Rome has transitioned from a monarchy to a republic. The last king of Rome was dead, and the Senate and rich aristocrats now control Rome. The citizens are starting to riot due to a food shortage. The plebeians blame the patrician Caius Marcius for hoarding grain and fixing prices, but Marcius believes the citizens don't deserve grain if they've never served in the military. To calm the plebeians, five tribunes are chosen to represent the common people in legal matters. Soon after, a Volscian army attacks, and Marcius leaves the city to fight.
After a successful siege on the city of Corioli and the defeat of the Volscian army, Caius Marcius is rewarded with the name of Caius Marcius Coriolanus. He returns to Rome a hero, beloved by both the Senate and the plebeians. Coriolanus is encouraged to pursue politics and run for consul, a position elected by the people. There are others, like the tribunes Brutus and Sicinius, who still remember Coriolanus' disdain for the plebeians and view him as an enemy.
This Standard Ebooks edition is based on William George Clark and William Aldis Wright's 1887 Victoria edition, which is taken from the Globe edition.
Perfect for readers who love Shakespeare's complex political dramas and timeless explorations of power, pride, and the clash between social classes. This gripping tragedy offers all the psychological depth and political intrigue that make Shakespeare's Roman plays essential reading for anyone fascinated by the downfall of flawed heroes caught between their principles and the demands of society.
The source for this public-domain ebook is Standard Ebooks (standardebooks.org). Ebooks from other sources often have typos, inconsistent spelling, missing accent marks, and missing punctuation. Ebooks from Standard Ebooks are proofread line by line against a scan of the original printed pages, then proofread again from cover to cover. They are also formatted and typeset following a professional-grade style manual, resulting in new editions supporting state-of-the-art ereader technology: automatic hyphenation, popup footnotes, complete and consistent metadata, high-resolution and scalable vector graphics, and ereader-compatible tables of contents. All of this makes the finished ebooks accurate, functional, and beautiful, a pleasure to read. (Waking Lion Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by Standard Ebooks.)
