"The leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an inventory to particularize their abundance; our sufferance is a gain to them."
At the beginning of the play, the citizens of Rome riot in the streets over the scarcity of food (especially grain) available in the city. Here, one citizen establishes the central class conflict that will dominate the rest of the play, arguing that the patricians are literally and figuratively getting fat while the lower classes starve.
"You are transported by calamity
Thither where more attends you, and you slander
The helms o' th' state, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies."
In his response to the rioting plebeians, Menenius argues that they are wrong to blame the patricians and should instead blame fate and the gods. The patricians, he argues, care for the lower classes as parents care about their children. Of course, Menenius is simply being manipulative, attempting to portray Rome as a family when it is rife with discord and inequality.
"With every minute you do change a mind
And call him noble that was now your hate."
In comparison to Menenius, Martius (later Coriolanus) does not attempt to flatter or console the rioting plebeians. On the contrary, Martius here insults them for being dishonest, cowardly, and especially fickle – changing their opinion of their leaders quickly and frequently. Despite his lack of care for the lower classes, however, the play later proves that Coriolanus might be right about the Roman masses, who seem to have a difficult time deciding who they want to support.
"If my son were my
husband, I should freelier rejoice in that absence
wherein he won honor than in the embracements
of his bed where he would show most love."
As the play draws a stark contrast between Volumnia – Coriolanus's war-hungry and severe mother – and Virgilia – Coriolanus's pacifist wife – Volumnia makes this remark in which she hypothesizes (or fantasizes) about her son being her husband. It is indeed an odd comment to make, as Volumnia says that she would be more excited to see her husband going off to war than she would be to go to bed with him. This remark ultimately highlights Volumnia's own thirst for violence and bloodshed, suggesting that Coriolanus has more in common with his mother than he does his wife (and thus foreshadowing Volumnia's role at the end of the play).
"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 had proved himself a man."
Again, Volumnia demonstrates her severity by telling Virgilia that when Coriolanus was just a young boy, she sent him off to a dangerous war in order to make him a man. She remarks that she was happier to see her son hardened by the brutality of war than she was to have a baby in the first place. It seems that Volumnia is intent on separating herself from other women and especially other mothers, taking credit for Coriolanus's martial reputation as the direct result of her parenting.
"At sixteen years,
When Tarquin made a head for Rome, he fought
Beyond the mark of others."
In this quotation, Cominius describes what Coriolanus was doing when he was only sixteen years old – helping the Roman army defeat Tarquin, a former tyrant and dictator. Cominius goes on to describe the seemingly inhuman feats that Coriolanus performed at such a young age. This speech is significant because it challenges the audience to see the value in Coriolanus's military past while also considering his flaws in the present.
"I do love
My country's good with a respect more tender,
More holy and profound, than mine own life,
My dear wife's estimate, her womb's increase,
And treasure of my loins."
The play showcases how important one's loyalty to Rome is when it comes to being supported by the masses. Many characters compare Rome to a family, insisting that the patricians are like parents and the plebeians are the children that they care for. Here, Cominius takes that metaphor one step further by claiming that his loyalty and love for Rome surpasses that which he has for his own family.
"Wife, mother, child I know not."
When Coriolanus is banished from Rome, he announces that not only has he lost his figurative "family" in the form of his city, but that he has also been deprived of his actual family – his mother Volumnia, his wife Virgilia, and his son, Martius. This quotation can be interpreted one of two ways: either Coriolanus is devastated to think about the extent of his isolation and loneliness, or he is declaring his own decision to severe ties with his family in order to lead his attack on Rome.
"O my mother, mother, O!
You have won a happy victory to Rome;
But, for your son—believe it, O, believe it!—
Most dangerously you have with him prevailed."
When Volumnia convinces Coriolanus not to lead an assault on Rome, he announces to her that she has won a victory for the Romans. Crucially, however, he suggests that this victory of Volumnia's has come at the expense of her own son. Many see this passage as evidence that Volumnia is responsible for her son's death, and that she manipulated him to ultimately sacrifice him in her quest to keep Rome safe.
"If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there
That, like an eagle in a dovecote, I
Fluttered your Volscians in Corioles,
Alone I did it."
At the end of the play, Aufidius taunts Coriolanus by repeatedly referring to him as "boy." This enrages Coriolanus so much that he starts bragging about all the Volscians he has slaughtered, before ultimately daring the Volscians in the room to kill him (which, of course, they do). Many perceive this outburst as evidence that it is Coriolanus's pride that ultimately leads to his demise, though some argue that by the end of the play he is earnestly asking for death.
