The Tragedy of Coriolanus

by William Shakespeare Narrated by Mark Bowen

Overview

Coriolanus 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 Caius Marcius Coriolanus. The tragedy is one of the last two tragedies written by Shakespeare, along with Antony and Cleopatra. Coriolanus is the name given to a Roman general after his military success against various uprisings challenging the government of Rome. Following this success, Coriolanus becomes active in politics and seeks political leadership. His temperament is unsuited for popular leadership and he is quickly deposed, whereupon he aligns himself to set matters straight according to his own will. The alliances he forges along the way result in his ultimate downfall. The play opens in Rome shortly after the expulsion of the Tarquin kings. There are riots in progress, after stores of grain were 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 were not worthy of the grain because of their lack of military service. Two of the tribunes of Rome, Brutus and Sicinius, privately denounce Marcius. He leaves Rome after news arrives that a Volscian army is in the field. Among the most significant works William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Orpheus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, The Tempest, Venus and Adonis, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, The Winter's Tale and many more.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

Penguin chose to revamp its venerable Pelican Shakespeare line in 1999. The updated series includes more accurate texts and new introductions by the current crop of leading Shakespearean scholars. The good stuff just gets better with age. (Classic Returns, LJ 10/15/99) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

YA-- Four more useful volumes accessible to high-school students of Shakespeare. Each includes a stage history, a critical history, and a few short critical analyses by the authors.

From the Publisher

"Jan Blits's invaluable edition of Coriolanus opens up new vistas for its readers by providing rare insights into Shakespeare’s remarkable artistry and acuity in dramatizing ancient Rome—its history, its heroes, and its aspirations. In addition, Professor Blits's references to key sources on Rome enable curious readers to conduct their own further investigations under his learned guidance. In short, Blits’s edition makes the depths of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus accessible in ways previous versions do not."
—Vickie B. Sullivan, Cornelia M. Jackson Professor of Political Science, Tufts University

"With this edition of Coriolanus, together with his editions of Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra, Jan Blits completes his masterful trilogy of commentary on Shakespeare’s dramatic portrait of the ancient Roman Republic. His introductory essay, extensive and detailed notes to the text, and useful glossary provide readers, students, and scholars of Shakespeare’s Roman plays with a comprehensive account of the dominant themes and circumstances in the dramatic action—especially from the perspective of ancient history and political philosophy. From the foundation of the Roman Republic and its inevitable tension between extraordinary martial prowess, the pursuit of self-sufficient virtue, and republican devotion to the common good, Blits creates a compelling historical, political, and philosophical framework for understanding Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Rome."
—Dustin Gish, The Honors College, University of Houston

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160517629
Publisher:	Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
Publication date:	01/07/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

ACT I. Scene I. [Rome. A street.]

Enter a company of mutinous Citizens, with staves, clubs, and other weapons.

1. Citizen Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.

All. Speak, speak!

1. Citizen You are all resolv’d rather to die than to famish?

All. Resolv’d, resolv’d!

1. Citizen First, you know Caius Martius is chief enemy to the people. 5

All. We know’t, we know’t!

1. Citizen Let us kill him, and we’ll have corn at our own price. Is’t a verdict?

All. No more talking on’t! Let it be done! Away, away!

2. Citizen One word, good citizens. 9

1. Citizen We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good. What authority surfeits on would relieve us. If they would yield us but the superfluity while it were wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely; but they think we are too dear. The leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an inventory to particularize their abundance; our sufferance is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with our pikes ere we become rakes; for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.

2. Citizen Would you proceed especially against Caius Martius? 15

1. Citizen Against him first. He’s a very dog to the commonalty.

2. Citizen Consider you what services he has done for his country?

1. Citizen Very well, and could be content to give him good report for’t but that he pays himself with being proud.

2. Citizen Nay, but speak not maliciously. 20

1. Citizen I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did it to that end. Though soft-conscienc’d men can be content to say it was for his country, he did it to please his mother and to be partly proud, which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue.

2. Citizen What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him. You must in no way say he is covetous.

1. Citizen If I must not, I need not be barren of accusations. He hath faults (with surplus) to tire in
repetition. 25

Shouts within.

What shouts are these? The other side o’ th’ city is risen. Why stay we prating here? To th’ Capitol!

All. Come, come!

1. Citizen Soft! who comes here?

Videos