Bid them all home. He’s gone, and we’ll no further.
The nobility are vexed, whom we see have sided
In his behalf.
Tell everyone to go home. He's gone, and we'll do nothing further. The nobles are upset, and we can see that they've taken his side.
Send everyone home. He's gone and we're done. The rich people are furious—we can see they're all on his side.
send everyone home he's gone the nobles are mad at us
Now we have shown our power,
Let us seem humbler after it is done
Than when it was a-doing.
Now that we've shown our power, let us act more humble after it's done than we appeared while we were doing it.
Now that we've shown how powerful we are, let's pretend to be humble after this is all over, instead of acting tough while we were doing it.
now that we showed our power let's act humble after not like we did it
Bid them home.
Say their great enemy is gone, and they
Stand in their ancient strength.
Tell them to go home. Say their great enemy is gone, and they stand in their ancient power.
Send them home. Tell them their worst enemy is gone and they've got their old power back.
send them home enemy's gone they got their power back
Dismiss them home.
Dismiss them home.
Dismiss them home.
dismiss them home.
Here comes his mother.
His mother is coming.
Volumnia's approaching.
his mom's here
Let’s not meet her.
Let's not encounter her.
Let's avoid her.
don't see her
Why?
Why?
Why?
why?
They say she’s mad.
People say she's out of her mind.
They say she's gone crazy.
she's losing it
They have ta’en note of us. Keep on your way.
They've noticed us. Keep going on your way.
They've spotted us. Just keep walking.
they see us keep moving
What's fascinating about this scene is that Volumnia is doing both things at once: she is genuinely destroyed by her son's banishment, and she is weaponizing that destruction. She doesn't hide her tears — she channels them into curses so precise they feel almost juridical. When Sicinius calls her 'mad,' he's using a standard tactic for dismissing inconvenient women: if you can't refute what she's saying, call her unhinged. But Volumnia is entirely in control of every word she delivers. She knows exactly where to hit. The irony is that the woman who raised the most emotionally inflexible man in Rome is now showing more emotional range than any other character in the play. She weeps. She curses. She mocks. She compares. She ends with a metaphor that perfectly describes self-consuming grief. Coriolanus can't do any of this.
O, you’re well met. The hoarded plague o’ th’ gods
Requite your love!
O, I'm glad to see you. May the plague that the gods have stored up repay your kindness!
Oh, so nice to see you! May the gods' plague come down on you for your 'kindness'!
so glad to see you may the plague repay your kindness
Peace, peace! Be not so loud.
Peace, peace! Don't be so loud.
Quiet, quiet! Don't yell so much.
shh be quiet
If that I could for weeping, you should hear—
Nay, and you shall hear some. [_To Sicinius_.] Will you be gone?
If I could speak through my crying, you would hear—no, and you will hear some of it. [To Sicinius] Will you leave?
If I weren't crying so hard, you'd hear what I have to say—and actually, you're going to hear it. [To Sicinius] Are you leaving?
i'd tell you if i could stop crying but you're gonna hear some are you leaving
[_To Brutus_.] You shall stay too. I would I had the power
To say so to my husband.
You'll stay too. I wish I had the power to order my husband around the way I'm ordering you.
Yeah, you're staying too. God, I wish I could tell my husband to stick around like this.
u staying too wish i could boss my husband around like this
Are you mankind?
Are you not a woman? You're acting like something inhuman.
What are you, some kind of woman? You're acting totally inhuman.
are you even a woman?? you're acting like a man
Ay, fool, is that a shame? Note but this, fool.
Was not a man my father? Hadst thou foxship
To banish him that struck more blows for Rome
Than thou hast spoken words?
Yes, fool, is that shameful? Listen to this, fool: was my father not a man? Did you have the cunning to banish him—a man who struck more blows for Rome than you have ever spoken words?
You fool, that's something to be ashamed of? Listen: my father was a man. You had the nerve to banish someone who fought for Rome more times than you've ever talked in your whole life?
my father was a man who fought for rome more than you speak and you banished him
O blessed heavens!
Good heavens!
Oh my god!
wtf
More noble blows than ever thou wise words,
And for Rome’s good. I’ll tell thee what—yet go.
Nay, but thou shalt stay too. I would my son
Were in Arabia and thy tribe before him,
His good sword in his hand.
He's done nobler deeds than you've ever spoken wise words, and all for Rome's good. Let me tell you something—but yes, go. No, but you'll stay too. I wish my son were in Arabia with your tribe before him, his good sword in his hand.
He's done more noble things than you've ever said anything smart, and all for Rome. I've got something to say—but yes, leave. No wait, you're going to stay here too. I wish my son was in Arabia facing your whole tribe with his sword.
he's done more than you ever said for rome's good wish he was in arabia facing your tribe with his sword
What then?
What then?
What then?
what then?
What then?
He’d make an end of thy posterity.
What then? He'd wipe out your descendants.
What then? He'd kill all your kids.
he'd wipe out your family
Bastards and all.
Good man, the wounds that he does bear for Rome!
Bastards and all. Good man, the wounds he bears for Rome!
Every last one of them. My goodness, look at the scars he carries for Rome!
all of em the wounds he got for rome
Come, come, peace.
Come now, please be quiet.
Come on, everyone calm down.
settle down
In a scene dominated by Volumnia's tirade, Virgilia says exactly one sentence: 'To say that to my husband.' It arrives after Volumnia wishes she had the power to make the tribunes stay — and it's Virgilia completing the thought. She doesn't wish Coriolanus were here to fight the tribunes. She wishes she could make him stay. This is the quiet, devastating precision of Virgilia throughout the play: she says almost nothing, and what she says is always exactly the right emotional note that Volumnia is too loud to hit. While Volumnia performs her grief in public, Virgilia carries hers in silence. Shakespeare gives these two women almost opposite registers — one full-throated fury, one private devastation — and both are completely real.
I would he had continued to his country
As he began, and not unknit himself
The noble knot he made.
I wish he had kept going for his country as he started to, and not undone the noble bond he had made.
I wish he'd stayed loyal to Rome like he began and hadn't destroyed that noble commitment he made.
wish he stayed loyal to rome didn't break that bond
I would he had.
I wish he had too.
Yeah, I wish he had.
me too
“I would he had?” ’Twas you incensed the rabble.
Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth
As I can of those mysteries which heaven
Will not have Earth to know.
"I wish he had?" It was you who stirred up the crowd. Cats could judge his worth as well as you could, just as I can understand the mysteries the heavens don't want Earth to know.
"I wish he had?" You're the ones who got the mob riled up! A cat could judge his value as well as you can—the same way I could understand divine secrets that heaven doesn't want people to know.
you got the mob riled up cats could judge him better than you it's like asking me to understand heaven's secrets
Pray, let’s go.
Please, let's go.
Come on, let's get out of here.
can we go?
Now, pray, sir, get you gone.
You have done a brave deed. Ere you go, hear this:
As far as doth the Capitol exceed
The meanest house in Rome, so far my son—
This lady’s husband here, this, do you see?—
Whom you have banished, does exceed you all.
Now, I ask you, sir, go away. You've done a brave deed. Before you leave, hear this: as much as the Capitol exceeds the smallest house in Rome, so much does my son—this lady's husband here, this one, do you see?—whom you have banished, exceed all of you.
Alright, sir, get going. You did a great job, didn't you. Before you leave, hear this: my son—this lady's husband, see him here?—the one you banished—he's as much better than all of you as the Capitol is bigger than a shack.
congrats on your brave deed before you go hear this my son is as much better than you as the capitol beats a house
Well, well, we’ll leave you.
All right, all right, we'll be leaving.
Okay, okay, we're going.
fine we're leaving
Why stay we to be baited
With one that wants her wits?
Why do we stay here to be attacked by someone who's lost her mind?
Why are we standing here getting insulted by a crazy woman?
why we listening to a crazy woman
Take my prayers with you.
I would the gods had nothing else to do
But to confirm my curses. Could I meet ’em
But once a day, it would unclog my heart
Of what lies heavy to’t.
Take my curses with you. I wish the gods had nothing else to do but to carry out my curses. If I could meet them just once a day, it would clear my heart of all the heavy weight it carries.
Take my curses with you. I hope the gods spend all their time making my curses come true. If I could see the gods once a day, it would lighten this weight crushing my heart.
take my curses wish the gods just did what i cursed if i could curse daily my heart would feel better
You have told them home,
And, by my troth, you have cause. You’ll sup with me?
You've really hit home with them, and truly, you have good reason. Will you have dinner with me?
You really laid into them, and I can't blame you. Want to come to dinner?
you told em off good wanna eat with me
Anger’s my meat. I sup upon myself
And so shall starve with feeding. Come, let’s go.
Leave this faint puling, and lament as I do,
In anger, Juno-like. Come, come, come.
Anger is my food. I feed on myself and so will starve while eating. Come, let's go. Stop this weak whimpering and grieve as I do, with anger, like Juno herself. Come, come, come.
Anger is what I eat. I'm consumed by my own rage and it keeps destroying me. Come on, let's go. Stop this sad weeping and be angry like I am, fierce like Juno. Come on, come on.
anger is my food i'm eating myself alive stop whining be angry like me come on
Fie, fie, fie!
How shameful! Absolutely disgraceful!
This is terrible! Disgusting!
this is awful! so wrong
The Reckoning
The tribunes are enjoying their win — Rome is peaceful, the problem has been exported. Then they run into the problem's mother. What follows is one of the most satisfying verbal maulings in Shakespeare: Volumnia turns her grief into a weapon and uses it on the men who caused it. Sicinius calls her 'mad.' She is not mad. She is exact, controlled, and devastating. The scene ends with her line 'Anger's my meat' — one of the great compressed images in the play.
If this happened today…
Two politicians who just forced a decorated general's resignation walk out of the Senate building and run directly into the general's mother on the street. They try to keep walking. She plants herself in their path. She tells them exactly what her son did for this country, exactly what they are, exactly what they've done — and does it in front of cameras. They mumble that she must be unstable. She's sharper than either of them. Her daughter-in-law, who never speaks, adds one sentence that lands like a blade. The politicians retreat.