When did Shakespeare write Coriolanus?
Most scholars date Coriolanus to 1605-1610, with 1608-09 considered the most likely period of composition. The earliest possible date is set by Shakespeare's use of William Camden's Remaines, published in 1605.
Questions about Coriolanus
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Coriolanus about?
Coriolanus is a Shakespeare tragedy about a Roman general, Caius Marcius, who earns the surname Coriolanus after capturing the Volscian city of Corioli. His contempt for the plebeians leads to his banishment from Rome; he then joins the Volscians to march against Rome, but is persuaded by his mother Volumnia to make peace, after which his Volscian allies kill him.
What sources did Shakespeare use for Coriolanus?
Shakespeare drew primarily on Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. The belly fable spoken by Menenius comes from William Camden's Remaines of a Greater Worke Concerning Britaine (1605). Shakespeare may also have used Livy, Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy, and the Roman Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus.
Who played Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013?
Tom Hiddleston played Coriolanus in the December 2013 Donmar Warehouse production directed by Josie Rourke. The cast also included Mark Gatiss as Menenius, Deborah Findlay as Volumnia, and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Virgilia. The production was broadcast in cinemas on the 30th of January 2014 as part of the National Theatre Live programme.
Was Coriolanus ever banned or censored?
Coriolanus was briefly suppressed in France in the late 1930s after fascist groups used the play for political purposes. Slavoj Žižek also noted its prohibition in post-war Germany due to its intense militarism.
What did T. S. Eliot say about Coriolanus?
T. S. Eliot, in The Sacred Wood, proclaimed Coriolanus superior to Hamlet and named it, alongside Antony and Cleopatra, as Shakespeare's greatest tragic achievement. Eliot also wrote a two-part poem called "Coriolan" and alluded to the character in The Waste Land with the line "Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus."