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Volumnia Coriolanus Speech

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The prevelence of propagandist language as a tool to persuade, manipulate and position according to one's personal gains is essentially what drives the action in Coriolanus. The psychology of Martius is a direct result of his upbringing. Volumnia boasts that there is "no man more bound to his mother." Their bond is so powerful that Coriolanus "never left his mother's house" and never achieved independance. Volumnia is able to persuade her son to refrain from "o'erleap[ing] the custom" and show his wounds publicly. Her persuasion and manipulation finds convincing results due to a childhood of indoctrination that is reflected through the childhood of her grandson, as he hunts the butterfly without remorse and is then praised by his grandmother for it. Ultimately Volumnia's hold over Coriolanus compiles him to surrender his life, which is against his 'chiefest virtue.' Volumnia ironically leads her son into "volupstiously forfeit" to keep "Rome in safety, by means of emotional and patriotic coercion. Menenius uses passive language that offends none and becomes "one who hath always loved the people." He is successful in seducing the mob into silence with his label of the belly. His patience allows him to speak clearly in a …show more content…

Brutus and Sicinius convincingly wield the power of the people because the people take pride in thinking that they act on their own free will but are actually unaware of their puppet-like nature. Sicinius provokes the people to believe that Martius' is capable of "tyrannical power" which is associated with Tarquin's brutality. The labels ' a dog to the commonality' and chief enemy to the people' water the seeds of doubt and fear sown by the tribunes which proves an important tool of

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