Coriolanus Criticism

William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, often considered his parting gift to the genre of tragedy, is a complex exploration of personal ambition, political dynamics, and familial relationships. Composed between 1605 and 1609, the play showcases the tragic downfall of its titular character, a warrior whose pride and disdain for the Roman plebeians serve as both his strength and his undoing. Scholars have long examined its portrayal of political life, drawing parallels between the tensions depicted on stage and those in Jacobean England, such as the Midlands Insurrection of 1607. Critics like A. P. Rossiter and Norman Rabkin explore these political themes, with the latter seeing it as a critique of both anarchy and absolutism.

Contents

  • Coriolanus (Vol. 64)
    • Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
    • Criticism: Character Studies
      • Martial Ambition and the Family Romance in Coriolanus
      • Characterizing Coriolanus
      • The Paradox of Greatness and the Limits of Pragmatism in Shakespeare's Coriolanus
    • Criticism: Production Reviews
      • The Shakespeare Theatre, 1991-92
      • Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon, 1994-95
      • A review of Coriolanus
      • A review of Coriolanus
    • Criticism: Themes
      • Words, Acts, and Things: Visual Language in Coriolanus
      • Coriolanus: Body Politic and Private Parts
      • Voiceless Bodies and Bodiless Voices: The Drama of Human Perception in Coriolanus
  • Coriolanus (Vol. 75)
    • Criticism: Character Studies
      • The Herculean Hero
      • Shakespeare's Coriolanus: ‘Could I Find Out / The Woman's Part in Me.’
    • Criticism: Production Reviews
      • Masked Combat
      • Uneasy Leaders Whose Downfall Lay Within Themselves
      • The Death of Kings
      • Review of Coriolanus
    • Criticism: Themes
  • Coriolanus (Vol. 86)
    • Criticism: Overviews And General Studies
      • Sounds, Words, Gestures and Deeds in Coriolanus
      • Introduction to The Oxford Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Coriolanus
    • Criticism: Character Studies
    • Criticism: Production Reviews
      • Review of Coriolanus
      • Review of Coriolanus
      • Review of Coriolanus
      • Review of Coriolanus
    • Criticism: Themes
      • Livy, Machiavelli, and Shakespeare's Coriolanus
      • You Shames of Rome!
  • Coriolanus (Vol. 50)
  • Coriolanus (Vol. 30)
    • Overviews
      • Name and Fame: Shakespeare's Coriolanus
      • Coriolanus— and the Delights of Faction
      • Coriolanus: Interpretation
      • Coriolanus
    • Politics And Power
    • Coriolanus
      • Coriolanus As Tragic Hero
      • The Thing I Am: Coriolanus
      • Coriolanus and His Mother
    • Women In Coriolanus
      • Annihilating Intimacy in Coriolanus
      • Mother of Battles: Volumnia and Her Son in Shakespeare's Coriolanus
  • Coriolanus and the Failure of Performatives
  • The Return of the Domestic in Coriolanus
    • Introduction
    • I
    • II
    • III
    • IV
    • V
  • Coriolanus: Punishment of the Civil Body
  • The Noble Thing and the Boy of Tears: Coriolanus and the Embarrassments of Identity
  • Further Reading