Previous
Irony
Definition of Logos
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Common in My Love:
After Coriolanus is declared a candidate for the consulship of Rome, the skeptical citizens debate his suitability for the role, emphasizing his own self-professed hatred for the plebeian majority. In his response to the citizens’ questions and complaints, Coriolanus employs logos in defense of his own candidacy:
FOURTH CITIZEN
You have been a scourge to her enemies;
you have been a rod to her friends. You have
not indeed loved the common people.
CORIOLANUS
You should account me the more virtuous
that I have not been common in my love. I will, sir,
flatter my sworn brother, the people, to earn a
dearer estimation of them; ’tis a condition they account
gentle.
The Fourth Citizen notes correctly that Coriolanus expresses little love for “the common people” of Rome, a charge to which Coriolanus readily agrees. However, his response uses logos to argue that his unwillingness to express false flattery is a political virtue. The crowd, Coriolanus suggests, should “account” him “the more virtuous” because he does not distribute his “love” to anyone without justification. Love, Coriolanus reasons, is valuable precisely because it is rare, and it would mean little if it were evenly distributed across thousands of people, most of whom are strangers to him. Though his argument is well-reasoned, his inability to connect emotionally with the masses ultimately seals his fate.
Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Beyond Arithmetic:
In the Roman marketplace, Coriolanus’s bitter and violent words have resulted in a political crisis. After withdrawing their support for his candidacy for the consulship, the plebeians are further enraged by Coriolanus’s mocking condemnation, and they now call for his death. While Coriolanus prepares to fight the crowds single-handedly, Menenius and Cominius employ logos in order to convince him to withdraw and settle the matter once tempers have cooled:
MENENIUS
Begone!
Put not your worthy rage into your tongue.
One time will owe another.CORIOLANUS
On fair ground I could beat forty of them.MENENIUS
I could myself
Take up a brace o’ th’ best of them, yea, the two tribunes.COMINIUS
But now ’tis odds beyond arithmetic,
And manhood is called foolery when it stands
Against a falling fabric. [To Coriolanus.] Will you
hence, Before the tag return, whose rage doth rend
Like interrupted waters and o’erbear
What they are used to bear?
Menenius, who serves as something of a mentor to Coriolanus, urges him to flee the marketplace, reasoning that his actions will have consequences that must be dealt with later. Coriolanus, however, is as hot-headed as ever, and he calculates that he could take on 40 of the Roman plebeians on his own. Cominius reasons with him, wielding logos in his argument that the chances of victory are “beyond arithmetic” and that Coriolanus’s bravery will be nothing more than "foolery" against such overwhelming odds. Despite his fiery temper, Coriolanus submits to their well-reasoned arguments and leaves.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Honor and Policy:
When Coriolanus returns home after his disastrous attempt to court the public vote in the marketplace of Rome, his mother and wife respond with alarm to news that the plebeians have called for his execution. Volumnia employs logos in her attempt to persuade her son to return to the marketplace and placate the crowds with gentle, compromising speech:
VOLUMNIA
I have heard you say ‘
Honor and policy, like unsevered friends,
I’ th’ war do grow together. Grant that, and tell me
In peace what each of them by th’ other lose
That they combine not there?CORIOLANUS
Tush, tush!MENENIUS
A good demand.VOLUMNIA
If it be honor in your wars to seem
The same you are not, which for your best ends
You adopt your policy, how is it less or worse
That it shall hold companionship in peace
With honor as in war, since that to both
It stands in like request?
In a simile, Volumnia notes that Coriolanus has, in the past, acknowledged that “honor” and “policy” are “like unsevered friends” that “do grow together” in times of war. In other words, Coriolanus recognizes that brave “honor” on the battlefield complements the “policy” or strategy of military generals. Why then, Volumnia asks, does Coriolanus not recognize the importance of strategy off the battlefield? She argues that he should be more willing to employ cunning and deception, just as war strategies often require such tricks, without loss of honor. Using logos, then, she reasons with her enraged son, asserting that the same policies that dictate success on the battlefield can be put into practice in times of peace.
Related Themes:
