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Menenius is an older patrician who serves as a counselor to Coriolanus and actively champions his political advancement. Whereas Coriolanus lacks all political finesse, Menenius is a gifted mediator between social classes. In his famous set piece from the play’s opening scene, Menenius responds to two citizens who express anger about the patricians’ poor treatment of the common people, which has been exacerbated by a recent famine. He proceeds to deliver an allegory of the body politic, in which the patricians represent the “belly” that must gather all the grain before distributing it to the rest of the “organs” and “limbs” of the republic. His expert engagement with the plebeians wins him a reputation as someone who cares for the common people. Unfortunately, despite his best attempts, Menenius fails to instill in Coriolanus a similar sense of graciousness. This failure is especially painful given that Menenius views himself as a father figure to Coriolanus. But Coriolanus already has a father figure in his domineering mother, who has raised him to be a merciless warrior. Thus, when Menenius is nominated to plea with Coriolanus to spare Rome, Coriolanus brushes the old man off. Only Volumnia has the power to influence him.
