Coriolanus
About this ebook
Coriolanus, a famed warrior turned politician, is driven from Rome as a traitor when he arrogantly speaks out against popular rule and loses the good will of the starving people. Banished and embittered, he allies himself with his former enemies and begins to plot a merciless revenge on Rome. Shakespeare's politically ambiguous late tragedy of a great soldier who fails to be a great leader questions the notion of heroism and what power really means.
Used and Recommended by the National Theatre
General Editor Stanley Wells
Edited by G. R. Hibbard
Introduction by Paul Prescott
About the author
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain), a collection of sonnets and a variety of other poems.
Paul Prescott has acted and taught Shakespeare in Japan, America and the UK. His publications include articles on theatre history and forthcoming books on Richard III in performance, and Shakespeare and the Director (with Dennis Kennedy).
G R Hibbard taught at the Universities of Nottingham and Waterloo, Canada. Author of the standard biography of Thomas Nashe, he edited, among other plays, Love's Labour's Lost, Hamlet, and Coriolanus.
Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
