Coriolanus By William Shakespeare Rhetorical Analysis
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During the Elizabethan era, a healthy respect for the monarchs and of the queen herself was common amongst the common folk. It wasn't until after the death of Queen Elizabeth the first, when England's rightful ruler was King James the Sixth took the thrown that this respect for the hierarchical system changed. Sadly, King James took over during one of England's greatest times of peril, the country was in constant dearth and with this dearth the people of England began to question the very hierarchical structure that had served them well for many years. Shakespeare mirrors the phenomenons of his time period in his play Coriolanus in which the citizens of rome are starving and believe that the patricians are hoarding the wealth and food whilst they starve. This distrust in government is the very basis of hierarchical discourse in Coriolanus and brings up the moral debate of when it is acceptable to over through a tyrannical government. and cut off the head on the body politic. From the very beginning of the play the hierarchical system is in total disarray. The plebeians feel cheated and explain their quorums by giving their voice to the crowd.
“What authority surfeits on would relieve us. If they would yield us but the superfluity while it were wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely. But they think we are too dear. The…show more content… This enrages the plebeians and with further agitation from him, forces them to inevitably kick Coriolanus as he is now called, out of rome much later on. Thus, cutting off “the hand” of rome which wielded the sword that had saved them for many years and in turn stabbing itself in the belly as that hand later plans to revenge upon its traitorous body. This is one of the main crisis’s of the play as the loyal hand turns on the body, undermining the current hierarchical