After Cominius presents Coriolanus to the Roman masses, praising his heroic actions in battle in an exaggerated and idealized manner, his election to the consulship of Rome seems all but certain. Privately, Sicinius and Brutus discuss the character of Coriolanus, foreshadowing his downfall later in the play:
BRUTUS
I heard him swear,
Were he to stand for consul, never would he
Appear i’ th’ marketplace nor on him put
The napless vesture of humility,
Nor showing, as the manner is, his wounds
To th’ people, beg their stinking breaths. [...]
SICINIUS
I wish no better
Than have him hold that purpose and to put it
In execution.
BRUTUS
’Tis most like he will.
It shall be to him then as our good wills,
A sure destruction.
Brutus and Sicinius are opposed to Coriolanus, whom they regard as tyrannical. If he is elected to the consulship, they fear that he will act as a representative of the patricians and rob the plebeians of their few legal rights and privileges. Brutus, however, perceptively notes that Coriolanus cannot hide his distaste for the “people” of Rome and is reluctant to show off his wounds. Sicinius agrees with Brutus, suggesting that Coriolanus’s path to the consulship will be a difficult one, and Brutus eagerly adds that the event might prove “sure destruction” to him. Here, these two tribunes foreshadow later events in the play. Indeed, Coriolanus’s fate is sealed in the marketplace of Rome, where he refuses to show his wounds to the crowd and earns the resentment of the masses due to his condescending attitude.
