Coriolanus

Coriolanus is a Roman tragedy about a great soldier whose contempt for ordinary citizens destroys his political career, drives him to join his city's enemies, and leads to his death.

Main characters

• Caius Martius, later called Coriolanus
• Volumnia, his mother
• Virgilia, his wife
• Menenius Agrippa, his old friend
• Tullus Aufidius, general of the Volscians
• Sicinius Velutus and Junius Brutus, tribunes of the people
• Citizens of Rome

Plot summary

This summary gives away the ending.

Rome is hungry and the citizens are rioting over grain. Caius Martius despises them. When war comes with the Volscians he wins the city of Corioles almost single-handed and is given the name Coriolanus. His ambitious mother Volumnia pushes him to become consul, which requires him to show his wounds and ask for the people's votes. He can barely hide his scorn; the tribunes stir the people against him and he is banished.

Coriolanus goes to his old enemy Aufidius and leads the Volscian army against Rome. The city's leaders beg him to spare it, and he refuses them all, until his mother, wife and son come to plead. Volumnia's appeal breaks him and he makes peace. Aufidius, jealous and calling it betrayal, has him killed.

Themes

• Pride and integrity
• Class conflict and democracy
• Mothers and sons
• War and identity

Famous lines

You common cry of curs!

Coriolanus, Act 3 Scene 3

More in our collection of famous Shakespeare quotes.

Sources

Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus in North's translation.

On stage and screen

The opening grain riot probably echoes the Midlands Rising of 1607, when protesters in Shakespeare's home region pulled down enclosure hedges. Because it can be read as either anti-populist or anti-authoritarian, it has been banned and co-opted by both left and right. Ralph Fiennes directed and starred in a modern-dress film in 2011.

See where Coriolanus sits in Shakespeare's career on the timeline, or read about the playhouses it was written for.