The Oxford Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Coriolanus (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192836056 ISBN 13: 9780192836052

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1998

Synopsis

Coriolanus is perhaps the most brilliant political play ever written. Set in Ancient Rome, it remains a gripping psychological study of the relationship between personality and politics. The introduction to this new edition considers Shakespeare's adaptation of his historical material (Plutarch's Lives) in relation to the social and political conditions in London and Stratford at the time of the play's composition, also offering new evidence that it was written in 1608. Professor Parker examines the play's history and particularly its staging at the Blackfriars theatre, where it was probably the first of Shakespeare's plays to be presented and for which it may have been written. A thorough commentary pays special attention to the needs of actors and directors.

About this title

Review

After the exotic eroticism of Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare returned to Rome for one of his final tragedies, and the change could not have been more dramatic. Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare's harshest and most challenging studies of power, politics and masculinity, based around the life of Caius Marcius.

Based on the Roman chronicles of Plutarch's Lives and Livy's History of Rome, the play is set in the early years of the Roman Republic. Its famous opening scene, particularly admired by Bertolt Brecht, portrays its citizens as starving and rebellious, and horrified by the arrogant and dismissive attitude of Caius Marcius, one of Rome's most valiant but also political naive soldiers. Spurred on by his ambitious mother Volumnia, Caius takes the city of Corioles, is renamed Coriolanus in honour of his victory, and is encouraged to run for senate. However, his contempt for the citizens, who he calls "scabs" and "musty superfluity" ultimately leads to his exile and destructive alliance with his deadly foe, Aufidius. Despite its relative unpopularity, Coriolanus is a fascinating study of both public and personal life. Its language is dense and complex, as its representation of the tensions built into the fabric of Roman political life. Yet it also contains extraordinarily intimate scenes between Coriolanus and both his mother, who ultimately proves "most mortal" to her own son, and his enemy Aufidius, whose "rapt heart" is happier to see Coriolanus than his own wife. One of Shakespeare's darker and more disturbing plays. --Jerry Brotton

Review

Praise for the Oxford School Shakespeare "Handy initial synopses and very fine marginal vocabulary notes."--Peter Neumeyer in Mothering Magazine Praise for the Oxford School Shakespeare: "Handy initial synopses and very fine marginal vocabulary notes."--Peter Neumeyer in Mothering Magazine Praise for the Oxford School Shakespeare: "Handy initial synopses and very fine marginal vocabulary notes."--Peter Neumeyer in Mothering Magazine Praise for the Oxford School Shakespeare: "Handy initial synopses and very fine marginal vocabulary notes."--Peter Neumeyer in Mothering Magazine Praise for the Oxford School Shakespeare: "Handy initial synopses and very fine marginal vocabulary notes."--Peter Neumeyer in Mothering Magazine

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192836056
• ISBN 13: 9780192836052
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Parker R. B.