a repeated word or phrase or action assumes symbolic import due to its recurrence and emphasis), (3) interweaves metaphoric trails, (4) caps a trail or series of interwoven trails with an ironic, echoing punchline (e.g. Coriolanus: “boy of tears” and “stands on the body”; Macbeth: the decapitation of the protagonist), (5) often plays on words and concepts with extreme subtlety to form various metaphoric trails. Nomenclature: The term “echo” is fine for denoting a portion of Shakespeare’s repetitions. But the phenomenon of

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Introduction

re-echoing steps somewhat beyond the term, especially when recurrence extends to a half dozen or a dozen instances. Besides this, some Shakespearean echoes and re-echoes are so clever that they warrant a better name to dignify them. Therefore, we coin Shakespeare’s metaphoric trails “Metaphoric Resonance”. Even a single echo, if it be sufficiently impressive, I feel impelled to call Metaphoric Resonance. Of Shakespeare’s plays, a minority contain any significant amount of extended Echoism. A small minority contains numerous echoing sequences and metaphoric trails: among them are a Roman trilogy of Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus; a Lancaster duo of Richard II and Henry IV, Part I; Macbeth, and The Winter’s Tale. Coriolanus, as we shall see, has such pervasive metaphoric resonance patterning that we deem the phenomenon a “Nether World” of Metaphoric Resonance.

I.

AN ABBREVIATED NETHER WORLD EXAMPLE: CORIOLANUS

This tragedy, a model for political scientists and politicians as well as an excellent play, offers an extensive and highly sophisticated instance of the Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance. Coriolanus has been endowed by the author with the most brilliant matrix of metaphoric patterns in his entire canon. Shakespeare resonates over 30 metaphors. They trail their ways through the text and interact with one another. Hunger: First Citizen. You are all resolved to die than to famish? I.1.5 Marcius [the hero’s given name before he was honored as the conqueror of Corioli, hence “Coriolanus”]. What’s the matter That in these several places of the city You cry against the noble senate, who, Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else Would feed on one another? I.1.189

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An Abbreviated Nether World Example: Coriolanus

The resonance in Shakespeare is always thematic, here stressing the diametrically opposing attitudes of the hero and the plebeians. A subdivision of Hunger is Surplus: First Citizen. [speaking of surplus corn]. What authority Surfeits on would relieve us. If they would yield us but the superfluity … I.1.17 Marcius [speaking of the rabble as cannon fodder]. I am glad on’t [that there will be war]; then we shall ha’ means to vent Our musty superfluity. (227) Brutus [the tribunes discuss the hero]. He’s poor in no one fault, But stored with all. Sicinius. Especially in pride. Brutus. And topping all others in boasting. II.1.20 Body: This includes the famous Parable of the Belly (I.1) which by itself permeates the play. E.g. Menenius. The senators of Rome are this good belly,

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And you the mutinous members. I.1.150 Volumnia [to Coriolanus]. You are too absolute; Though therein you can never be too noble, But when extremities speak. III.2.41 “Extremities” is a double entendre that represents an acute use of language and quick, bright conception. [crises; limbs, members] Disease: Marcius. What’s the matter, you dissentious rogues, That rubbing the poor itch of your opinion, Make yourselves scabs? I.1.167 Sicinius. He’s a disease that must be cut away. III.1.293 Breaking (walls, city): Marcius. They say there’s grain enough! Would the nobility lay aside their ruth, And let me use my sword, I’d make a quarry With thousands of these quarter’d slaves. I.1.200

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An Abbreviated Nether World Example: Coriolanus

The tribunes have called to the Citizens to take action against Coriolanus whose “quarrying” attitude has incited the conflict. Cominius, supporting the hero, says to the tribunes, That is the way to lay the city flat; To bring the roof to the foundation And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, In heaps and piles of ruin. III.1.206 Altitude: Marcius finished his “quarter’d slaves” statement in this way: I’d make a quarry With thousands of these quarter’d slaves, as high as I could pick my lance. I.1.201 This resonated First Citizen’s analysis of Marcius’ motivation: He did it [service for his country] to please his mother, and to be partly proud; which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue. I.1.40 Resonated and confirmed that analysis. One more, Weight. The protagonist says scornfully to the Citizens: He that depends Upon your favours swims with fins of lead. I.1.181

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In the subsequent Act (II.2.74), Coriolanus more cautiously, deceptively, remarks to the tribune Brutus, Your people, I love them as they weigh. The full import of this statement would be lost without knowledge of the metaphoric resonance. Coriolanus’ apparent impartiality is false. Shakespeare tops off the entire assemblage of metaphoric patterning with “boy of tears”: “tears” as a double entendre meaning both crying and tearing, dividing the body-politic. And, commenting upon Volumnia’s claim that her son would tread upon Aufidius’ neck, the irony of Aufidius standing upon Coriolanus’ dead body. [See the long, predominant chapter which concentrates on Coriolanus, “A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus”.]

II.

MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES OF METAPHORIC RESONANCE Macbeth. Two little items. (1) Within the Garments pattern: Macbeth, acting as loyal partisan of King Duncan, “unseam’d” the rebel leader (I.2.22). After Macbeth has treacherously murdered his King, he seeks to escape his conscience: Macbeth. Come, seeling [stitching] Night. Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day. III.2.47 Later we have the summary image: “Now does he feel his title hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief.” (V.2.22) (2) Jewelry: (II.1.15) Duncan presents Lady Macbeth with a diamond. (III.1.69) Macbeth murders the giver and loses his “eternal jewel” (soul). Macduff kills Macbeth and places Malcolm on the throne: Macduff. Behold, where stands Th ‘usurper’s cursed head: the time is free. I see thee compass’d with thy kingdom’s pearl. V.9.22

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Miscellaneous Examples of Metaphoric Resonance

Jewels thus tell a story. The playwright chose his words carefully to accent themes. Julius Caesar. Shakespeare has one scene resonate another, and thereby provides a strong indication of where his sympathies lie. Cinna the poet (III.3) is torn to pieces by a mob instigated by Antony. In Act IV, sc. 3, a poet has the audacity to burst in on Brutus and Cassius during the Quarrel. The scene is comical, with Brutus angrily ordering him out while Cassius laughs at his bad poetry. Via his treatments of the two poets, Shakespeare signifies his preference for the Brutus-Cassius side in the civil war, especially as the scene immediately following the mob violence shows Antony and Octavian plotting mass death. Moreover, Shakespeare flashes a clear sign that, between Brutus and Cassius, he prefers the man who responds to a poet with humor. Note: In the Plutarch source, a poet actually does intrude on the two generals. Cinna, however, is a friend of Caesar, not a poet. Shakespeare made him into a poet to create a resonating scene which would emphasize motifs and messages. Hamlet. A dandy Shakespeare metaphoric pattern is the resonating death-image of composite mythological creatures. Lamord (“death”), the centaur (“as had he been incorps’d and demi-natur’d with the brave beast”), foreshadows another half-animal, half-human creature signifying death. This is the mermaid, a figure which Queen Gertrude applies to the drowning Ophelia: When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up;

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Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and indued Unto that element. [echoing “incorps’d … natur'd … beast”] IV.7.179 The two death-images forge foreshadowing links in the chain leading to Hamlet’s death. Antony and Cleopatra. Antony’s losses are related with weight metaphorism. After the first military loss at sea to Octavian: Antony. Love, I am full of lead. III.11.72 After the second military defeat and the revelation of Cleopatra’s “death”, Antony stabs himself. All. Most heavy day IV.14.134 Other weight metaphors allude to Cleopatra’s sexual regard for Antony, then later to her recognition of his genuine nobility and worth. In the Monument scene, the poetry seeks to express the meaning of death in general, as well as Antony’s particular death, by centering on the weight of his corpse. Richard II. Gaunt begins his renowned deathbed speech:

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Miscellaneous Examples of Metaphoric Resonance

King Richard. How is’t with aged Gaunt? Gaunt. O, how that name befits my composition! Old Gaunt, indeed; and gaunt in being old . . . And therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt. Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave . . . II.1.82 In this unusual speech, Gaunt both prophesies and puns. Shakespeare utilized Gaunt’s prophecy to set up other prophecies in the play. For example, Captain. ‘Tis thought the King is dead; we will not stay. The bay trees in our country are all wither’d, And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-fac’d moon looks bloody on the earth, [I interrupt to inform that Hotspur will resonate “palefac’d moon” in I Henry IV: “to pluck bright honour from the pale-fac’d moon”, referring to King Henry. Thus it is Bolingbroke who “looks bloody on the earth” here in Richard II.] And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change. II.4.11 Gaunt was a lean-look’d prophet and he assuredly did whisper fearful change, prophesying from his deathbed. Shakespeare has been criticized in some quarters for Gaunt’s punning at such a time. That does not trouble this writer, especially after learning that Oscar Wilde on his deathbed said, “I am dying beyond my means.” Moreover, we wish to point out that (and Shakespeare has done this in

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other places) one reason for Gaunt’s punning repetition (“Gaunt … gaunt … gaunt … Gaunt … gaunt”) was to tip off the audience to a cleverly resonant “lean-look’d prophets” two scenes away. Without the repetition, what chance does a theatergoer have—or the ordinary reader—to catch the play-on-words echo? Shakespeare does something similar when Aumerle’s mother begs King Henry for her son’s life (V.3). The Duchess’ “pardon … pardon … chopping French” and York’s seconding “Speak it in French, King, say ‘pardonne moy’ ” makes one squirm. I do not like it, but Shakespeare did have a reason. He tries to hint, hint, hint to the reader something about the very next scene (as the Antony-Octavian blacklisting follows and reinforces the Cinna murder) which bears considerable importance. In V.4 Exton speaks with his servant: Exton. Didst thou not mark the King, what words he spake? ‘Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?’ Was it not so? Servant. These were his very words. Exton. ‘Have I no friend?’ quoth he. He spake it twice, And urg’d it twice together, did he not? In other words, the author insists that you draw the conclusion, aided by the prefiguring scene, that King Henry ordered the

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Miscellaneous Examples of Metaphoric Resonance

murder of King Richard. The King stating something twice signifies genuine intent. Another example of hinting can be found in Coriolanus. The hints are unpoetically repetitious, Shakespeare thereby practically shouting to us the existence of a pun: Sicinius. It is a mind That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. Coriolanus. Shall remain! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark you His absolute “shall”? Cominius. ‘Twas from the canon. Coriolanus. “Shall!” O good but most unwise patricians! why, You grave but reckless senators, have you thus Given Hydra here to choose an officer, That with his peremptory “shall” being but The horn and noise o’ the monster’s, wants not spirit To say he’ll turn your current in a ditch, And make your channel his? ..... They choose their magistrate, And such a one as he, who puts his “shall”, His popular “shall”, against a graver bench Than ever frown’d in Greece. III.1.107

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Can one imagine what the Bard’s “horn and noise”/“shall”business was all about? It was aimed at our comprehending the pun implicit in “Triton”. For Triton was a mythological sea-deity, the trumpeter of Neptune. Do you remember what Triton used for a trumpet (i.e. a horn)? That’s right, a shell. That man Shakespeare must have had one playful and wonder-ful personality. King Lear. We see in another, rather special instance of Metaphoric Resonance the playful and wry sense of humor of William Shakespeare. King Lear, in the first scene of the tragedy, asks his vain, fateful question. My daughters, which of you … doth love me most? Goneril flatteringly answers, I love you more than word can wield the matter: Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty. The resonance of “eyesight” occurs in the theme of Lear’s mental blindness and Gloucester’s literal blindness. “Space”: Lear wandering on the great heath (“for many a mile about there’s scarce a bush” — II.4.301). “Liberty: He and Cordelia end up in prison, from which she (and the Fool) do not emerge alive, and Lear soon dies as a consequence of grief. Goneril and Regan have set these terrible events in motion. Regan, like her morally twin sister, also produces a flattering, resonant answer to her father’s leading question:

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Miscellaneous Examples of Metaphoric Resonance

I find she names my very deed of love Only she comes too short, that I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys Which the most precious square of sense possesses. Goneril forgot to mention Sanity, “the most precious square of sense”. Regan’s response initiates the thematic resonance of Lear’s madness. Henry IV, Part II. Doll. Sirrah, what humour’s the Prince of? Falstaff. A good shallow young fellow. II.4.241 The resonating line to the above stresses the Falstaff hubris theme. That “good shallow young fellow”, grown to be King Henry V, has a few words to impart to a certain “vain man” (V.4.45), and therefore said “vanity in years” (Part I, II.4.454) must say to a companion, Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pound. V.4.74

III.

A NETHER WORLD OF METAPHORIC RESONANCE: CORIOLANUS

More than thirty interlacing metaphoric resonances permeate the tragedy Coriolanus, illuminating the nature of character, emphasizing and dramatizing themes, creating memorable symbolism and imagery. Amidst the vast, ringing symbolism, the Body-metaphor and Tears-metaphor tend to dominate. And one expression, combining both symbols, summarizes crucial conceptions of the play—“boy of tears”. Hunger-metaphor The first scene prefigures the important Belly Parable by speaking of “famish” and “hunger”. These, and associated references, resonate and emphasize throughout the play the fundamental themes of plebeian hunger/deprivations, and Coriolanus’ contempt for their condition. First Citizen. You are all resolved to die than to famish? I.1.5 The leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is an inventory to particularize their [the patricians] abundance; our suffering is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

They ne’er cared for us yet: suffer us to famish, and their storehouses crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich, and provide more piercing statutes daily to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there’s all the love they bear us. (87) Thus the opening lines present forcefully the position of the commonalty, against which Coriolanus’ words and demeanor will collide to shape the plot. Sincerity and urgency mark the First Citizen’s speech. The rhythmic balance of “in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge” adds to the impression. Quickly, the hunger-famish concepts clash with Coriolanus’ scornful metaphoric use of similar language: What’s the matter That in these several places of the city You cry against the noble senate, who, Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else Would feed on one another? I.1.189 Note the specific resonance of “eat us not up” earlier in the scene. Then, literally, regarding a troop of militia: They are dissolv’d: hang ‘em! They said they were an-hungry; sigh’d forth proverbs: That hunger broke stone walls; that dogs must eat; That meat was made for mouths; that the gods sent not Corn for the rich men only. (209)

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In the second scene of the fourth Act, Volumnia assails the tribunes on the street after the banishment of Coriolanus. Brutus and Sicinius depart, and Menenius asks Volumnia, Men. You’ll sup with me? Vol. Anger’s my meat; I sup upon myself, And so shall starve with feeding. (50) Her angry intonation of “sup”, “meat”, “feeding”, and “starve” recall the angry and sardonic references of her son toward the plebeians, especially Keep you in awe, which else Would feed on one another. First Citizen speaks of surplus corn: What authority surfeits on would relieve us. If they would yield us but the superfluity. I.1.17 Coriolanus soon speaks of surplus “rabble”: Messenger. The news is, sir, the Volsces are in arms. Cor. I am glad on’t; then we shall ha’ means to vent Our musty superfluity. (227)

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

Coriolanus’ store of faults is the subject: First Citizen. I need not be barren of accusations: he hath faults with surplus, to tire in repetition. I.1.45 Menenius. In what enormity is Marcius poor in, That you two have not in abundance? Brutus. He’s poor in no one fault, but stored with all. Sicinius. Especially in pride. Brutus. And topping all others in boasting. II.1.20 Metaphorically, Coriolanus states his fundamental position: I say again, In soothing them we nourish ‘gainst our senate The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, Which we ourselves have plough’d for, sow’d and scatter’d. III.1.71 Though there the people had more absolute power, I say, they nourish’d disobedience, fed The ruins of the state. (118)

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First Citizen in the first scene, first Act, in criticism of Coriolanus: I say unto you … (36) (1) Coriolanus’ parallel repetition of “I say” and “nourish”, to stress his position, and to counter that of the people with their own “I say”, “hunger”-“feed” language. (2) “Plough’d”, “sow’d”, “scatter’d” resounds in the final Act when a determined Coriolanus, just prior to Volumnia’s pleading, says: Let the Volsces plough Rome, and harrow Italy. V.3.34 So he himself will now do what he feared earlier would be done by the plebeians. The ironic, metaphoric echo continues in the fourth scene of that Act when Coriolanus decries, My surname, Coriolanus: the painful service, The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood Shed for my thankless country, are requited But with that surname…. The cruelty and envy of the people, Permitted by our dastard nobles, who Have all forsook me, hath devour’d the rest. IV.5.80

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

He invades Roman territory with unstoppable success, and threatens Rome itself. Menenius is asked by the tribunes to plead with his old friend: I’ll undertake it: I think he’ll hear me. Yet, to bite his lip, And hum at good Cominius, much unhearts me. He was not taken well; he had not din’d: The veins unfill’d, our blood is cold, and then We pout upon the morning, are unapt To give or to forgive; but when we have stuff’d These pipes and these conveyances of our blood With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls Than in our priest-like fasts. V.1.56 This speech, part of the general Hunger-resonance, specifically resonates Menenius’ first encounter with the tribunes, where “wining” is mentioned. The tone is different, however, in that second Act, critical and unfriendly. Then, Menenius was Coriolanus’ partisan against the common file and their representatives. In the fifth Act, they are on the same side, hoping to dissuade the all-conquering general from further conquest. Act II, scene 1 I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tiber in’t…. What I think, I utter, and spend my malice in my breath. Meeting two such wealsmen as you are, —I cannot call you Lycurguses,—if the drink you give me touch my palate adversely, I make a crooked face at it. (57)

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Menenius’ mission to Coriolanus fails, and it is left to Volumnia to save Rome, which she does. He says to her, What is this? Your knees to me? To your corrected son. Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach filip the stars. (V.3.59) Body-metaphor The Parable of the Belly (I.1) establishes the physical body as representing “the body of the weal” (II.3.180), the commonwealth. References to the body which recall and symbolize “the body of the weal” abound in the play. Only major examples can be recounted here. [Does our expression “body politic” stem in some measure from this play?] Menenius recites the Parable: There was a time when all the body’s members rebell’d against the belly. . . . (98) First Citizen helps him along, The kingly crowned head, the vigilant eye, the counsellor heart, the arm our soldier, our steed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter . . . (118) The Parable claims the indispensable value of the senatorial class to the commonalty:

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

Menenius. The senators of Rome are this good belly, And you the mutinous members; for, examine,— Their counsels and their cares digest things rightly Touching the weal o’ the common. You shall find No public benefit which you receive But it proceeds or comes from them to you, And no way from yourselves. (155) “Members rebell’d” and “mutinous members” introduce the plebeians as “members” and conjure up the spectre of civil strife and division (of a “tearing” of the body politic). “Members” resounds when Volumnia says to Coriolanus, You are too absolute; Though therein you can never be too noble, But when extremities speak. III.2.41 “Extremities”, on one level, imports crisis. But the underlying allusion is to the “members” [limbs!], the plebeians whom Coriolanus holds in contempt and loses his temper whenever confronted by them—a salient theme. [an extremely clever thematic echo!] In Act II, sc. 3, a group of Citizens discuss the coming vote for or against Coriolanus as consul: Third Citizen. If he show us his wounds, and tell us his deeds, we are to put our tongues into those wounds and speak for them; so, if he tells us his noble deeds, we must also tell him

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our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monstrous, and for the multitude to be ingrateful were to make a monster of the multitude; of the which, we being members, should bring ourselves to be monstrous members. General body-metaphor resonance—“tongues”, “wounds”; and specific “members” resonance. The Third Citizen also presents the notions of “monster” and multitude”, which immediately reverberates in the First Citizen’s hostile retort regarding Coriolanus, To make us no better thought of, a little help will serve; for once we stood up about the corn, he himself stuck not to call us the many-headed multitude. “Many-headed multitude” summons up the monster of many heads, Hydra, which itself constitutes a resonating metaphor. (See Serpent-metaphor, including “multitudinous tongue”, “bosoms multiplied”, and “double bosoms”.) “Members” continues to ring in the form of “limbs”. Menenius in praise of Coriolanus: He had rather venture all his limbs for honour Than one on’s ears to here it. II.2.82 True. That proud, insolent man does not suffer praise well. He is a man of action, “ill-school’d in bolted language” (III.1.320) and

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Cor. I had rather have one scratch my head i’ the sun When the alarum were struck than idly sit To hear my nothings monster’d. II.2.78 .

“Monster’d” means “made into marvels” and signifies his modesty. Yet the word will soon resonate metaphorically in “many-headed multitude” and “Hydra”, exhibiting his contempt for the people. In other words, this man whose arrogance and contempt alienate the plebeians, also has a modest side to him. The metaphoric resonance vibrates this paradox. Continuing with “limbs” and apropos of Hydra, a scuffle takes place between Coriolanus and Citizenry, serious bloodshed having been narrowly averted. Sicinius says to Menenius about Coriolanus, This viperous traitor. To eject him hence Were but one danger, and to keep him here Our certain death; therefore it is decreed He dies to-night. ..... He’s a disease that must be cut away. III.1.293 Menenius in defence of his friend, [Disease-metaphoric resonance enters here.] O! he’s a limb that has but a disease; Mortal to cut it off; to cure it easy. The Body-members-limbs metaphor is hereby fully launched into the Disease-metaphoric resonance. Let us follow it

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before returning to the Body-metaphor, beginning with antecedents in the first Act, first scene. Significantly, Coriolanus’ very first words in the play are directed to the Citizenry, thus: What’s the matter, you dissentious rogues, That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion, Make yourselves scabs? I.1.167 First Citizen comments wryly, “We have ever your good word.” Marcius (who is not yet “Coriolanus”) proceeds to condemn them: Your affections are a sick man’s appetite. (179) That nicely joins the Disease-metaphor to the Hunger, soon after the talk of “famish”. “Rub-sore-scab” reverberates in Act III, sc. 1: Cominius. The people are abus’d; set on. This paltering Becomes not Rome, nor has Coriolanus Deserv’d this so dishonour’d rub, laid falsely I’ the plain way of his merit. (61) Things go from bad to worse in this scene, Coriolanus drawing his sword. The situation is in need of a cure/physic.

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

Cor. Stand fast; We have as many friends as enemies. Menenius. Shall it be put to that? First Senator. The gods forbid! I prithee, noble friend, home to thy house; Leave us to cure this cause. Menenius. For ‘tis a sore upon us. You cannot tent [to treat, medically] yourself: Be gone, beseech you. “Cure” and “tent” ironically resonate Coriolanus’ earlier call: You that … prefer A noble life before a long, and wish To jump a body with a dangerous physic That’s sure of death without it,—at once pluck out The multitudinous tongue. (156) Back home after the violent altercation, Coriolanus receives advice from his mother Volumnia and his friend Menenius: Return to the populace and “repent what you have spoke” because: Menenius. The violent fit o’ the time craves it as physic. III.2.33

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The Volscian leader Aufidius would later remark that Coriolanus could not go “from the casque to the cushion” (IV.7.43). The Disease-metaphor illustrates the truth of his observation: Casque: Marcius cursing his troops in Act I, sc.4: All the contagion of the south light on you, You shames of Rome! You herd of—Boils and plagues Plaster you o’er, that you may be abhorr’d Further than seen, and one infect another Against the wind a mile! ….. Pluto and hell! All hurt behind; backs red, and faces pale With flight and agu’d fear! (38) Cushion: third Act:

Coriolanus railing against the commonalty in the

Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs Coin words till they decay against those measles, Which we disdain should tetter [infect] us, yet sought The very way to catch them. III.1.80 His malice becomes infectious: Brutus [to Menenius, on the point of violence]. Sir, those cold ways, That seem like prudent helps, are very poisonous Where the disease is violent. Lay hands upon him [Cor.]

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And bear him to the rock. (222) With Coriolanus gone, Menenius pleads with the tribunes, but to no avail: O! He’s a limb that has but a disease; Mortal to cut it off; to cure it easy. ….. The service of the foot Being once gangren’d, is not then respected For what before it was. Brutus. We’ll hear no more. Pursue him to his house, and pluck him thence, Lest his infection, being of catching nature, Spread further. (309) Body-metaphor continued Menenius finishes the Belly Parable and asks the First Citizen, What do you think, You, the great toe of this assembly? F. C. I the great toe? Why the great toe? Men. For that, being one o’ the lowest, basest, poorest, Of this most wise rebellion, thou go’st foremost. I.1.159

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A letter from Marcius announces victory and his homecoming. Volumnia, his mother, and Menenius as well, rejoice in his wounds, in contrast with wife Virgilia’s horror: Men. Is he not wounded? He was wont to come home wounded. Vir. O! no, no, no. Vol. O! he is wounded, I thank the gods for’t. Men. So do I too, if it be not too much. Brings a’ victory in his pocket? The wounds become him….Where is he wounded? Vol. I’ the shoulder, and i’ the left arm: there will be large cicatrices to show the people when he shall stand for his place. He received in the repulse of Tarquin seven hurts i’ the body. Men. One i' the neck, and two i' the thigh, there’s nine that I know. Vol. He had, before this last expedition, twentyfive wounds upon him. Men. Now it’s twenty-seven: every gash was an enemy’s grave.

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Literal body-wounds references here sharply illuminate the character of Coriolanus’ mother: proud, loud, coveting glory, callous to her son’s pain and danger. To the contrary is her daughter-in-law: worried, sensitive to her husband’s peril, and a woman of few words—“My gracious silence, hail!” Coriolanus says to her upon his arrival. II.1.181 Resonance again exemplifies interesting, opposing sides to Coriolanus’ personality—modesty and arrogance. Upon receiving the accolade “Coriolanus”, Marcius replies, I will go wash; And when my face is fair, you shall perceive Whether I blush, or no: howbeit, I thank you, I mean to stride your steed, and at all times To undercrest your good addition To the fairness of my power. I.9.73 However, when Menenius prays him to speak civilly to the people, and after two citizens enter his presence, Coriolanus says, Bid them wash their faces, And keep their teeth clean. II.3.65 A messenger informs the tribunes, ‘Tis thought that Marcius shall be consul. Brutus. Let’s to the Capitol;

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And carry with us ears and eyes for the time, But hearts for the event. Brutus and Sicinius finally determine that Coriolanus’ confirmation must be denied, and they persuade the citizenry of this. Brutus. Did you perceive He did solicit you in free contempt When he did need your loves, and do you think That his contempt shall not be bruising to you When he hath power to crush? Why, had your bodies No heart among you? Or had you tongues to cry Against the rectorship of judgment? II.3.211 Coriolanus [in the next scene to the tribunes]: Are these your herd? Must these have voices, that can yield them now, And straight disclaim their tongues? What are your offices? You being their mouths, why rule you not their teeth? [Echoing his own unpleasant comment about the plebeians cleaning their teeth] III.1.36 First Citizen, in the same scene: He shall well know The noble tribunes are the people’s mouths, And we their hands. (271)

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

This scene witnesses a series of scolding body-metaphors by Coriolanus. The mutable rank-scented meiny (66) As for my country I have shed my blood Not fearing outward force, so shall my lungs Coin words till they decay against those measles. (78) The would-be consul gives reasons for his prejudice: Being press’d to the war, Even when the navel of the state was touch’d They would not thread the gates: this kind of service Did not deserve corn gratis. Being i' the war, Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show’d Most valour, spoke not for them. (127) Moreover, it should be noted that Coriolanus does not despise poverty per se: I sometimes lay here in Corioli, At a poor man’s house; he us’d me kindly: He cried to me; I saw him prisoner; But then Aufidius was within my view, And wrath o’erwhelm’d my pity: I request you To give my poor host freedom. I.9.87 This is literal, direct, and very sincere. Coriolanus is more complex than war and prejudice make him out to be.

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Still, his verbal onslaught matches his military prowess, and he shows no “pity” and only “wrath” to the poor people of Rome: Well, what then? How shall this bosom multiplied digest The senate’s courtesy? ….. Therefore, beseech you,— You that … prefer A noble life before a long, and wish To jump a body with a dangerous physic That’s sure of death without it,—at once pluck out The multitudinous tongue. [cf. “bosom multiplied” above] III.1.156 Coriolanus comes under attack, and the tribune Sicinius evidently seizes him: Hence rotten thing! Or I shall shake thy bones Out of thy garments. (178) The object of the furore departs, and Menenius says to a patrician, His heart’s his mouth: What his breast forges, that his tongue must vent. In the next scene (III.2) at Coriolanus’ house, Volumnia demonstrates the difference between herself and her son, telling him,

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Pray be counsell’d, I have a heart as little apt as yours, But yet a brain that leads my use of anger To better vantage. (31) It lies you on to speak To the people; not by your own instruction, Nor by the matter which your heart prompts you, But with such words that are but rooted in Your tongue, though but bastards and syllables Of no allowance to your bosom’s truth. Now, this no more dishonours you at all Than to take in a town with gentle words, Which else would put you to your fortune and The hazard of much blood. I would dissemble with my nature where My fortunes and my friends at stake requir’d I should do so in honour. (64) Cor. Must I go show them my unbarb’d sconce? Must I With my base tongue give to my noble heart A lie that it must bear? Well, I will do’t. (110) Of course, he does not do’t for long, receives a sentence of banishment, and goes to Aufidius to Present my throat to thee and to thy ancient malice. To Coriolanus’ surprise, Aufidius joyfully exclaims,

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O Marcius, Marcius ! Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart A root of ancient envy. [I cannot help but think that “heart…root” was meant to echo Volumnia’s “heart . . . rooted”. Coriolanus is now a refugee greeted by Aufidius because he could not uproot (“weed”) from his tongue what was agitating his heart.] Let me twine mine arms about that body where against My grained ash a hundred times hath broke, And scarr’d the moon with splinters: here I clip The anvil of my sword . . . IV.5.114 Which recalls Marcius’ response to Cominius, a general as is Aufidius (but a Roman), in the first Act: O! let me clip ye in arms … I.6.31 Eventually, Volumnia entreats, Let us shame him with our knees. V.3.169 Aufidius decries, He waged me with his countenance, as if I had been mercenary. There was it; For which my sinews shall be stretch’d upon him. At a few drops of women’s rheum, which are As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour

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Of our great action: Therefore shall he die, And I’ll renew me in his fall. V.6.49 Soon thereafter, All the People shout, Tear him to pieces.—Do it presently.—He killed My son.—My daughter.—He killed my cousin Marcus. —He killed my father. Coriolanus is killed, “Aufidius stands on his body”, and “Exeunt. Bearing the body of Coriolanus”. Thus, the Body-metaphor resonates throughout the play, referring always to the “body of the weal”—the commonwealth—while performing more specific tasks regarding character, theme, imagery. Boy tearing butterfly/ “boy of tears” It would be difficult to overemphasize the little story related by Valeria, Virgilia’s friend, in I.3: O’ my word, the father’s son; I’ll swear ‘tis a very pretty boy … I saw him run after a gilded butterfly; and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again: catched it again: or whether his fall enraged him, or how ‘twas, he did so set his teeth and tear it; O! I warrant, how he mammocked it!

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The allegorical nature of the incident is clear enough. The boy represents Coriolanus (“the father’s son”—like father, like son) with his characteristic loss of temper. The butterfly equals the “body of the weal” and peace. “Tears” has a double meaning: (a) tearing the body politic apart, and (b) tears qua “mine eyes to sweat compassion” (V.3.196)—all of which will be encapsulated into Aufidius’ condemnation of Coriolanus— “boy of tears”. “Fall” refers to the father’s exile, after which he invades Roman territory and tears it apart. Tearing the butterfly thereby relates to and reinforces the body-metaphor. All of the metaphors—boy, butterfly, tears, fall—reverberate in the play, and necessarily interrelate with the body-metaphor. Note: The climactic “boy of tears” not only does the superb job of encapsulating the two meanings of “tear”, but also provides a very fine ironic echo. Thus, in Act III, scene 2 Coriolanus’ family and friends work on him to control his feelings and go cooperatively through the ritual of appealing to the plebeians. He agrees to do it, but sarcastically states that “schoolboy’s tears [will] take up the glasses of my sight”. He doesn’t cooperate very well, of course, and will find himself banished. Ultimately, the resonating “boy of tears” will foreshadow his assassination. Tears Volumnia. These are the ushers of Marcius: before him He carried noise, and behind him he leaves tears. II.1.165

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“Tears” here has the double meaning, leaving behind him divisions and strife in addition to rheum. Volumnia probably alludes to the survivors of her son’s conquests, but Coriolanus’ wife Virgilia might well be included by the playwright. This passage of noise and tears, which follows Marcius’ great victory at Corioli, resonates in the fifth Act after his triumph for the Volscians against Rome. First Conspirator [to Aufidius]. Your native town you enter’d like a post, And had no welcomes home; but he returns, Splitting the air with noise. Second Conspirator. And patient fools, Whose children he hath slain, their base throats tear With giving him glory. V.6.54 Coriolanus’ singular ability and charisma have captivated multitudes of Volsces [or Volscians, as I prefer] although this and his reckless pride have alienated Aufidius and others. His prowess and pride have torn the Volscians as they tore his countrymen. Rome is again riven, this time by Coriolanus’ invasion of his fatherland: Volumnia [when on her mission to Coriolanus]. Think with thyself How more unfortunate than all living women Are we come hither: since that thy sight, which should

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Make our eyes flow with joy, hearts dance with comforts, Constrains them weep, and shake with fear and sorrow; Making the mother, wife, and child to see The son, the husband, and the father tearing His country’s bowels out. V.3.103 We find both types of tears in that speech, and “bowels” resounds with Aufidius’ line from the previous Act: Worthy Marcius, Had we no quarrel else to Rome, but that Thou art thence banish’d, we would muster all From twelve to seventy, and pouring war Into the bowels of ungrateful Rome, Like a bold flood o’er-bear. IV.5.135 “Tears” meaning splits is found in another form back in the third Act when First Senator seconds Menenius’ “You must return and mend it”-plea to Coriolanus: There’s no remedy Unless, by not so doing, our good city Cleave in the midst, and perish. III.2.28 The tears of Volumnia’s embassy continue to flow in resonance: Coriolanus. It is no little thing to make Mine eyes to sweat compassion.

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[Note the contrast with the martial hero of the first Act: Put your shields before your hearts, and fight With hearts more proof than shields. Advance. . . . They do disdain us much beyond our thoughts, Which makes me sweat with wrath.] Aufidius. At a few drops of women’s rheum He sold the blood and labour Of our great action. V.6.48 At his nurse’s tears He whin’d and roar’d away your victory. (98) [“roar’d away your victory: Coriolanus had earlier denounced plebeian soldiers as “hares” not “lions”. How ironic that the veritable lion should roar away victory!] Before the encapsulating epithet of Aufidius, one should recollect the other meaning of “tears” which Coriolanus used as epithets to the citizenry. “You fragments”, (I.1.223) he called them in the first scene of the play. Just prior to that, scorning their hunger and their proverbs: With these shreds They vented their complainings. (210) Coriolanus ignored Menenius’ contrasting, echoing advice:

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Speak to them, I pray you, in wholesome manner. II.3.64 As a result, the plebeians will deny him confirmation: Third Citizen. He’s not confirm’d; we may deny him yet. Second Citizen. And will deny him: I’ll have five hundred voices of that sound. First Citizen. I, twice five hundred and their friends to piece ‘em [add to them] (20) Then the culminating, double-entendre condemnation of the great man: of his movement to tears by his mother’s tears; of his splitting, causing tears in the body politic – Thou boy of tears. V.6.101 And only moments away, the Volscian counterparts to the “fragments” and “shreds” of Rome all shout: Tear him to pieces. This they proceed to do, in ironic resonance of the son in Valeria’s story “mammocking”, i.e. tearing to pieces, the butterfly!

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Breaking (walls, city)-metaphor Before following our Butterfly-metaphor, we should deal with a resonance very closely allied to “Tear”, that of “Breaking”. The basic idea is fear for the destruction of the city Rome, as evidenced in the First Senator’s, There’s no remedy, Unless, by not so doing, our good city Cleave in the midst, and perish. He refers to Coriolanus going back to the people and mollifying them. Act I, scene 1 witnesses the kind of talk which had led to his concern: Marcius. They say there’s grain enough! Would the nobility lay aside their ruth, And let me use my sword, I’d make a quarry With thousands of these quarter’d slaves, as high As I could pick my lance. I.1.201 They said they were an-hungry; sigh’d forth proverbs: That hunger broke stone walls. (207) Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms, Of their own choice … The rabble should have first unroof’d the city, Ere so prevail’d with me. (220)

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First Senator, who worried about “our good city cleaving in the midst” in the third Act, literally contemplated the destruction of Roman walls during battle with the Volscians in the first Act: Hark, our drums Are bringing forth our youth: We’ll break our walls, Rather than they shall pound us up. I.4.16 In the third Act again, when Sicinius exclaims to the citizenry, You are about to lose your liberties: Marcius would have all from you. III.1.194 First Senator condemns such talk as the way, To unbuild the city and to lay all flat. Sicinius. What is the city but the people? Citizens. True, the people are the city. Brutus. By the consent of all, we were established The people’s magistrates. Citizens. You so remain And so are like to do.

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Cominius. That is the way to lay the city flat; To bring the roof to the foundation [specially resonating Marcius’ “The rabble should have first unroof’d the city, Ere so prevail’d with me.”] And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, In heaps and piles of ruin. III.1.205 [specifically resonating Marcius’ “make a quarry with thousands of these quarter’d slaves”.] Cominius says, when faced with the people’s rage and mutiny: ‘Tis odds beyond arithmetic; And manhood is call’d foolery when it stands Against a falling fabric. He sounds his own third Act metaphor when he says to the tribunes after word of the Coriolanus-Volscian menace: You have holp to ravish your own daughters, and To melt the city leads upon your pates. IV.6.83 Yet all ends well for the Romans: Ne’er through an arch so hurried the blown tide, As the recomforted through the gates. V.4.50 An important theme of this metaphoric trail is the contrast between the patricians’ view of the city as stone and walls, while the plebeians view the city as people. And Coriolanus sees the people as stones and rubble.

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Butterfly-metaphor The “father’s son” chasing and tearing the butterfly (of peace) in Valeria’s allegorical, prophetic story becomes in deed the father’s invasion in front of a Volscian army: Cominius. He is their god: he leads them like a thing Made by some other deity than Nature, That shapes man better; and they follow him, Against us brats, with no less confidence Than boys pursuing summer butterflies. IV.6.94 Yes, and both they and the god they follow are in for a fall, as was the boy chasing butterflies in the allegory and the father he signified. Menenius relates, after his unsuccessful mission to his old friend, There is a differency between a grub and a butterfly; yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown from man to dragon: he has wings. V.4.13 This dragon has wings, and so does a butterfly—the former soon to be mammocked as was the latter. Because unknown to Menenius in Rome, Volumnia’s mission has been accomplished, and Coriolanus will be torn to pieces in the wake of it. [Note: Coriolanus’ wife Virgilia is associated with “moths”, and subject to tears by Coriolanus’ conduct, as was the butterfly subject to the other meaning of tears.]

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Dragon-metaphor Marcius is grown from man to dragon. Now the dragon (i.e. demon) metaphor echoes, referring back to Coriolanus’ sorrowful departure into exile (hence an inverse connotation to the dragon image): Like to a lonely dragon. IV.1.30 Aufidus’ description of his ally: Fights dragon-like IV.7.23 The dragon has wings, and so Aufidius says, Do they still fly to the Roman? IV.7.1 Cominius, distraught over the imminent invasion: They follow him Against us brats, with no less confidence Than boys pursuing summer butterflies, Or butchers killing flies. Two thoughts seem to be comprehended in “butchers killing flies”: the destruction of peace (the butterfly and its wings), and the destruction by the mob of the dragon with wings, Coriolanus. The mob was instigated, appropriately, by the man who was concerned that “they still fly to the Roman” who “fights dragon-like”—Aufidius.

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So the dragon-metaphoric trail vibrates the course of Coriolanus’ fate: as lonely dragon (exile), as a dragon-like fighter, and finally as a winged creature torn to pieces. Boy-metaphor Explicit references to “boy” which imply Coriolanus include: the son in Valeria’s tale, “school-boys’ tears take up the glasses of my sight”, “boys chasing summer butterflies”, and, of course, “boy of tears”. These aside, “boy” resonates throughout the play without the explicit word. In what sense is Coriolanus a boy? He has been trained and to a considerable extent formed by his mother, who still exerts a strong—virtually dominating—influence over him. A sophisticated citizen’s opinion recognizes an important motivation of the martial hero: What he hath done famously, he did it to that end: though soft-conscienced men can be content to say it was for his country, he did it to please his mother, and to be partly proud. I.1.40 The verity of the remark rings aloud in the pivotal scene in which Coriolanus spares Rome at the tearful behest of his mother. O my mother! mother! O! You have won a happy victory to Rome. V.3.180 Boy-like, he is in tears, holding his mother’s hand:

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It is no little thing to make Mine eyes to sweat compassion. He says to Aufidius, Were you in my stead, would you have heard A mother less, or granted less? The question receives no frank answer for the time being, but “Thou boy of tears” will provide that answer soon. Politically-speaking, Coriolanus is likewise a boy. The senate has chosen him to be consul, and he need only obtain the approval of the People. This is easily done by speaking “mildly” to them, and perhaps displaying wounds he has received in battle, which is customary. He seems incapable, however, of civility when meeting the citizenry or their tribunes. His attitude unfailingly manifests itself in contemptuous abuse, earning for him descriptions such as “ever so proud” (I.1.151), “his surly nature” (II.3.201), and “soaring insolence” (II.1.260). A mere word can trigger a tirade: “traitor”—which nearly leads him to death at the Tarpeian rock, and “boy”—which does lead him to death in a Volscian riot. In these scenes, Coriolanus is readily manipulated by the tribunes and Aufidius into an ugly loss of temper. Violence recurs as the protagonist repeats his unrestrained behaviour. The implicit “boy” attaches itself to the third Act’s near-fatal incident, and the explicit “boy of tears” to the fatal incident of the denouement. First Officer comments, He’s vengeance proud, and loves not the common People. . . . He seeks their hate … and leaves

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nothing undone that may fully discover him their opposite. II.2.21 Coriolanus is bereft of political sense and plain horse-sense. The marvelous military hero lacks self-control in the political arena, demonstrates a boy’s unbridled temper in public circumstances demanding restraint, and, moreover, appears to lack the consciousness that civility and control are worthy attributes. His mother’s admonitions (e.g. to “put on your power before wearing it out”) obtain his resolution but to no effect. He does not learn, and even Volumnia cannot cure him of this boyish disability. We feel the burden of his boyishness at all times, and ponderously whenever Coriolanus faces another test of his self-possession. Here lies the man’s tragedy: extraordinary talent, courage and leadership qualities, superb honesty and forthrightness, yet an ungovernable antipathy which remains uncurbed by civic responsibility or even self-preservation. In sharp contrast to the “boy” stands the military man and noble who has otherwise earned the consulship. Coriolanus is in his element during warfare. In fact, as a boy of sixteen “he drove the bristled lips before him [bristled lips: mature men, with moustaches/beards]… and prov’d best man i' the field” in defending Rome from Tarquin. At Corioli now, when the Romans are beaten back, he rallies them. Alone and surrounded by the enemy, he fights his way out and leads his troops to victory. Marcius becomes “Coriolanus” thanks to his heroism. He merits these words of General Lartius who thinks him dead:

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Thou wast a soldier Even to Cato’s wish, not fierce and terrible Only in strokes; but, with thy grim looks and The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds, Thou mad’st thine enemies shake, as if the world Were feverous and did tremble. I.4.62 General Cominius gives him this Roman salute: The deeds of Coriolanus Should not be utter’d feebly. It is held That valour is the chiefest virtue, and Most dignifies the haver: if it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpois’d. II.2.88 Horse-metaphor The resonance of this metaphor briefly tells the story of Coriolanus and delineates his character. His singular achievements and stature are well sung in the following conversation between Marcius and General Lartius before Corioli: Marcius. Yonder comes news: a wager they have met. Lartius. My horse to yours, no. Marcius. ‘Tis done.

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Lartius. Agreed. Marcius. Say, has our general met the enemy? Messenger. They lie in view, but have not spoke as yet. Lartius. So the good horse is mine. Marcius. I’ll buy him of you. Lartius. No, I’ll nor sell nor give him; lend you him I will for half a hundred years. I.4.7 Lartius thus demonstrates his high regard for Marcius. Selling Marcius his own horse would have been mercenary. Giving it back would have been patronizing. “Lending” it, however, for “half a hundred years” means he is trusting Marcius with the horse, forever. In a later scene, Marcius refuses a reward from General Cominius of “the tenth…of all the horses…all the treasure” for his heroics at Corioli (I.9.33). He accepts Cominius’ “noble steed…with all his trim belonging” (along with the title “Coriolanus”). Cominius, as Lartius, shows his appreciation for Coriolanus’ mettle.

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Note, in addition, the increasing respect—attested by the resonance—accorded him for ever-greater accomplishments: as Lartius’ “good horse” becomes Cominius’ “noble steed”. Those were the good days. In more peaceful, hence difficult times for the hero, he is asked by Volumnia to “perform a part” and placate the citizenry: Coriolanus. A beggar’s tongue Make motion through my lips, and my arm’d knees, Who bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his That hath receiv’d an alms! III.2.120 The tribune, Brutus, knows full well that Coriolanus can only bow in the stirrup: He hath been us’d Ever to conquer, and to have his worth Of contradiction: being once chaf’d, he cannot Be rein’d again to temperance. III.3.28 Menenius speaks pessimistically to the other tribune, Sicinius, of Volumnia’s chances of persuading her son: He no more remembers his mother now than An eight-year-old horse. V.4.17 Perhaps the last of the Horse reverberations is tinged with humor because the message happily turns out to be untrue.

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War brings out the best in Coriolanus’ personality, including modesty. This “proud”, “surly”, “insolent” man, as he is all-too well known to the common people, exhibits a genuine humility when praised for his valiant deeds. Cor. You shout me forth In acclamations hyperbolical; As if I lov’d my little should be dieted In praises sauc’d with lies. I.9.53 [“dieted” … “sauced” appears to resonate in contrasting modesty his arrogant use of the Hunger-metaphor.] When Menenius says, He had rather venture all his limbs for honour Than one on’s ears to hear it, II.2.82 and when Cominius says, Too modest are you; More cruel to your good report than grateful To us that give you truly, I.9.55 they recognize the spontaneous self-effacement which accompanies truly great martial feats. Along with these virtues, Coriolanus remains indifferent to, even disdainful of material gain. We saw him refuse a tenth of the horses and treasure. Cominius comments,

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Our spoils he kick’d at, And look’d upon things precious as they were The common muck o’ the world: he covets less Than misery itself would give; rewards His deeds with doing them, and is content To spend the time to end it. II.2.129 Contrast accentuates the point: Enter certain Romans, with spoils. First Roman. This will I carry to Rome. Second Roman. And I this. Third Roman. A murrain on’t! I took this for silver. I.5.3 Lartius eloquently hymns the noble side of Coriolanus. Now the fair goddess, Fortune, Fall deep in love with thee; and her great charms Misguide thy opposers’ swords! Bold gentleman, Prosperity be thy page! (23) Therefore, to sum up the Boy-metaphor, the thematic and metaphoric clash between the hero entitled “Coriolanus” and the disparaged “boy of tears” pervades the play, invites a host of related metaphoric resonances, and provides us with a good

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vantage point for viewing this interesting and doomed character. Fall-metaphor Gulf-sink-fall: Tarpeian encompassed here.

rock,

exile

and

death

are

The fall of the boy in the story, representing Coriolanus’ Fall, was prefigured in Act I, sc. 1’s Belly Parable: There was a time when all the body’s members Rebell’d against the belly; thus accus’d it: That only like a gulf it did remain. “Gulf”, or abyss, portends the precipice of the rock Tarpeian. “Gulf” changes to “sink” via the mimicking of First Citizen: Should by the cormorant belly be restrain’d Who is the sink of the body. “Sink”, a verb as well as noun, announces the double usage of “fall”. The hero’s unmanageable temper precipitates a violent scene: Sicinius. Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence Into destruction cast him. III.1.213 Luckily for Coriolanus, the tribune’s intention falls short of realization.

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Volumnia recalls the Tarpeian abyss and “gulf” of the Belly Parable—the problem of unity among the classes—upon cautioning her son in the next scene: Prithee now, Go, and be rul’d; although I know thou hadst rather Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf Than flatter him in a bower. III.2.92 In exile, Aufidius—“thine enemy”—plots against Coriolanus: I’ll renew me in his fall. V.6.49 Thousands-metaphor Menenius, welcoming Coriolanus back from war and victory: Now, the gods crown thee! A hundred thousand welcomes. II.1.189 Much later, when Aufidius welcomes Coriolanus into his service: Cor. You bless me, gods! IV.5.139 Auf. A thousand welcomes. (149)

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From crowning to blessing, from 100,000 to 1,000, these measure the depth of Marcius’ fall. Mark-metaphor This symbol contrasts the protagonist’s martial prowess with his public posture. Cominius. At sixteen years, When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought Beyond the mark of others. He drove the bristled lips before him. II.2.93 One Act earlier, Brutus says to Sicinius after Marcius’ “The Volsces have much corn; take these rats thither to gnaw their garners”, Mark’d you his lip and eyes? I.1.256 “Mark” and “lip” resonance contrast the protagonist in war and in politics. Cominius continues his encomium for the great warrior: His sword, death’s stamp, Where it did mark, it took. II.2.108 Brutus again to Sicinius, later, when Coriolanus declines to wear the gown of humility:

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Mark you that? II.2.147 And Sicinius in the third Act when Coriolanus squanders his last chance: Mark you this, people? III.3.74 A turning point in deciding which mark will predominate comes in the conversation between tribunes and citizens regarding confirmation: Second Citizen. He used us scornfully: he should have show’d us His marks of merit, wounds receiv’d for ‘s country. II.3.169 Dog-metaphor Coriolanus uses a canine figure of speech to vilify others, and they use it against him. One feeds on the other. He also employs animal metaphors such as “calv’d”, “litter’d”, and “rats” to express his contempt for the plebeians. The first reference comes from First Citizen in the twentysixth line of the play: “He’s a very dog to the commonalty.” Marcius’ initial appearance indicates the reason for the citizen’s opinion. He opens with “dissentious rogues”, continues with “Hang ‘em!”, and scorns their proverb that “Dogs must eat.” (I.1.207)

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The Romans take Corioli. holds the city

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In the name of Rome, Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash, To let him slip at will. I.6.38 This might be an allusion to “dogs must eat”, the people fawning on the senate for food which they have not earned, as Coriolanus sees it. The tribunes realize that Coriolanus as consul would be anathema: Brutus. Then our office may, During his power, go sleep. II.1.229 They decide to stir the citizenry against Coriolanus: At some time when his soaring insolence Shall teach the people—which time shall not want, If he be put upon’t; and that’s as easy As to set dogs on sheep. (263) Brutus appeals to the People accordingly: Get you hence instantly, and tell those friends, They have chose a consul that will from them take Their liberties; make them of no more voice Than dogs that are as often beat for barking

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As therefore kept to do so. Ironic echo: Coriolanus is banished from Rome and appears disguised in mean apparel at the house of Aufidius. Second Servingman says to Aufidius about the shabby visitor (Act IV, sc. 5): “I’d have beaten him like a dog but for disturbing the lords within.” Sicinius’ expression—“to set dogs on sheep”—echoes for thematic emphasis in Coriolanus’ question to the tribunes about “your herd … disclaiming their tongues”: Have you not set them on? III.1.37 And seconded by Cominius: The people are abus’d; set on. (58) Two scenes later, Coriolanus once again loses control, using the type of metaphor that got him where he is. Condemned to banishment, he shouts, You common cry of curs! III.3.119 He receives not another chance. From exile, he invades his own country whereupon his mother pleads with him: Thou know’st, great son, The end of war’s uncertain; but this certain, That, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name

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Whose repetition will be dogg’d with curses. V.3.144 Finally, goaded by Aufidius as he had been “goaded onward” by Brutus and Sicinius, Coriolanus exclaims to the Volscians, Your judgments, my grave lords, Must give this cur the lie; and his own notion— Who wears my stripes impress’d upon him, that Must bear my beating to his grave—shall join To thrust the lie unto him. V.6.110 The man he had once called a “lion”, he now calls a “cur”. The same curse-word had been applied to tribunes and people, “cur” thus denominating enemies created by his arrogance who eventually set on and upend him. Coriolanus uses “beaten” proudly, as the servingman used it vainly, and as Brutus used it convincingly—the series of ‘beatens’ describing the course of Coriolanus from Corioli to refugee. Coriolanus utters the last canine epithet at Aufidius: False hound ! If you have writ your annals true, ‘tis there, That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I Flutter’d your Volscians in Corioli : Alone I did it. (117)

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What an ironic connection of “hound” to “Corioli”! The only other time the author wrote “hound” in the play was as a metaphor designating the Corioli captured by Marcius— fawning greyhound—the conquest of which won him the title “Coriolanus”. Lion-metaphor Aufidius, deemed ultimately a “cur” and “false hound”, recollects contrastingly and antithetically to us Coriolanus’ first Act appraisal of the Volscian general: He is a lion that I am proud to hunt. Prior to this, Marcius says to the citizenry, He that trusts to you, Where he should find you lions, find you hares; Where foxes, geese. I.1.173 Marcius repeats the animal parallelism of lions-hares, foxesgeese five scenes later: The common file—a plague! Tribunes for them!— The mouse ne’er shunn’d the cat as they did budge From rascals worse than they. I.6.45 “Lion” reverberates after the plebeians have had quite enough of the hero’s vituperation, resulting in their tiger-footed rage. III.1.310

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Menenius spoke that line, and repeats the metaphor after his failure to stop Coriolanus’ impending attack on Rome: There is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger. V.4.29 This animal metaphor parallels the construction, message and humor of another of Menenius’ animal metaphors spoken ten lines earlier: He no more remembers his mother now than an eight-year-old horse. Each humorous line reinforces the other, just as the animal parallelism and lion-lion-tiger emphasize the powerful, successful warrior throwing away his fortune and arousing a “tiger-footed” opposition which undoes him. Serpent-metaphor The play contains numerous references to poison/serpents, aptly implying and stressing the poisonous effects of Coriolanus’ rancor on the body politic. Sicinius. It is a mind That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. III.1.88 Coriolanus answers in kind by naming the mythological monster of many heads:

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Why, you grave but reckless senators, have you thus Given Hydra here to choose an officer? (93) At once pluck out The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick The sweet which is their poison. (157) [“multitudinous tongue” ripples to and fro: “many-headed multitude” (II.3.16), “bosom multiplied” (III.1.131). And the latter resonates in exile—“double bosoms”—when he complains of supposed Janus-faced friends who forsook him.] Sicinius. Where is this viper That would depopulate the city and Be every man himself? ..... We are peremptory to dispatch This viperous traitor. III.1.262,285 The protagonist brought this on himself with his venomous attitude toward people he gratuitously condemns as a “hydra”. Coriolanus, before the gate of the city on his way to exile, Thou old and true Menenius, Thy tears are salter than a younger man’s And venomous to thine eyes. IV.1.23 Like the hydra, a dragon is a mythological serpent:

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Cor. I go alone Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen Makes fear’d and talk’d of more than seen. (30) Coriolanus [to Menenius upon the latter’s embassy, his supplicating his old friend to spare Rome]: That we have been familiar, Ingrate forgetfulness shall poison. V.2.87 Volumnia uses this argument: If it were so, that our request did tend To save the Romans, thereby to destroy The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us, As poisonous of your honour: no, our suit Is, that you reconcile them. V.3.135 Her suit succeeds, and Aufidius’ words in Act I now seem applicable to Coriolanus: My valour’s poison’d. I.10.17 A resonance of mixed metaphors appears in the third and fourth Acts involving serpent symbolism: Cor. Have you thus Given Hydra here to chose an officer,

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That with his peremptory “shall”, being but The horn and noise of the monster … Hydra had no horn that I know of, apart from something we’ll get to in a moment. Echo: Cor. At once pluck out The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick The sweet which is their poison. Snakes do not lick with their tongues, although resonance of the Dog-metaphor might be appropriate. Re-echo: Cor. The beast with many heads butts me away. Hydra doubtfully used any of its heads for butting purposes. Why the echoing trail of mixed serpent-metaphors? Does it serve to accent Coriolanus’ epitheting irrationality? Perhaps. And the resonance may sound an alert pertaining to the next echo-session, below. “Shall”-metaphor Let us take a closer look at Hydra [as per an earlier chapter]. Sicinius. It is a mind

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That shall remain a poison where it is, Not poison any further. Coriolanus. Shall remain ! Hear you this Triton of the minnows? Mark you His absolute “shall”? Cominius. ‘Twas from the canon. Coriolanus. “Shall”! O good but most unwise patricians! why, You grave but reckless senators, have you thus Given Hydra here to choose an officer, That with his peremptory “shall”, being but The horn and noise o’ the monster’s, wants not spirit To say he’ll turn your current in a ditch, And make your channel his? ..... They choose their magistrate, And such a one as he, who puts his “shall”, His popular “shall”, against a graver bench Than ever frown’d in Greece. III.1.107 Why such a repetition—an unpoetic repetition—of “shall”? Aside from the thematic notion stressed here, the playwright wishes us to associate “shall” with “Triton” and his “horn and noise”. Why? Because the mythological sea-deity, who was the trumpeter of Neptune, used a shell for a trumpet (hence the

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reason our crafty author uses the term “horn and noise—not a horn on his head but the trumpet he blows into!) And “current”/”channel” (i.e. a body of water) alludes to the sea in which Triton’s shell-horn noised for the god Neptune. (The two mixed metaphors, by the way, glide smoothly into one another because Hydra was a sea-serpent.) I suspect, to be frank, Shakespeare calculated that one or two “shalls” would be insufficient to convey the play-onwords. After all, words go by so quickly in a play. And Shakespeare, I warrant, was proud of his pun! (Observe a noticeably similar situation in Richard II with “Gaunt…gaunt…gaunt…Gaunt…gaunt” (II.1.82) and “leanlook’d prophets whisper fearful change” (II.4.11). Bird-metaphor This reverberating symbolism also traces the story of Coriolanus. It begins with his denunciation of the plebeians. Cor. We debase the nature of our seats, and make the rabble Call our cares, fears; which will in time break ope The locks o’ the senate, and bring in the crows To peck the eagles. III.1.138 After the Fall, a servingman at Aufidius’ house asks the poorly dressed, homeless Roman, Where dwell ’st thou?

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Cor. Under the canopy. Serv. “Under the canopy”? Cor. Ay. Serv. Where’s that? Cor. I’ the city of kites and crows. IV.5.45 The “crows” had been the plebeians, and now, ironically, he dwells with them. Asked by his lieutenant if Coriolanus will “carry Rome”, Aufidius replies, I think he’ll be to Rome As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it By sovereignty of nature. IV.7.35 Coriolanus, upon the arrival “in mourning habits” of his wife, mother, and son: Out, affection! All bond privilege of nature, break! Let it be virtuous to be obstinate. What is that curtsy worth? Or those doves’ eyes, Which can make gods forsworn?

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..... Let the Volsces Plough Rome, and harrow Italy; I’ll never Be such a gosling to obey instinct, but stand As if a man were author of himself And knew no kin. V.3.34 Those were Famous Last words, as Volumnia implores, Thou hast never in thy life Show’d thy dear mother any courtesy [cf. “curtsy” above]; When she—poor hen! fond of no second brood— Has cluck’d thee to the wars, and safely home, Loaden with honour. (164) [A hen, ironically, overcoming an osprey. Dare one say that this “cooks his goose”?] Famous Last Words-resonance This is worth mentioning briefly en passant. We just saw one example of Famous Last Words, spoken by Coriolanus to his mother. Others include the “horse” and “tiger” metaphoric expressions of Menenius: that Coriolanus was beyond feeling sympathy. Speaking to Menenius, previous to his embassy to Coriolanus, Brutus optimistically states: You know the very road in to his kindness, And cannot lose your way. V.1.60

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[Losing one’s way. The above quotation echoes a caution which the other tribune had given Coriolanus in the third Act: You show too much of that For which the people stir; if you will pass To where you are bound, you must inquire your way, Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit. III.1.55 Both Coriolanus and his friend Menenius lost their way.] An award-winner in this famous-last-words category is Brutus, who affirms in the fourth Act, Rome sits safe and still without him. IV.6.37 So the ‘surprises’ are accented by resonating repetition. Service-metaphor Disaster follows Coriolanus’ final confrontation with tribunes and people, triggered by the word “traitor”. Sicinius pronounces death as his punishment which Brutus tries to attenuate: Brutus. But since he hath Served well for Rome, — Cor. What do you prate of service?

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To continue the exchange between Coriolanus and the servingman in the house of Aufidius: Third Servingman. ‘I’ the city of kites and crows’! What an ass it is! Then thou dwell’st with daws too? [jackdaws: i.e. fools, continuing the Bird-metaphor] Coriolanus’ sharp, sarcastic rejoinder: No; I serve not thy master. Third servingman. How Sir! Do you meddle with my master? Coriolanus. Ay; ‘tis an honester service than to meddle with thy mistress. Thou prat’st, and prat’st: serve with thy trencher. Hence. [Beats him away.] The same aggressive pride, whatever the circumstances. He does not change. Fire-metaphor Fire and hang: Extensively used, the Fire-metaphor runs the gamut of theme and action—the burning of Rome and darkening (charring, ruining) of Coriolanus resonating in frequent metaphor. “Hang” runs second to Coriolanus’ animal epithets for the plebeians, as in “Hang ‘em”. “Fire” and “hang” are combined and resonated in this way:

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Act I, sc.1. Cor. Hang ‘em! They say! They’ll sit by the fire, and presume to know What’s done i’ the Capitol. (193) “Hang ‘em” again thirteen lines later, and “Hang ‘em” in the second Act when Menenius seeks to persuade Coriolanus that his words must match the gown of humility he wears. That was to no avail, and the ensuing dialogue takes place at Coriolanus’ house after an ugly incident with the people and their tribunes: Volumnia. You might have been enough the man you are With striving less to be so: lesser had been The thwarting of your dispositions if You had not show’d them how you were dispos’d, Ere they lack’d power to cross you. III.2.23 Coriolanus. Let them hang. Volumnia. Ay, and burn too. Her “burn” has two meanings: outwardly reinforcing his “hang”, but inwardly as in ‘they will do the burning’. Sicinius helps begin the burning process with a plot to ignite Coriolanus’ temper:

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This, as you say, suggested At some time when his soaring insolence Shall teach the people … … will be his fire To kindle their dry stubble; and their blaze Shall darken him for ever. Later, Sicinius starts the ignition with this warning to the citizenry: You are at point to lose your liberties: Marcius would have all from you; Marcius, Whom late you have nam’d consul. III.1.195 Menenius. This is the way to kindle, not to quench, That was an appropriate resonance of the tribunes’ plot “to kindle” revealed by Sicinius in the second Act. Volumnia uses an expression which says much about her son: I know thou hadst rather Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf Than flatter him in a bower. III.2.91 This, basically, is what he did—following his enemy into a fiery gulf contrived for the purpose. And Coriolanus is darkened by it, but not “for ever” as Sicinius had hoped. His “gulf” or fall leads to another rise, one which worries Aufidius:

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Lieutenant, to Aufidius: I do not know what witchcraft’s in him, but your soldiers … Their talk at table and their thanks at end; And you are darken’d in this action, sir. IV.7.5 After having been branded a “traitor” by Sicinius in his attempt to kindle the blaze, Coriolanus damns all of them: The fires i’ the lowest hell fold-in the people. “The fires of hell”—that resonates the “fiery gulf” Volumnia spoke of” and Coriolanus has rushed into it and been “darkened”, banished. Next, a Roman tells a Volscian about insurrectionary conditions in Rome: The main blaze of it is past, but a small thing would make it flame again. For the nobles receive so to heart the banishment of that worthy Coriolanus, that they are in a ripe aptness to take all power from the people and to pluck from them their tribunes for ever. [Note that the tribune Sicinius wished to darken Coriolanus “for ever”.] Roman continues, This lies glowing, I can tell you, and is almost mature for the violent breaking out. IV.3.25

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Coriolanus, directing Volscian troops, mounts a devastating offensive, prompting Menenius to say to the citizens, If he could burn us all into one coal, We have deserv’d it. IV.6.139 “By “coal” he means that they will be “darkened”. This was precisely the fear, you remember, that the lieutenant expressed to Aufidius. The Volscian general replies to his subordinate with regard to overturning Coriolanus: One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail; Rights by rights fouler, strengths by strengths do fail. And, Come, let’s away. When, Caius, Rome is thine, Thou art poor’st of all; then shortly art thou mine. (Exeunt) The analytical, conspiring Aufidius here resonates the analytical, conspiring tribune, Sicinius, who says to Brutus in the second Act, To the Capital, come: We will be there before the stream o’ the people; And this shall seem, as partly ‘tis, their own, Which we have goaded onward. (Exeunt) [Even the “Exeunt” is resonated, further emphasizing how effective cool schemes operate against the hot-headed hero.] Cominius failed to sway Coriolanus:

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Com. He was a kind of nothing, titleless, Till he had forg’d himself a name o’ the fire Of burning Rome. V.1.15 [Plutarch does not mention burning, and metaphoric resonance may well have something to do with Shakespeare’s dwelling on it.] Cominius goes on, I offer’d to awaken his regard For’s private friends: his answer to me was, He could not stay to pick them in a pile Of noisome musty chaff: he said ‘twas folly, For one poor grain or two, to leave unburnt And still to nose the offense. Cominius recounted the above to Menenius, who then approaches Coriolanus himself: O my son! my son! Thou art preparing fire for us; Look thee, here’s water to quench it. Menenius thus recalls his earlier statement to Sicinius, another preparer of fire: This is the way to kindle, not to quench. III.1.196 The quencher, of course, was mother Volumnia and her tears, which caused her son’s eyes to “sweat compassion”. Finally, in a street near the gate of Rome, a senator in the company of Volumnia, Virgilia and Valeria joyfully exclaims,

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Behold our patroness, the life of Rome! Call all your tribes together, praise the gods, And make triumphant fires. V.4.3 Thunder-metaphor Thunderous sounds comprise part of the Coriolanus war machine. Lartius. Thou wast a soldier Even to Cato’s wish, not fierce and terrible Only in strokes; but, with thy grim looks and The thunder-like percussion of thy sounds, Thou mad’st thine enemies shake, as if the world Were feverous and did tremble. I.4.62 Cominius. The shepherd knows not thunder from a tabor [drum], More than I know the sound of Marcius’ tongue From every meaner man. I.6.27 Menenius [to a patrician]. He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, Or Jove for’s power to thunder. III.1.256

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In contrast with thunder-resonance, Coriolanus of the Fall was hoop’d out of Rome. The People did hoot him out o’ the city. And Menenius tells “clusters” of citizens, You are they That made the air unwholesome, when you cast Your stinking greasy caps in hooting at Coriolanus’ exile. IV.6.133 They did hoot him out: Our enemy is banish’d!—he is gone!—Hoo! hoo! III.3.137 Condensing the thunder-hoot opposition which dots the play: Menenius. … your clusters Who did hoot him out o’ the city. Cominius. But I fear They’ll roar him in again. Recollect the Coriolanus of thunderous sounds, and the shepherd’s thunderous tabor (drum), and read some of the last lines of the play which Aufidius speaks (contrastingly) over the body of the murdered Coriolanus: My rage is gone And I am struck with sorrow. Take him up:

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Help, three o’ the chiefest soldiers; I’ll be one, Beat thou the drum, that it speak mournfully. V.6.150 Thunder and mournfulness accent one another by contrast and resonance. [This speech and the sentiment behind it betokens the magnanimity and goodheartedness of Aufidius. The Volscians have a great man as well as a great leader.] Garments-metaphor Menenius, to the tribunes in aspersion: Your beards deserve not so honourable a grave as to stuff a botcher’s cushion. [botcher: a patcher of old clothes] II.1.91 To be confirmed as consul by the People, Coriolanus should appear before them wearing a “gown of humility”: Cor. I do beseech you, Let me o’erleap that custom, for I cannot Put on the gown, stand naked, and entreat them. II.2.138 Men. Pray you, go fit you to the custom. Coriolanus agrees to fit himself to the custom, but the “customary gown” does not suit him: Why in this woolvish toge should I stand here,

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To beg of Hob and Dick, that do appear, Their needless vouches? II.3.122 His attitude does not go unnoticed, as Brutus comments to Sicinius: With a proud heart he wore His humble weeds. (159) [“I can see the pride through the rents in your cloak”— Socrates, to an imitator] Sicinius repeats this to the people: Forget not With what contempt he wore the humble weed; How in this suit he scorn’d you. (“Suit”—the “weed” and his plea) Coriolanus’ “woolvish toge” demeanor presented the tribunes with a fine opportunity to “set dogs on sheep”. Both of these expressions resonate the following conversation between Menenius and the tribunes: Men. The people … love not Marcius. Sic. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. Men. Pray you, who does the wolf love?

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Sic. The lamb. Men. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius. II.1.11 Thus, Marcius is the lamb/sheep, and the plebeians are wolves/dogs. This neatly reverses (emphasizing the theme of his reversal) Marcius’: Where he should find you lions, find hares; Where foxes, geese. After the violent scene with tribunes and citizenry, Menenius appeals: This must be patch’d With cloth of any colour. Which reminds us ironically of his scathing reference to the “botcher’s cushion”. Returning home, Coriolanus receives this advice from his mother: O! Sir, Sir, Sir, I would have had you put your power well on Before you had worn it out. III.2.18

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In exile, he arrives at Aufidius’ house in very poor weeds—truly “humble weeds”, we should note again with irony. A servingman observes, His clothes made a false report of him. IV.5.155 Too great success by the resurrected hero leads Aufidius to analyze his dangerous ally: … not moving from casque to cushion, but commanding peace Even with the same austerity and garb As he controll’d the war, which seems to specifically resonate and accent the “woolvish toge” and fisticuffs. Cushion-metaphor The cushion represents Roman senatorial rank and civil authority. In the metaphoric resonance, it also signifies material value and comfort. In respect to the latter, Roman soldiers carrying spoils set off Marcius’ own “austerity” (Aufidius’ word): Marcius. See here these movers that do prize their hours At a crack’d drachme. Cushions, leaden spoons, Irons of a doit, doublets … these base slaves, Ere yet the fight be done, pack up. Down with them! I.5.8

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Senatorial rank: In Act II, sc. 2, two officers lay out the symbolic cushions for the senators in the Capitol. In Act III, Coriolanus says to Cominius and senators, If you are learned, Be not as common fools; if you are not, Let them [the People] have cushions by you. III.1.101 Aufidius discourses on the reasons for Coriolanus’ difficulties, noting that he was “not moving from casque to cushion, but commanding peace even with the same austerity and garb as he controll’d the war.” This final cushion undoes him: Volumnia. O! stand up bless’d; Whilst, with no softer cushion than the flint, I kneel before thee. V.3.54 Hat-metaphor Caps, hats, and bonnets describe the relationship between Coriolanus and the citizenry. Marcius in the opening scene (I.1.207-209) denounces the granting of a petition to the people; giving them “five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms, of their own choice”. A petition granted them … they threw their caps As they would hang them on the horns o’ the moon, Shouting their emulation.

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Throwing caps in the air was quite apparently an act of jubilation for the Roman pleb and patrician alike. When Marcius refuses 10% of the treasure taken at Corioli, the Roman soldiers “cast up their caps and lances”. When Menenius hears that Marcius will return from the war, he shouts, Take my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee, Hoo! Marcius coming home! II.1.109 In a different vein, Menenius says to the tribunes, You are ambitious for poor knaves’ caps and legs. II.1.70 Coriolanus’ achievements and straightforwardness are hailed by Second Officer: His ascent is not by such easy degrees as those who, having been supple and courteous to the people, bonneted, without any further deed to have them at all in to their estimation and report. II.2.28 In the next scene, Coriolanus himself mirrors this opinion, though in a less genteel way than did Second Officer. To Citizens, he says: I will, Sir, flatter my sworn brother the People, to earn a dearer estimation of them; ‘tis a condition they account gentle: and since the wisdom of their choice is rather to have my hat than my heart, I will practice the insinuating

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nod, and be off to them most counterfeitly. II.3.105 His hat and manner did not pass unnoticed, as Third Citizen relates to the tribunes: He said he had wounds, which he could show in private; And with his hat, thus waving it in scorn, ..... “I thank you for your voices, thank you, “Your most sweet voices: now you have left your voices “I have no further with you.” Was not this mockery? II.3.179 As one can see, the Citizens are not so easily gulled, and the tribunes have little difficulty in bringing them around. Not long thereafter, they hoot Coriolanus out of Rome: They all shout and throw up their caps, in striking opposition to the way Menenius and the Roman soldiers had saluted the hero earlier.

Name-metaphor To begin with, the name “Marcius” in the play connotes the Roman god of war, Mars. So, we might think of a continuous resonance of the name, Marcius, bearing this appropriate notion. Marcius receives the title “Coriolanus” from General Cominius, to commemorate his martial valor: For what he did before Corioli, call him,

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With all the applause and clamour of the host, MARCIUS CAIUS CORIOLANUS! Bear The addition nobly ever! I.9.65 All. Marcius Caius Coriolanus! (Flourish. Trumpets sound, and drums.) [Compare with this. “Thou boy of tears.”] In rallying the citizenry against Coriolanus, Sicinius denies him the title, stressing the point by repetition: You are at point to lose your liberties: Marcius would have all from you; Marcius, Whom late you have nam’d consul. III.1.195 In exile, the “lonely dragon” laments that he has lost everything except his name. He says to Aufidius, My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done To thee particularly, and of all the Volsces, Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may My surname, Coriolanus: the painful service, The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood Shed for my thankless country, are requited But with that surname; a good memory, And witness of the malice and displeasure Which thou shouldst bear me: only that name remains. IV.5.77 The Volscians, however, give him another name as they remember well his mighty deeds.

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Aufidius. Why, thou Mars! (122) A servingman seconds his master’s exclamation: Why, he is so made on here within, as if he were son and heir to Mars. (201) Cominius, returned from his beseeching meeting with Coriolanus, tells of the god without the name: He would not seem to know me. ..... Yet one time he did call me by my name. I urg’d our old acquaintance, and the drops That we have bled together. [Notice the resonance with Coriolanus’ speech to Aufidius above: name to name, and “the drops bled” even rhyming with “the drops shed”.] He [Coriolanus] would not answer to; forbad all names; He was a kind of nothing, titleless, Till he had forg’d himself a name o’ the fire Of burning Rome. V.1.14 Volumnia alters the meaning of “name”—to reputation— and will succeed where Cominius failed. If thou conquer Rome, the benefit Which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name Whose repetition will be dogg’d with curses.

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Whose chronicle [“a good memory”] thus writ [“thereto witness”] “The man was noble, But with his last attempt he wip’d it out, Destroyed his country [“done great hurt and mischief”] and his name remains [“only that name remains] To the ensuing age abhorr’d” [malice and displeasure”]. The bracketed quotes are from Coriolanus’ downcast, supplicating speech to Aufidius, his mother—downcast and supplicating—practically duplicating that speech here. The resonance invites us to recollect that singular meeting with the magnanimous Aufidius, and note how Coriolanus will now repay him. The god of war makes peace. Aufidius, “the second name of men”, denies Coriolanus his title and calls him “traitor”, exactly as did Sicinius deny his title and later call him “traitor”: Auf. Ay, traitor, Marcius. Cor. Marcius! Auf. Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius. Dost thou think I’ll grace thee with that robbery, thy stol’n name Coriolanus in Corioli? [Sicinius said “Marcius” twice, now Aufidius says it thrice—twice, foreshadowing exile; thrice, signaling a dearer payment, foreshadowing death. And

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Sicinius’ “would have all from you” now becomes “stol’n”.] Then the culmination of the Name-metaphoric resonance of the play: Cor. Hear’st thou, Mars? Auf. Name not the god, thou boy of tears. V.6.101 “Mars” and “Coriolanus” have become, in the resonating course of the tragedy, “boy of tears”. Volumnia Considerable metaphoric resonance directly ties together mother and son. “Name remains” furnished us with one instance. She appears prominently in a number of resonances, including the next several examples. Picture / Report / Risk Life for Country Volumnia. I, considering how honour would become such a person, that it was no better than picture—like to hang by the wall, if renown made it not stir, was pleased to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I sent him; from whence he returned, his brows bound with oak. I tell thee, daughter, I sprang not more in joy at first hearing he was a man-child than now in first seeing he proved himself a man.

Metaphoric Resonance in Shakespearean Tragedy

Virgilia. But had he died in the business, madam; how then? Volumnia. Then his good report should have been my son; I therein would have found issue. I.3.21 [“Issue” has a double meaning! Shakespeare penned this pun unconscionably during the dramatic and touching Statue-scene of The Winter’s Tale.] In the thick of a war, Cominius says to Coriolanus, Take your choice of those That best can aid your action. Cor. Those are they That most are willing. If any such be here— As it were sin to doubt—that love this painting Wherein you see me smear’d: if any fear Lesser his person than an ill report, If any think brave death outweighs bad life, And that his country’s dearer than himself; Let him, alone, or so many so minded, Wave thus, to express his disposition, And follow Marcius. I.6.75

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Amazon Cominius. At sixteen years, When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought Beyond the mark of others; our then dictator, Whom all praise I point at, saw him fight, When with his Amazonian chin [smooth as that of an Amazon, a woman warrior, hence Marcius was a beardless youth] he drove The bristled lips before him. “Amazonian” chin may also imply his mother, a manly and aggressive woman whom Sicinius asks, “Are you mankind?” Theatrical-metaphor Menenius. Go fit you to the custom, and Take to you, as your predecessors have, Your honour with your form. Coriolanus. It is a part That I shall blush in acting. II.2.146 Later, Volumnia. I prithee now, sweet son, as thou hast said My praises made thee first a soldier, so, To have my praise for this, perform a part Thou hast not done before.

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III.2.109 He performs poorly, saying before the entreating woman in the fifth Act, Like a dull actor now, I have forgot my part, and I am out, Even to a full disgrace. V.3.42 Descending Sword Lartius. O noble fellow Who, sensibly, outdares his senseless sword, And, when it bows, stands up. Volumnia. Death, that dark spirit, in‘s nervy arm doth lie; Which, being advanc’d, declines, and then men die. [A fine reference to both the sword and old age.] II.1.167 The “bowing” sword will reverberate in Coriolanus’ inability to bow to circumstances: Coriolanus. A beggar’s tongue Make motion through my lips, and my arm’d knees, Who bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his That hath receiv’d an alms! III.2.120

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And resonates again when he figuratively bows before his mother’s wishes, betraying the Volscian cause and, as Aufidius says, betraying his own nature: Aufidius. My pretext to strike at him admits A good construction. I rais’d him, and I pawn’d Mine honour for his truth: who being so heighten’d He water’d his new plants with dews of flattery, Seducing so my friends; and to this end, He bow’d his nature, never known before But to be rough, unswayable, and free. V.6.26 Stamp Volumnia Methinks I see him stamp thus. Cominius repeats her word “stamp”, but with another, metaphoric meaning, while echoing simultaneously the meaning of her “Death, that dark spirit, in ‘s nervy arm doth lie”: His sword, death’s stamp, Where it did mark, it took. II.2.109 Son Dying for Rome Although a strong resemblance exists between Volumnia and Coriolanus, certain characteristics distinguish them. She is more practical. (“I would have had you put your power

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well on before you had worn it out”.) Furthermore, she loves him less than he loves her, and places the welfare of her country well above that of her son. Then, his good report should have been my son; I therein would have found issue. Hear me profess sincerely: had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike, and none less dear than thine and my good Marcius, I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country than one voluptuously surfeit out of action. I.3.26 In swaying her son against invasion, Volumnia places him in grave peril from the Volscians, which he and she both know. Cor. You have won a happy victory to Rome [“country”] But, for your son [“my son”], believe it, O! believe it, Most dangerously you have with him prevail’d If not most mortal [“die”] to him V.3.186 The resonance stresses the nature of their relationship, he following his mother’s lead. Tribe and Sword This resonance of his mother’s words not only relates mother and son to each other, but to those third parties who have engineered his downfall: Volumnia [to Brutus and Sicinius]. I would my son

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Were in Arabia, and thy tribe before him, His good sword in his hand. Sicinius. What then? Virgilia. What then? He’d make an end of thy posterity. Volumnia. Bastards and all. IV.2.27 At the end of the play, Aufidius instigates the hero’s murder: Coriolanus. O! that I had him, With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe, To use my lawful sword! An ironic echo. Hector The Trojan hero, Hector, represents Coriolanus. The metaphor is apt, because the Trojans were supposed to be ancestors of the Romans. Aufidius tells us this in the first Act (I.8) when he faces Coriolanus in battle: Wert thou the Hector That was the whip of your bragg’d progeny, Thou shouldst not ‘scape me here.

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The Hector-allusion is also apt because the Trojan “whip” and Coriolanus were both slated to be killed. Volumnia associates them in this bloody way: The breasts of Hecuba When she did suckle Hector, look’d not lovelier Than Hector’s forehead when it spit forth blood. I.3.45 This resonates her imagining of Marcius’ combat against the Volscians eight lines earlier: His bloody brow with his mail’d hand then wiping … The metaphor rings again in Coriolanus’ prayer for his son, surely based on Hector’s similar prayer in Homer’s Iliad, Book VI): The god of soldiers, With the consent of supreme Jove, inform Thy thoughts with nobleness; that thou mayst prove To shame unvulnerable, and stick i’ the wars Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw, And saving those that eye thee! V.3.74 Virgilia Coriolanus’ wife differs substantially from his mother. Their views of his wounds are diametrically opposed: Menenius. Is he not wounded?

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He was wont to come home wounded. Virgilia. O! no, no, no Volumnia. O! he is wounded, I thank the gods for’t. II.1.125 Virgilia presaged by contrast Volumnia’s reaction to her son’s wounds: Vir. His bloody brow! O Jupiter! no blood. ..... Heavens bless my lord from fell Aufidius! I.3.41,48 Virgilia is a quiet person, most unlike her mother-in-law. Coriolanus calls her “My gracious silence”, which makes a vivid contrast with his stentorian war shouts and all of the war, fury and other broils of the play. “My gracious silence” ironically associates with her husband’s silence when he, in tears, holds his mother’s hand and surrenders the Volscian victory. Virgilia may be a butterfly of a woman, but she is a butterfly with a will, a veritable Penelope as is Coriolanus a Hector. Valeria. Come, lay aside your stitchery; I must have you play the idle housewife with me this afternoon.

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Virgilia No, good madam; I will not out of doors. Valeria. Not out of doors? Volumnia. She shall, she shall. Virgilia. Indeed, no, by your patience; I’ll not over the threshold till my lord return from the wars. Valeria. You would be another Penelope; yet, they say, all the Yarn she spun in Ulysses’ absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. I.3.88 “Moths” resounds in the Butterfly-metaphor, identifying Virgilia with peace and with the tears she often must shed due to Coriolanus’ military profession and the dangers posed to him by his tearing of the butterfly. Aufidius Cor. They have a leader, Tullus Aufidius, that will put you to’t. I sin in envying his nobility, And were I anything but what I am, I would wish me only he. I.1.233

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Coriolanus does not lie. Aufidius, his rival, is a great man. “The second name of men”, he is nearly on a par as leader and warrior with Coriolanus. Cor. Were half to half the world by ears, and he Upon my party, I’d revolt, to make Only my wars with him. (236) This commendation resonates Marcius’ denunciation of his troops in the fight with the Volscians of Aufidius, sharply contrasting heroes and more ordinary folk: Mend and charge home, Or, by the fires of heaven, I’ll leave the foe And make my wars on you. I.4.40 A parallel construction utilizes the Lion-metaphor when comparing formidable Aufidius to plebeian troops: I’d revolt, to make Only my wars with him: he is a lion That I am proud to hunt, To citizenry, He that trusts to you, Where he should find you lions, find you hares. As we have seen, eventually both this “lion” and those “hares” become “curs”.

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More practical and flexible than Coriolanus, Aufidius says, I thought to crush him in an equal force— True sword to sword—I’ll potch at him some way Or wrath or craft may get him. I.10.16 He reminds somewhat of Volumnia. They share strength and fury, yet unlike Coriolanus they can rein and pull up before the precipice (the “gulf”). Aufidius is superior to Coriolanus in another, extremely important sense: he can subordinate personal feeling to civic responsibility. His loyalty remains to his country, not to his ego. As a consistently defeated rival, he hates Coriolanus passionately: Nor sleep nor sanctuary Being naked, sick, nor fane nor Capitol, The prayers of priests, nor times of sacrifice, Embarquements all of fury, shall lift up Their rotten privilege and custom gainst My hate to Marcius. I.10.24 Nevertheless, the nobility of the man reveals itself in a genuinely spontaneous forgiveness and welcoming of his nemesis: O Marcius, Marcius, Each word thou hast spoke hath weeded from my heart A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter Should from yond cloud speak divine things, And say, “‘tis true,” I’d not believe them more

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Than thee, all noble Marcius. Let me twine Mine arms about that body, where against My grained ash a hundred times hath broke, And scarr’d the moon with splinters. ..... Know thou first, I lov’d the maid I married; never man Sigh’d truer breath; but that I see thee here, Thou noble thing! More dances my rapt heart Than when I first my wedded mistress saw Bestride my threshold. IV.5.122 This speech marks a very bright spot in the tragedy. Aufidius continues: Why, thou Mars! I tell thee, We have a power on foot. The expression forms part of the Lion-metaphor, resonating, in one of those odd turns of fate, the “tiger-footed rage” of the citizenry which drove him from Rome. And a stranger turn lies ahead: Aufidius. At his nurse’s tears He whin’d and roar’d away your victory. V.6.99 When Menenius says to the tribunes, This Marcius is grown from man to dragon: He has wings; he’s more than a creeping thing,

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he (rather, the playwright) seems to mean that Coriolanus is more than “a power on foot” (thus chiding the tribunes for driving Coriolanus into exile). Aufidius to Lieutenant, in recognition of the dragon’s threat: I cannot help it now Unless, by using means, I lame the foot Of our design. He bears himself more proudlier, Even to my person, than I thought he would When first I did embrace him. IV.7.10 Aufidius, like Brutus and Sicinius before him, can appreciate his own interests, and plan, plot and exploit a dangerous enemy’s weakness accordingly. Their heroic target, to the contrary, seldom seems to have an objective, reasoned course of thought and action. Aufidius [to lords]. Tell the traitor in the highest degree He hath abus’d your powers. Coriolanus. Traitor! How now? That was the same word that “kindled the blaze” in Rome: Sicinius. You are a traitor to the people. Coriolanus. How! Traitor! III.3.67

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And “boy” does the rest. Citizenry A tendency may exist to confuse the derisive comment on the plebeians of Coriolanus and Menenius with Shakespeare’s personal view and the overall treatment of the citizenry as it can be reasonably construed from the text. I find the author’s treatment in Coriolanus to be flattering. Quite flattering. In the first scene of the first Act we have observed the forceful presentation of the People’s grievances—famine, usury, war. The Belly Parable does not dispute the reality of the people’s suffering from these causes. Menenius says only that “the gods”, not “the patricians”, are responsible for the dearth. The “many–headed multitude” derogation ascribed to Coriolanus is turned sympathetically into a diversity of opinion naturally incident to a multitude: Third Citizen. If he show us his wounds, and tell us his deeds, we are to put our tongues into those wounds and speak for them; so, if he tell us his noble deeds, we must also tell him our noble acceptance of them. Ingratitude is monstrous. First Citizen. Once we stood up about the corn, he himself stuck not to call us the many-headed multitude. Third Citizen. We have been called so of many; not that our heads are some brown, some black, some abram

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[light brown], some bald, but that our wits are so diversely coloured: and truly I think, if all our wits were to issue out of one skull, they would fly east, west, north, south; and their consent of one direct way should be at once to all the points o’ the compass. Second Citizen. Think you so? Which way do you judge my wit would fly? Third Citizen. Nay, your wit will not so soon out as another man’s will; ‘tis strongly wedged up in a blockhead; but if it were at liberty, ‘twould, sure, southward. Second Citizen. Why that way? Third Citizen. To lose itself in a fog; where being three parts melted away with rotten dew, the fourth would return for conscience’s sake, to help to get thee a wife. Second Citizen. You are never without your tricks: you may, you may. Third Citizen. I say, if he would incline to the people, there was never a worthier man. II.3.42 The conversation contains humor, an excellent method of the playwright if he would incline us to the People.

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After this discussion, the citizens meet with Coriolanus. Third Citizen asks him, “Tell us what hath brought you to’t.” He answers haughtily, “Mine own desert.” Coriolanus asks, “I pray, your price o’ the consulship?” First Citizen answers, “The price is, to ask it kindly.” Coriolanus says after gaining their consent, There is in all two worthy voices begged. I have your alms: adieu. II.3.85 This exchange, featuring the citizen’s “ask it kindly” in opposition to Coriolanus’ egotism and mockery, weighs opinion heavily in the People’s favor. Third Citizen’s earlier, concluding comment—“I say, if he would incline to the people, there was never a worthier man.”—thus receives a strong reinforcement of citizen decency. In the first Act, metaphoric resonance contrasts a citizen’s perceptive insight with Coriolanus’ violent prejudice: First Citizen. He did it [service for his country] to please his mother, and to be partly proud; which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue. I.1.40 Coriolanus, in the same scene: I’d make a quarry With thousands of these quarter’d slaves, as high as I could pick my lance.

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(198) The contrast in attitude is accented by the resonance. Menenius advises Coriolanus, proffering a hint of sympathy and commendation for the commonalty: For they have pardons, being asked, as free As words to little purpose. III.2.88 Pardons—the People have in abundance that of which Coriolanus is completely devoid. His total lack of tolerance— his perfectly unblemished scorn and hatred—damns the protagonist. A significant portion of the populace appreciates Coriolanus’ worthiness and gives him their support, although the man clearly threatens their material interests. But they have pardons. Aufidius has as good a reason to wish Coriolanus dead, yet he welcomes his long-hated enemy with much more than hospitality. He too has pardons. But Coriolanus never relents, despite having every possible reason to at least sham it. This, of course, deals him a massive blow. When he does relent, it is to the wrong person, and that finishes him. Lastly, compare the discussion of Coriolanus by Citizens in I.1 and II.3 with the parallel discussion by Senatorial Officers in II. 2. The Officers, better educated than the plebeians, use language on a higher level. The thoughts of Citizens and Officers, however, are comparable, both sets of speakers

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differing as reasonable men will, and exhibiting fair-minded intent and rather perceptive comprehension. Brutus and Sicinius The tribunes have a difficult job, one they perform with considerable skill. They are, after all, both representatives and leaders of the people. They have great responsibility, and can be neither subservient to their constituency nor domineering. They must listen well to all sides—people and patricians—insist when they must, and smooth over when they can. Coriolanus presents them with one devil of a problem. So far as acting in a representative capacity, Brutus and Sicinius observe that the People have mixed emotions about Coriolanus. On the one hand, he is adored as a martial hero: Brutus. All tongues speak of him, and the bleared sights Are spectacled to see him. ..... Such a pother As if that whatsoever god who leads him Were slily crept in to his human powers, And gave him graceful posture. II.1.207 Coriolanus’ charisma follows him to the Volscian state, in exile, where the god-metaphor resounds: Cominius. He is their god: he leads them like a thing Made by some other deity than Nature,

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That shapes man better. IV.6.93 So the tribunes need be careful not to offend the idolworshippers. On the other hand, Coriolanus’ insolence to ‘the rabble’ and his strong stand against giving them grain has earned him such enmity that First Citizen opens the play by suggesting they kill him. We have seen the Hunger-metaphor resonate contrastingly with “surfeit”, “superfluity”, “surplus”, etc., to which Coriolanus contributed, The Volsces have much corn; take these rats thither To gnaw their garners. I.1.251 The nominee for consul simply does not respect the Roman constitutional setup which grants the plebeians a voice in government. He would “pluck out the multitudinous tongue” and “throw their power i’ the dust”. The tribunes realize Coriolanus is a fair candidate for tyranny. Brutus. Then our office may, During his power, go sleep. II.1.229 They size him up, as Aufidius will do later: Sicinius. He cannot temperately transport his honours From where he should begin and end, but will Lose those he hath won.

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Sicinius will resonate his own statement in telling Coriolanus: If you will pass To where you are bound, you must inquire your way, Which you are out of, with a gentler spirit. III.54 The tribune goes on to speak of “setting dogs on sheep”. Yet after learning that Marcius will likely become consul, they adopt a wait-and-see attitude via the Body-metaphor: Brutus. Let’s to the Capitol; And carry with us ears and eyes for the time, But hearts for the event. II.1.262 After the senate has chosen Coriolanus for the consulship, they do not instruct the citizenry to reject him. Brutus and Sicinius are cautious, and they are not really dead-set against Coriolanus. Their exchange with Menenius (II.2) indicates they will give Coriolanus a chance: Sicinius. We are convented Upon a pleasing treaty, and have hearts Inclinable to honour and advance The theme of our assembly. Brutus. Which the rather We shall be bless’d to do, if he

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A kinder value of the people than He hath hereto priz’d them at. Menenius. That’s off, that’s off; I would you rather had been silent. Please you To hear Cominius speak? Brutus. Most willingly; But yet my caution was more pertinent Than the rebuke you give it. II.2.64 This is a warning, the last thing a politic person gives when lying in ambush. They have not completely given up on Coriolanus yet. Coriolanus’ performance in the “gown of humility”—his “woolvish toge”—cuts his chances way down. Brutus resonates both the Body- and the Garments-metaphor: With a proud heart he wore his humble weeds. II.3.159 This informs us that the tribunes have probably made up their minds that the People cannot live with this man. They act carefully. After the citizenry has given Coriolanus their consent, Brutus and Sicinius sound them—maybe a bit leadingly—to find out exactly what happened, whether Coriolanus appeared sincere, whether they are sure of their choice. Only after the majority strongly feel they were mocked by Coriolanus, do Brutus and Sicinius instruct them not to confirm, and precisely how to proceed.

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Finally, they have decided that the menace is worth a showdown: Brutus. This mutiny were better put in hazard Than stay, past doubt, for greater. If, as his nature is, he fall in rage With their refusal, both observe and answer The vantage of his anger. II.3.265 They plan: Brutus. In this point charge him home, that he affects Tyrannical power: if he evade us there, Enforce him with his envy to the people, And that the spoil got on the Antiates Was ne’er distributed— ..... Put him to choler straight. He hath been us’d Ever to conquer, and to have his worth Of contradiction: being once chaf’d, he cannot Be rein’d again to temperance; then he speaks What’s in his heart; and that is there which looks With us to break his neck. III.3.29 Fourth Act resonance: Aufidius. Although it seems, And so he thinks, and is no less apparent To the vulgar eye, that he bears all things fairly,

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And shows good husbandry for the Volscian state, Fights dragon-like, and does achieve as soon As draw his sword; yet he hath left undone That which shall break his neck or hazard mine, Whene’er we come to our account. IV.7.26 Resonating conspiracies wish to fracture the hero, but Menenius worries the tribunes with the opposite possibility: No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto us. When we banished him, we respected not them; and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us. V.4.35 Before continuing, two things should be discriminated: the tribunes’ sincerity in their work, and their caution-calculationcunning when implementing their objectives. Regarding the former, Sicinius. Sir, the people Must have their voices; neither will they bate One jot of ceremony. II.2.142 First Citizen. He shall well know The noble tribunes are the people’s mouths, And we their hands. III.1.271 Tribunes and People are united—mouths, voices and hands. Brutus and Sicinius have their trust. When Sicinius said

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“voices”, he signified this closeness with the double entendre of voice=votes of the People, and voices=mouths (which First Citizen resonates with the word itself), their spokesmen. Respecting the political skill of the tribunes, Note: 1) Sicinius instructs the People: Say, you chose him More after our commandment than as guided By your own true affections; and that, your minds, Pre-occupied with what you rather must do Than what you should, made you against the grain To voice him consul: lay the fault on us. II.3.240 This is not true, of course. They most certainly did not instruct for confirmation. It is a convenient misrepresentation, however, which avoids blame all around. 2) Brutus. Call’t not a plot: The people cry you mock’d them, and of late, When corn was given them gratis, you repin’d; Scandall’d the suppliants for the people, call’d them Time-pleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness. Coriolanus. Why, this was known before. Brutus. Not to them all.

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Coriolanus. Have you inform’d them sithence? Brutus. How! I inform them! Cominius. You are like to do such business. Brutus. Not unlike, Each way, to better yours. III.1.49 Brutus never actually lied, never directly denied the accusation, and closed with a clever riposte. That’s good politics. 3) The showdown has them charging Coriolanus with treason. The word “traitor” sets him off. If he has any control left, “service” finishes the last of it. With Coriolanus disposed of, Brutus says to Sicinius, Now we have shown our power, Let us seem humbler after it is done Than when it was a-doing. IV.2.4 Therefore, a formidable task rife with danger, and expertly accomplished. [Note: Shakespeare’s political understanding was obviously acute.]

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Menenius He is a patrician and senator, a friend and adviser to Coriolanus. Normally quite affable, even jovial, by no means a political hard-liner, he has a good reputation among the common people. He says of himself, I am known to be a humourous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tiber in’t . . . one that converses more with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning. II.1.53 A genial use of Body-metaphors may be the secret of his popularity! Second Citizen. Worthy Menenius Agrippa; one that hath always loved the people. First Citizen. He’s one honest enough: would all the rest were so. I.1.55 His friendship with Coriolanus, however, makes him a partisan. Menenius’ position and disposition are compromised as Coriolanus clashes viciously with the citizenry and their tribunes. Menenius delivers the Belly Parable, criticizing the “mutinous members” for not appreciating the “good belly”, and denouncing the “toe” for spearheading insurrection. The

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fear of tearing the body politic likewise underlies his advice to Coriolanus: You’ll mar all: I’ll leave you. Pray you, speak to ‘em, I pray you, In wholesome manner. II.3.64 The object of the advice answers unwholesomely, Bid them wash their faces, And keep their teeth clean. “Wholesome” resonates one of the first lines of the play, stressing Menenius’ accordance with the People in certain ways. First Citizen had stated: If they [senators, of which Menenius is one] would yield us but the superfluity, while it were wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely. I.1.19 Much later, learning that Coriolanus leads a Volscian army against Rome, Menenius assails the citizens, “You are they that made the air unwholesome.” “Mar” also reverberates as a patrician tells Menenius, “This man has marr’d his fortune,” indicating he believes it was Coriolanus who made the air unwholesome. Menenius tries to defend Coriolanus’ faults as mere outspokenness and an inability to flatter, using “heart”“mouth”-“breast”-“tongue” body-metaphors. He later renders

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

a similar defense to the tribunes—“ill-school’d in bolted language”. The angry, upset patrician Menenius speaks disparagingly to the People in the first Act, due to the imminent threat of massive violence. But he is consistently ill-tempered and unfair with the tribunes, even foreshadowing or echoing Coriolanus’ animal epithets: O! that you turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks [eventually chiding them with the prospect of Coriolanus “returning to break our necks”], and make an interior survey of your good selves … you should discover a brace of unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magistrates—alias fools—as any in Rome. II.1.45 “Re-enter two of the citizens”, and Coriolanus says two scenes later, “So, here comes a brace.” Following violence against Coriolanus and supporters by tribunes, citizens, and Aediles, Menenius offers, “I could myself take up a brace o’ the best o’ them.” [“brace”—used in a series of animal metaphor-epithets. Irony: it also means ‘support’, the hero’s epithets dividing, tearing.] Coriolanus [to tribunes with reference to citizens]. Are these your herd? III.1.33 Menenius. Before he should thus stoop to the herd . . . III.2.32

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Menenius’ address to citizens anticipates something similar from Coriolanus: Make you ready your stiff bats and clubs: Rome and her rats are at the point of battle. What Menenius garners for his friendship and partisanship is exasperation. O me! The gods! You’ll mar all: I’ll leave you. Pray you, Speak to ‘em, I pray you, in wholesome manner. Before a tirade, Not now, not now. After it, Well, no more. His affability is poisoned by defending an insupportable client. Menenius’ good humor returns, however, after Coriolanus resides safely, though temporarily, in exile. The lover of “a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tiber in’t” then gets along cordially with the tribunes: Brutus. Is this Menenius? Sicinius. ‘Tis he, ’tis he. O he is grown most kind of late. Hail, sir. Menenius. Hail to you both!

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A Nether World of Metaphoric Resonance: Coriolanus

Sicinius. Your Coriolanus is not much miss’d But with his friends: the commonwealth doth stand, And so would do, were he more angry at it. Menenius. All’s well; and might have been much better, if He could have temporis’d. Sicinius. Where is he, hear you? Menenius. Nay, I hear nothing: his mother and his wife Hear nothing from him. IV.6.18 Volumnia, in the senator’s company, accosts and verbally attacks the tribunes on the street. Although sympathetic to her (this before his amiable meeting with Brutus and Sicinius), he really does not like conflict. “Come, come”, he says in a peacemaking attempt, echoing Brutus’ earlier soothing words to himself: “Come, sir, come….Come, come.” (II.1.64,77) by which the tribune gently objects to Menenius’ Volumnia-like lambasting. Failing in his mission to stop Coriolanus’ invasion of Rome, and treated with such coldness by his erstwhile dear friend (not knowing that Coriolanus “show’d sourly to cover his crack’d heart”), the old fellow is “grief-shot”. This is in such striking, poignant contrast to his joyous feeling in Act II upon hearing the triumphant Marcius was returning home: Take my cap, Jupiter, and I thank thee.

Metaphoric Resonance in Shakespearean Tragedy

Hoo! Marcius coming home! II.1.109 Ironic Resonance in the Finale Volumnia. He’ll beat Aufidius’ head below his knee, And tread upon his neck. I.3 But in the fifth Act, 6th scene: The Conspirators draw, and kill Coriolanus: Aufidius stands on his body.

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CONCLUSION

Shakespeare’s winding, interweaving echo trails create a vibrating symbolism underneath the surface of the story. Such recurrent emphasis on theme and characterization vivifies the messages the author seeks to impart to us. It hopefully enhances appreciation of the play to recognize his intricate, masterful employment of Metaphoric Resonance.