Brutus (Coriolanus)
Play
Summary
Junius Brutus is the second of Rome's two tribunes of the people in Coriolanus — the partner of Sicinius in engineering Coriolanus's political downfall. Where Sicinius is slightly more prominent, Brutus is equally calculating and works closely with him to manoeuvre Coriolanus into a public display of the contempt they know he harbours for the plebeians. The tribunes are consistent in their tactics: patient observation, strategic provocation, and the mobilisation of popular anger at the right moment. Although Coriolanus and his allies detest them as demagogues, the tribunes genuinely believe they are protecting the people against an unreformed aristocratic tyrant.
Notable Quotations
"We are the greater poll, and in true fear / They gave us our demands." *(3.1)*
"I would he had continued to his country / As he began, and not unknit himself / The noble knot he made." *(4.7)*
Cross-references
- Coriolanus — the play
- Tragedies
- character_sicinius — his fellow tribune and political partner
- character_coriolanus — the aristocrat they exile from Rome
- character_menenius — patrician opponent