Coriolanus has returned to the senate and expects to be declared consul. However, the tribunes arrive and inform the senate that the people are rioting outside and demanding that Coriolanus not be made consul. Coriolanus denies that this is possible, claiming that he had the people’s approval and that the tribunes must have betrayed Rome by stirring up conflict.

As the tribunes argue with Coriolanus, he becomes increasingly enraged by their provocations. When one of the tribunes presumptuously declares that Coriolanus shall never advance to the position of consul due to his angry temperament, he entirely loses his composure. After a furious speech in which he degrades the tribunes and the plebeians for acting without any love for Rome and reviles them for their lack of military service, the tribunes call Coriolanus a traitor and demand that he be arrested and executed. The tribunes allow the people into the senate and a mob breaks in to demand that Coriolanus be seized and executed.

Menenius tries to deescalate the situation, but the tribunes continue to rile the people up by warning them that Coriolanus will take all of their freedoms should he be named consul. The tribunes declare him to be a disease upon Rome.