Menenius Irony In Shakespeare's Coriolanus

In the first scene of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Menenius tells a short story about how a human body wasted away. He begins with the “members” (organs of the body, excluding the stomach) complaining about how the “belly” (the stomach) does no work while the members do all of the work. Menenius continues by saying that the members felt like slaves who had to provide for all of the belly’s wants. The members decided to stop doing what they felt was “all the work,” and they let the belly starve. After that, the entire body began to starve and die, and they realized the work the belly had after it was too late.
Menenius takes this anecdote and compares it to the predicament he is currently faced with. The citizens of Rome (the members) are ganging up against him and the other senators of Rome (the belly) because the citizens claim they are not being fed enough and the senate is not working property. Menenius defends himself and the senate by saying that they are proficient in their
For example, the lungs must carry out respiration in their fixed position in the organism, the brain must lead the nervous system and carry out movements in its fixed spot in the head, the skin must provide a layer of protection around the entire organism, the stomach must be the center of digestion in its fixed location in the organism, and so on and so forth. However, we come across discrepancies when Menenius’ extends this metaphor to the political arena of Rome. The organs, or the members, are no longer in fixed positions, nor do they have finite roles in society. The citizens of Rome are very mobile, physically and socially, and their roles are ever-changing. For example, a man may have been a blacksmith and something may have changed in his life, forcing him to become a street merchant