Coriolanus
Shakespeare's most politically complex tragedy — a searching examination of democracy, aristocratic pride, and the failure of political accommodation. Coriolanus, Rome's greatest soldier, is incapable of the performative humility that politics requires, and his fall is as inevitable as his pride.
At a Glance
- Genre: Tragedy (Roman Play)
- Approximate date: c. 1607–1608
- Setting: Rome and the territories of the Volscians
- Source: Plutarch's Lives (translated by Sir Thomas North)
- Acts: 5
Dramatis Personæ
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| CAIUS MARTIUS CORIOLANUS | Roman general; pride beyond compromise; cannot perform for the people |
| VOLUMNIA | His mother; has shaped his warrior identity; the play's most powerful figure |
| VIRGILIA | His gentle wife; "my gracious silence" |
| YOUNG MARTIUS | Their son |
| VALERIA | Friend to Volumnia and Virgilia |
| A GENTLEWOMAN | Volumnia's attendant |
| MENENIUS AGRIPPA | Wise, moderate friend to Coriolanus; the belly fable |
| COMINIUS | Roman general; Coriolanus's commander |
| TITUS LARTIUS | Roman general |
| SICINIUS VELUTUS | Tribune of the People; Coriolanus's enemy; cunning |
| JUNIUS BRUTUS | Tribune of the People; Coriolanus's enemy |
| A ROMAN HERALD | |
| TULLUS AUFIDIUS | General of the Volscians; Coriolanus's great rival and eventual killer |
| LIEUTENANT TO AUFIDIUS | |
| CONSPIRATORS WITH AUFIDIUS | |
| A CITIZEN OF ANTIUM | |
| TWO VOLSCIAN GUARDS |
Plot Summary
Act I: Rome faces famine; the plebeians are rioting. Menenius pacifies them with the "belly fable" (the state is like the body; the patricians are the belly that distributes food). Caius Martius (later Coriolanus) is contemptuous of the plebeians. War is declared against the Volscians; at the battle of Corioli, Caius Martius enters the city gates alone, fights brilliantly, and takes the city. He is renamed Coriolanus in honor of this feat.
Act II: Coriolanus returns to Rome. He is proposed for consul. Custom requires him to stand in the market-place, show his battle-wounds, and solicit the plebeians' voices. He does so with barely concealed contempt — and the citizens vote for him. The Tribunes (Sicinius and Brutus) stir up the people against him.
Act III: The Tribunes provoke Coriolanus into an intemperate outburst; he is condemned. Volumnia urges him to dissemble ("I have a heart as little apt as yours, / But yet a brain that leads my use of anger / To better vantage"). He tries and fails. He is banished: "I banish you!" he retorts. He exiles himself.
Act IV: Coriolanus goes to Antium and offers his services to his old enemy Aufidius. Aufidius, moved, accepts. Together they ravage the Latin colonies. Menenius tries to negotiate; Coriolanus refuses.
Act V: Volumnia, Virgilia, and young Martius arrive to plead with Coriolanus. The scene is one of the most powerful in Shakespeare: Coriolanus holds out — then "breaks": "O mother, mother! / What have you done?" He agrees to a peace treaty with Rome. Aufidius, who has been waiting for this moment of weakness, denounces him as a traitor to the Volscians; Coriolanus is killed by the crowd.
Key Themes
- Pride and politics — Coriolanus cannot perform the democratic theatre that power requires; his integrity is his fatal flaw
- The people and democracy — the play is ambivalent; the plebeians are presented as fickle, but the Tribunes' manipulation is also criticized
- Mother and son — Volumnia has created Coriolanus as a weapon; she alone can unmake him
- Honour and loyalty — whose side is Coriolanus on? Rome, the Volscians, or only himself?
Notable Quotations
"What is the city but the people?" *(Third Citizen, III.i)*
"You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate / As reek o' the rotten fens." *(Coriolanus, III.iii)*
"O mother, mother! / What have you done?" *(Coriolanus, V.iii)*
LibriVox Recording
Coriolanus audiobook on LibriVox — Free public domain recording.
Cross-references
- Tragedies — genre context; Roman tragedies
- Julius Caesar — Rome, the people, and political manipulation
- Antony and Cleopatra — Roman pride and the conflict between public and private
- Macbeth — the warrior who becomes a monster to his own country