Reading Order
Coriolanus Reading Order
Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609) by William Shakespeare is the most political of the great tragedies — the story of Caius Martius Coriolanus, the greatest Roman general of his generation, who cannot perform the required humility of soliciting the Roman citizens' votes for the consulship, is driven from Rome by demagogic tribunes who exploit his proud contempt for the people, joins his former enemy the Volscian general Aufidius to sack Rome, and is ultimately killed when he relents at his mother Volumnia's plea. The play is unique in Shakespeare's canon for the directness of its political content: it presents the conflict between aristocratic military virtue and popular democratic politics without sentimentalizing either side. Coriolanus despises the Roman populace and is despised by the tribunes who manipulate them; Volumnia is the most explicitly political mother in Shakespeare, a woman who has shaped her son into a military instrument at the cost of his ability to function in the world outside war. The play has been claimed by both the left and the right throughout its performance history: Fascist Italy performed it as a celebration of the heroic Mussolini figure; Bertolt Brecht adapted it in East Germany as a condemnation of military arrogance. T.S. Eliot called Coriolanus 'Shakespeare's most perfect work, and one of the greatest masterpieces in the whole of Western literature.'
Where to start
Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609) — any good scholarly edition. Best reading order: the Arden Third Series (ed. Peter Holland) is the standard text; Brecht's adaptation (1952–54) and the Ralph Fiennes 2011 film adaptation (set in a modern military conflict) are essential supplements for understanding the play's political range.
Complete Coriolanus Book List
- 1Buy
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare (Arden Third Series, ed. Peter Holland)·2013·The definitive modern scholarly edition — Holland's Arden text is the standard with comprehensive treatment of the play's political interpretations and performance history - 2Buy
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare (Ralph Fiennes film)·2011·Fiennes's film adaptation set in a modern conflict zone — one of the best modern Shakespeare film adaptations; the contemporary military and political setting makes the play's concerns immediately visible - 3Buy
Coriolanus
Bertolt Brecht (adaptation)·1952·Brecht's East German adaptation of Coriolanus — Brecht rewrites the play from a Marxist perspective, making the tribunes and the people the heroes and Coriolanus's arrogance the tragedy's driving flaw; the most important political adaptation of the play - 4Buy
The Captain and the Kings
Taylor Caldwell·1972·The American political dynasty novel that shares Coriolanus's concern with the relationship between military power and political ambition — Caldwell's Joseph Francis Regan (based loosely on Joseph Kennedy Sr.) is shaped by his mother as Coriolanus is shaped by Volumnia - 5Buy
The Great Man
Gore Vidal·1956·The political novel in the Coriolanus tradition of the arrogant man destroyed by his inability to perform the required democratic humility — Vidal's political satire shares the play's concern with what democracy requires from its leaders and what pride forbids - 6Buy
Plutarch's Lives
Plutarch·100·Shakespeare's primary source — Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus is the historical account Shakespeare dramatized; reading the source alongside the play reveals how Shakespeare added the psychological depth (particularly Volumnia's character) that makes the play so powerful
Coriolanus — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Coriolanus about?
Coriolanus (c. 1608–1609) by William Shakespeare tells the story of the Roman general Caius Martius Coriolanus, who captures the Volscian city of Corioles and returns to Rome as its greatest hero. When he stands for consul, he cannot perform the required ritual of showing his wounds to the citizens and asking for their votes — his contempt for the people is too great. The tribunes Brutus and Sicinius exploit this contempt to turn the people against him; he is banished from Rome. He joins his former enemy Aufidius and leads the Volscian army toward Rome. His mother Volumnia, wife Virgilia, and son beg him to spare Rome; he relents, withdraws his army, and is killed by Aufidius as a traitor. The play is the most explicitly political of Shakespeare's tragedies, examining the conflict between aristocratic military virtue and popular democratic politics.
Why did T.S. Eliot call Coriolanus Shakespeare's greatest play?
T.S. Eliot's claim that Coriolanus is 'Shakespeare's most perfect work' comes from his 1919 essay 'Hamlet and His Problems,' where he argues that Hamlet is artistically defective because Shakespeare failed to find an adequate 'objective correlative' for Hamlet's emotion, while Coriolanus achieves a more perfect formal objectivity. Eliot's argument is that Coriolanus doesn't dramatize an interior emotional state but instead externalizes the conflict through political action; the play's formal mechanism is more purely theatrical than Hamlet's. Eliot is also writing two poem-fragments called 'Coriolan' (1932) that suggest his personal identification with the figure of the proud man destroyed by mass politics. Most critics do not share Eliot's view, but the claim has focused attention on a play that was long underrated.
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