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Caius Marcius, a proud and brilliant Roman general, wins the name Coriolanus by capturing the Volscian city of Corioli almost single-handed. But when he…
Caius Marcius, a proud and brilliant Roman general, wins the name Coriolanus by capturing the Volscian city of Corioli almost single-handed. But when he stands for the office of consul, his contempt for the common people, whom he refuses to flatter, lets the tribunes stir up the crowd against him, and he is banished from Rome. In fury he joins his old enemy, the Volscian leader Aufidius, and marches on his own city, where only his mother, Volumnia, can stop him.
Context and significance
Written around 1608 and based on Plutarch's life of Coriolanus, the play is Shakespeare's most political tragedy, and every age has read it differently: a Paris production caused riots in 1934, and Bertolt Brecht adapted it. Compare Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
About the author
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), born in Stratford-upon-Avon, actor, playwright and shareholder of a London company, wrote about thirty-seven plays and 154 sonnets.