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“Let it be virtuous to be obstinate.��
- William Shakespeare, Coriolanus



I'm a sucker for a revenge play, so this one floats easily just on the heat generated by Coriolanus' anger. I remember being exposed to the Coriolanus story last year when I was reading Plutarch's Lives, Vol 1* and again earlier this year when I was reading Livy I: History of Rome, Books 1-2. So, going into the play I was fairly comfortable with the basic story, but completely unprepared for Shakepeare's viscious tongue. Coriolanus, his mother Volumnia, and his friend Menenius all come packed with amazing lines. I don't think I'd go as far as T.S. Eliot and say it is superior to Hamlet:

"Coriolanus may be not as “interesting�� as Hamlet, but it is, with Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare’s most assured artistic success. And probably more people have thought Hamlet a work of art because they found it interesting, than have found it interesting because it is a work of art. It is the Mona Lisa of literature."

Again, I still don't think it is superior to Hamlet, or as my wife would say: "be a wee bit skeptical of the judgement of a man who published Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats".

Still, there is something fierce and yet very human about Coriolanus. Having personally been raised among military men, the martial attitude that combines sacrifice with a large, sharp edge of condescension is still something one sees in high ranking soldiers. The play swims in raging waters of hyper-masculenity and militarism. I have yet to see either the Ralph Fienne's adaption or the Tom Hiddleston version. I'm sure I'll be able to talk my wife into watching either with me.

Favorite Quotes:

"I have some wounds upon me, and they smart
To hear themselves remembered."
- Act 1, Scene 9

"These are the ushers of Martius, Before him
He carries noise, and behind him he leaves tears.
Death, that dark spirit, in's nervy arm doth lie;
Wich, being advanced, declines, and then men die."
- Act 2, Scene 1

“I find the ass in compound with the major part of your syllables.��
- Act 2, Scene 1

“They lie deadly that tell you have good faces.��
- Act 2, Scene 1

"Faith, there hath been many great men
that have flattered the people who ne'er loved them;
and there be many that they have loved they know not
wherefore; so that, if they love they know not why, they
hate upon no better a ground."
- Act 2, Scene 2

"He covets less
Than misery itself would give; rewards
His deeds with doing them; and is content
To spend the time to end it."
- Act 2, Scene 2

“From face to foot,
He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries.��
- Act 2, Scene 2

"Most sweet voices!
Better it is to die, better to starve,
Than crave the hire which first we do deserve."
- Act 2, Scene 3

“Why did you wish me milder? would you have me
False to my nature? Rather say I play
The man I am.��
- Act 3, Scene 2

“I think he'll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, who takes it
By sovereignty of nature.��
- Act 4, Scene 7

"There is differency between a grub and a
butterfly; yet your butterfly was a grub. This Martius is
grown from man to dragon. He has wings; he's more
than a creeping thing."
- Act 5, Scene 4

* Plutarch's Lives is fascinating to read before jumping into Shakepeare's Roman plays (Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Titus Andronicus).