Coriolanus Monologue
| Coriolanus Monologue by William Shakespeare | |
| Character: | Coriolanus |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age (range): | ? |
| Style: | Drama |
| Length: | < 3 minutes |
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- CORIOLANUS: My name is Caius Marcius, who hath done
- To thee particularly and to all the Volsces
- Great hurt and mischief; thereto witness may
- My surname, Coriolanus. The painful service,
- The extreme dangers, and the drops of blood
- Shed for my thankless country are requited
- But with that surname -- a good memory,
- And witness of the malice and displeasure
- Which thou shouldst bear me. Only that name remains.
- The cruelty and envy of the people,
- Permitted by our dastard nobles, who
- Have all forsook me, hath devoured the rest;
- And suffered me by th' voice of slaves to be
- Whooped out of Rome. Now this extremity
- Hath brought me to thy hearth, not out of hope--
- Mistake me not -- to save my life; for if
- I had feared death, of all the men i' th' world
- I would have 'voided thee; but in mere spite,
- To be full quit of those my banishers,
- Stand I before thee here. Then if thou hast
- A heart of wreak in thee, that wilt revenge
- Thine own particular wrongs, and stop those maims
- Of shame seen through thy country, speed thee straight,
- And make my misery serve thy turn. So use it
- That my revengeful services may prove
- As benefits to thee; for I will fight
- Against my cank'red country with the spleen
- Of all the under fiends. But if so be
- Thou dar'st not this, and that to prove more fortunes
- Th' art tired, then, in a word, I also am
- Longer to live most weary; and present
- My throat to thee and to thy ancient malice;
- Which not to cut would show thee but a fool,
- Since I have ever followed thee with hate,
- Drawn tuns of blood out of thy country's breast,
- And cannot live but to thy shame, unless
- It be to do thee service.
