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= Coriolanus =
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Introduction
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'Coriolanus' ( or ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to
have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life
of the legendary Roman leader Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus. Shakespeare
worked on it during the same years he wrote 'Antony and Cleopatra',
making them his last two tragedies.
Coriolanus is the name given to a Roman general after his military
feats against the Volscians at Corioli. Following his success, others
encourage Coriolanus to pursue the consulship, but his disdain for the
plebeians and mutual hostility with the tribunes lead to his
banishment from Rome. In exile, he presents himself to the Volscians,
then leads them against Rome. After he relents and agrees to a peace
with Rome, he is killed by his previous Volscian allies.
Synopsis
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The play opens in Rome shortly after the expulsion of the Tarquin
kings. There are riots in progress after stores of grain have been
withheld from ordinary citizens. The rioters are particularly angry at
Caius Marcius, a brilliant Roman general whom they blame for the loss
of their grain. The rioters encounter a patrician named Menenius
Agrippa, as well as Caius Marcius himself. Menenius tries to calm the
rioters, while Marcius is openly contemptuous, and says that the
plebeians are not worthy of the grain because of their lack of
military service. Two of the tribunes of Rome, Brutus and Sicinius,
privately denounce Marcius. Marcius leaves Rome after news arrives
that a Volscian army is in the field.
The commander of the Volscian army, Tullus Aufidius, has fought
Marcius on several occasions and considers him a blood enemy. The
Roman army is commanded by Cominius, with Marcius as his deputy. While
Cominius takes his soldiers to meet Aufidius's army, Marcius rallies
Roman troops in front of the Volscian city of Corioli. The siege of
Corioli is initially unsuccessful, but the Romans conquer it when
Marcius is able to force open the gates of the city. Even though he is
exhausted from the fighting, Marcius marches quickly to join Cominius
and fight the other Volscian forces. Marcius and Aufidius meet in
single combat, fighting until Aufidius's own soldiers drag him away
from the battle.
In recognition of his great courage, Cominius gives Caius Marcius the
agnomen, or "official nickname", of 'Coriolanus'. When they return to
Rome, Coriolanus's mother Volumnia encourages her son to run for
consul. Coriolanus is hesitant to do this, but he bows to his mother's
wishes. He effortlessly wins the support of the Roman Senate, and
seems at first to have won over the plebeians as well. However, Brutus
and Sicinius scheme to defeat Coriolanus and instigate another
plebeian riot in opposition to his becoming consul. Faced with this
opposition, Coriolanus flies into a rage and rails against the concept
of popular rule. He compares allowing plebeians to have power over the
patricians to allowing "crows to peck the eagles". The two tribunes
condemn Coriolanus as a traitor for his words and order him to be
banished. Coriolanus retorts that it is he who banishes Rome from his
presence.
After his exile from Rome, Coriolanus makes his way to the Volscian
capital of Antium, and asks Aufidius's help to wreak revenge upon Rome
for banishing him. Moved by his plight and honoured to fight alongside
the great general, Aufidius and his superiors embrace Coriolanus,
allowing him to lead a new assault on Rome.
Rome, in its panic, tries desperately to persuade Coriolanus to halt
his crusade for vengeance, but both Cominius and Menenius fail.
Finally, Volumnia is sent to meet her son, along with Coriolanus's
wife Virgilia and their child, and the chaste gentlewoman Valeria.
Volumnia succeeds in dissuading her son from destroying Rome, urging
him instead to clear his name by reconciling the Volscians with the
Romans and creating peace.
Coriolanus concludes a peace treaty between the Volscians and the
Romans. When he returns to the Volscian capital, conspirators,
organised by Aufidius, kill him for his betrayal.
Characters
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'Romans'
* Caius Marcius - later surnamed Coriolanus
* Menenius Agrippa - Senator of Rome
* Cominius - consul and commander-in-chief of the army
* Titus Larcius - Roman general
* Volumnia - Coriolanus's mother (historically, Veturia)
* Virgilia - Coriolanus's wife
* Young Martius - Coriolanus's son
* Valeria - chaste lady of Rome and friend to Coriolanus's family
* Sicinius Velutus - tribune
* Junius Brutus - tribune
* Roman Citizens
* Roman Soldiers
* Roman Herald
* Roman Senators
'Volscians'
* Tullus Aufidius - general of the Volscian army
* Aufidius' Lieutenant
* Aufidius' Servingmen
* Conspirators with Aufidius
* Adrian - Volscian spy
* Nicanor - Roman traitor
* Volscian Lords
* Volscian Citizens
* Volscian Soldiers
'Other'
* Gentlewoman
* Usher
* Volscian senators and nobles
* Roman captains
* Officers
* Messengers
* Lictors
* Aediles
Sources
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'Coriolanus' is largely based on the "Life of Coriolanus" in Thomas
North's translation of Plutarch's 'The Lives of the Noble Grecians and
Romans' (1579). The wording of Menenius's speech about the body
politic is derived from William Camden's 'Remaines of a Greater Worke
Concerning Britaine' (1605), where Pope Adrian IV compares a well-run
government to a body in which "all parts performed their functions,
only the stomach lay idle and consumed all"; the fable is also alluded
to in John of Salisbury's 'Policraticus' (Camden's source) and William
Averell's 'A Marvailous Combat of Contrarieties' (1588).
Other sources have been suggested, but are less certain. Shakespeare
might also have drawn on Livy's 'Ab Urbe condita', as translated by
Philemon Holland, and possibly a digest of Livy by Lucius Annaeus
Florus; both of these were commonly used texts in Elizabethan schools.
Machiavelli's 'Discourses on Livy' were available in manuscript
translations, and could also have been used by Shakespeare. He might
also have made use of Plutarch's original source, the 'Roman
Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus', as well as on his own
knowledge of Roman custom and law.
Date and text
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Most scholars date 'Coriolanus' to the period 1605-10, with 1608-09
being considered the most likely, although the available evidence does
not permit great certainty.
The earliest date for the play rests on the fact that Menenius's fable
of the belly is derived from William Camden's 'Remaines', published in
1605. The later date derives from the fact that several other texts
from 1610 or thereabouts seem to allude to 'Coriolanus', including Ben
Jonson's 'Epicoene', Robert Armin's 'Phantasma' and John Fletcher's
'The Woman's Prize, or the Tamer Tamed'.
Some scholars note evidence that may narrow down the dating to the
period 1607-09. One line may be inspired by George Chapman's
translation of the 'Iliad' (late 1608). References to "the coal of
fire upon the ice" (I.i) and to squabbles over ownership of channels
of water (III.i) could be inspired by Thomas Dekker's description of
the freezing of the Thames in 1607-08 and Hugh Myddleton's project to
bring water to London by channels in 1608-09 respectively. Another
possible connection with 1608 is that the surviving text of the play
is divided into acts; this suggests that it could have been written
for the indoor Blackfriars Theatre, at which Shakespeare's company
began to perform in 1608, although the act-breaks could instead have
been introduced later.
The play's themes of popular discontent with government have been
connected by scholars with the Midland Revolt, a series of peasant
riots in 1607 that would have affected Shakespeare as an owner of land
in Stratford-upon-Avon; and the debates over the charter for the City
of London, which Shakespeare would have been aware of, as it affected
the legal status of the area surrounding the Blackfriars Theatre. The
riots in the Midlands were caused by hunger because of the enclosure
of common land.
For these reasons, R. B. Parker suggests "late 1608 ... to early 1609"
as the likeliest date of composition, while Lee Bliss suggests
composition by late 1608, and the first public performances in "late
December 1609 or February 1610". Parker acknowledges that the evidence
is "scanty ... and mostly inferential".
The play was first published in the First Folio of 1623. Elements of
the text, such as the uncommonly detailed stage directions, lead some
Shakespeare scholars to believe the text was prepared from a
theatrical prompt book.
Performance history
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Like some of Shakespeare's other plays ('All's Well That Ends Well';
'Antony and Cleopatra'; 'Timon of Athens'), there is no recorded
performance of 'Coriolanus' prior to the Restoration. After 1660,
however, its themes made it a natural choice for times of political
turmoil. The first known performance was Nahum Tate's bloody 1682
adaptation at Drury Lane. Seemingly undeterred by the earlier
suppression of his 'Richard II', Tate offered a 'Coriolanus' that was
faithful to Shakespeare through four acts before becoming a Websterian
bloodbath in the fifth act. A later adaptation, John Dennis's 'The
Invader of His Country, or The Fatal Resentment', was booed off the
stage after three performances in 1719. The title and date indicate
Dennis's intent, a vitriolic attack on the Jacobite 'Fifteen. (Similar
intentions motivated James Thomson's 1745 version, though this bears
only a very slight resemblance to Shakespeare's play. Its principal
connection to Shakespeare is indirect; Thomas Sheridan's 1752
production at Smock Alley used some passages of Thomson's.) David
Garrick returned to Shakespeare's text in a 1754 Drury Lane
production.
Laurence Olivier first played the part at The Old Vic in 1937 and
again at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1959. In that production,
he performed Coriolanus's death scene by dropping backwards from a
high platform and being suspended upside-down without the aid of
wires.
In 1971, the play returned to the Old Vic in a National Theatre
production directed by Manfred Wekwerth and Joachim Tenschert with
stage design by Karl von Appen. Anthony Hopkins played Coriolanus,
with Constance Cummings as Volumnia and Anna Carteret as Virgilia.
Other performances of Coriolanus include Alan Howard, Paul Scofield,
Ian McKellen, Ian Richardson, Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Stephens, Robert
Ryan, Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, Colm Feore, Ralph Fiennes,
Tom Hiddleston and David Oyelowo.
In 2012, National Theatre Wales produced a composite of Shakespeare's
'Coriolanus' with Bertolt Brecht's 'Coriolan', entitled Coriolan/us,
in a disused hangar at MOD St Athan. Directed by Mike Brookes and Mike
Pearson, the production used silent disco headsets to permit the text
to be heard while the dramatic action moved throughout the large
space. The production was well received by critics.
In December 2013, Donmar Warehouse opened their new production. It was
directed by Josie Rourke, starring Tom Hiddleston in the title role,
along with Mark Gatiss, Deborah Findlay, Hadley Fraser, and Birgitte
Hjort Sørensen. The production received very strong reviews. Michael
Billington with 'The Guardian' wrote "A fast, witty, intelligent
production that, in Tom Hiddleston, boasts a fine Coriolanus." He also
credited Mark Gatiss as excellent as Menenius, the "humorous
patrician". In 'Variety', David Benedict wrote that Deborah Findlay in
her commanding maternal pride, held beautifully in opposition by
Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Coriolanus's wife Virgilia. Helen Lewis, in
her review of 'Coriolanus', along with two other concurrently running
sold-out Shakespeare productions with celebrity leads--David Tennant's
'Richard II' and Jude Law's 'Henry V'--concludes "if you can beg,
borrow or plunder a ticket to one of these plays, let it be
'Coriolanus'." The play was broadcast in cinemas in the UK and
internationally on 30 January 2014 as part of the National Theatre
Live programme.
Adaptations
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Bertolt Brecht adapted Shakespeare's play in 1952-55, as 'Coriolan'
for the Berliner Ensemble. He intended to make it a tragedy of the
workers, not the individual, and introduce the alienation effect; his
journal notes showing that he found many of his own effects already in
the text, he considered staging the play with only minimal changes.
The adaptation was unfinished at Brecht's death in 1956; it was
completed by Manfred Wekwerth and Joachim Tenschert and staged in
Frankfurt in 1962.
In 1963, the BBC included Coriolanus in 'The Spread of the Eagle'.
Slovak composer Ján Cikker adapted the play into an opera which
premiered in 1974 in Prague.
In 1983, the 'BBC Television Shakespeare' series produced a version of
the play. It starred Alan Howard and was directed by Elijah Moshinsky.
In 2003, the Royal Shakespeare Company performed a new staging of
'Coriolanus' (along with two other plays) starring Greg Hicks at the
University of Michigan. The director, David Farr, saw the play as
depicting the modernisation of an ancient ritualised culture, and drew
on samurai influences to illustrate that view. He described it as "in
essence, a modern production. The play is basically about the birth of
democracy."
In 2011, Ralph Fiennes directed and starred as Coriolanus with Gerard
Butler as Aufidius and Vanessa Redgrave as Volumnia in a modern-day
film adaptation 'Coriolanus'. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in
May, 2012. It has a 93% rating on the film review site
Rottentomatoes.com. Slavoj Žižek argued that unlike preceding
adaptations, Fiennes' film portrayed Coriolanus without trying to
rationalise his behaviour, as a raw figure for the "radical left" whom
he compares to Che Guevara, whom Žižek characterises as making clear
that "a revolutionary also has to be a 'killing machine'".
In 2019, the Tanghalang Pilipino staged a Filipino translation of the
tragedy. It was translated by Guelan Varela-Luarca and was directed by
Carlos Siguion-Reyna. The play was led by TP Actors Company's senior
member Marco Viaña as Coriolanus, opposite to him is Brian Sy as
Tullus Aufidius, Frances Makil-Ignacio and Sherry Lara alternating the
role of Volumnia. Along with them are Jonathan Tadioan as Menenius, JV
Ibesate as Velutus, Doray Dayao as Brutus, and the Tanghalang Pilipino
Actors Company.
Parody
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While the title character's name's pronunciation in classical Latin
has the 'a' pronounced "[aː]" in the IPA, in English the a is usually
pronounced "[eɪ]." Ken Ludwig's 'Moon Over Buffalo' contains a joke
dependent upon this pronunciation, and the parody 'The Complete Wrks
of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)' refers to it as "the anus play".
Shakespeare pronunciation guides list both pronunciations as
acceptable.
Cole Porter's song "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" from the musical 'Kiss
Me, Kate' includes the lines: "If she says your behaviour is
heinous,/Kick her right in the Coriolanus".
Based on 'Coriolanus', and written in blank verse, "Complots of
Mischief" is a satirical critique of those who dismiss conspiracy
theories. Written by philosopher Charles Pigden, it was published in
'Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate' (Ashgate 2006).
Early critical reception (1765–1900)
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Samuel Johnson’s notes in his 1765 edition praised the play’s
“vehement passions” yet complained of its abrasive protagonist and
dense military rhetoric, signalling an ambivalence that would shape
later criticism. Romantic-era readers, especially William Hazlitt,
admired Shakespeare’s “complete character-drawing,” locating tragedy
in Coriolanus’s inflexible pride and contempt for popular opinion,
thereby cementing the drama’s reputation as Shakespeare’s austerest
political play. Victorian scholars such as A. C. Bradley placed the
work “on the grand scale” while judging it less psychologically
expansive than 'Hamlet' or 'King Lear'. The warrior Coriolanus is
perhaps the most opaque of Shakespeare's tragic heroes, rarely pausing
to soliloquise or reveal the motives behind his proud isolation from
Roman society. In this way, he is less like the effervescent and
reflective Shakespearean heroes/heroines such as Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear
and Cleopatra, and more like figures from ancient classical literature
such as Achilles, Odysseus, and Aeneas--or, to turn to literary
creations from Shakespeare's time, the Marlovian conqueror
Tamburlaine, whose militaristic pride finds its parallel in
Coriolanus. Readers and playgoers have often found him an
unsympathetic character, as his caustic pride is strangely, almost
delicately balanced at times by a reluctance to be praised by his
compatriots and an unwillingness to exploit and slander for political
gain. His dislike of being praised might be seen as an expression of
his pride; all he cares about is his own self-image, whereas
acceptance of praise might imply that his value is affected by others'
opinion of him. The play is less frequently produced than the other
tragedies of the later period, and is not so universally regarded as
great. (Bradley, for instance, declined to number it among his famous
four in the landmark critical work 'Shakespearean Tragedy.')
In his book 'Shakespeare's Language', Frank Kermode described
'Coriolanus' as "probably the most fiercely and ingeniously planned
and expressed of all the tragedies".
Modernist re-evaluations
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T. S. Eliot famously proclaimed 'Coriolanus' superior to 'Hamlet' in
'The Sacred Wood', in which he calls the former play, along with
'Antony and Cleopatra', the Bard's greatest tragic achievement. Eliot
wrote a two-part poem about Coriolanus, "Coriolan" (an alternative
spelling of Coriolanus); he also alluded to 'Coriolanus' in a passage
from his own 'The Waste Land' when he wrote, "Revive for a moment a
broken Coriolanus." Mid-century criticism shifted attention from
character to civic process: Rabkin’s article argued that the play
anatomises the impossibility of sustaining republican consensus in
wartime Rome.
Politics, class and ideology
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Post-war Marxist scholars highlighted the drama’s class antagonism.
Robert Ormsby traces how Bertolt Brecht’s East-German adaptation
reframed Coriolanus as an object lesson in bourgeois militarism, a
reading that later influenced British stagings. Contemporary political
critics likewise recruit the play as a lens on populism: James Shapiro
compared the Trump administration’s pandemic rhetoric to Menenius’
patrician complacency, underscoring its resonance with
twenty-first-century crisis governance.
Gender and psychoanalytic readings
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Psychoanalytic approaches, from early Freudian readings to recent
trauma studies, interpret Coriolanus’s wound-display and
speechlessness as symptoms of an unresolved Oedipal bond and
narcissistic injury.
Bans
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'Coriolanus' has the distinction of being among the few Shakespeare
plays banned in a democracy in modern times. It was briefly suppressed
in France in the late 1930s because of its use by the fascist element,
and Slavoj Žižek noted its prohibition in Post-War Germany due to its
intense militarism.
Performance and adaptational criticism
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Stage criticism often gauges how directors negotiate the play’s
austere rhetoric. Michael Billington lauded Josie Rourke’s 2013 Donmar
Warehouse production, praising Tom Hiddleston’s “fast, witty”
interpretation that foregrounded civic unrest.
Contemporary resonances
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Recent scholarship explores how 'Coriolanus' anticipates debates on
technocratic elitism and populist backlash, interpreting its
set-pieces as dramatizations of media-mediated politics. Critics note
the play’s revival during moments of civic anxiety: productions
proliferated during the Arab Spring, the United Kingdom’s Brexit
referendum and global pandemic lockdowns, each reframing bread riots
and senatorial manoeuvring for new audiences.
Further reading
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* Krajewski, Bruce. "Coriolanus: 'Unfit for Anyone's Conversation,'"
in 'Traveling with Hermes: Hermeneutics and Rhetoric' (1992), .
*
External links
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* Text of the play by Shakespeare:
**
** [
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/coriolanus/index.html Full text of
Shakespeare's play]
** [
https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Cor_F1/index.html Old
Spelling Transcription] - Transcription of First Folio.
** [
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1535 'Coriolanus'] at Project
Gutenberg.
* [
http://www.bl.uk/works/coriolanus 'Coriolanus'] at the British
Library
*
** [
http://www.maximumedge.com/shakespeare/coriolanus.htm
'Coriolanus'] - Scene-indexed and searchable version of the play.
* Plutarch's 'Life of Coriolanus' :
** [
http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/coriolan.html Plutarch's 'Life of
Coriolanus'] - 17th century English translation by John Dryden
**
[
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14033/14033-h/14033-h.htm#LIFE_OF_CAIUS_MARCIUS_CORIOLANUS
Plutarch's 'Life of Coriolanus'] - 19th century English translation by
Aubrey Stewart and George Long
*
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolanus
