Biography Essay"He was not of an age, but for all time." So wrote Ben Jonson in his dedicatory verses to the memory of William Shakespeare in 1623, and so we continue to affirm today. No other writer,...
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The English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is generally acknowledged to be the greatest of English writers and one of the most extraordinary creators in human history.The ...
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Considered by critics, scholars, and the theater-going public the most important dramatist in the history of English literature, William Shakespeare occupies a unique position in the pantheon of great...
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"He was not of an age, but for all time." So wrote Ben Jonson in his dedicatory verses to the memory of William Shakespeare in 1623, and so we continue to affirm today. No other writer, in English or ...
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William Shakespeare's reputation is based primarily on his plays. With the partial exception of the Sonnets (1609), quarried since the early nineteenth century for autobiographical secrets allegedly ...
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John Plotz, Harvard University
Young people today can be said to be in a situation where ordinary common sense no longer suffices to meet the strange demands life makes. Everything has becom...
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In the following essay, Velz argues that Coriolanus does not reflect a Plutarchian perspective, as is traditionally thought; instead, the play draws on Vergil in its depiction of "the cosmic Ne...
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In the essay that follows, Simmons compares Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra, claiming that the former play glorifies the plebeians as the moral center of the state.
Shakespeare wrote many plays...
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In the following essay, Jagendorf characterizes Coriolanus as a political drama in which the body politic is sundered by class struggle.
Political thinking and, consequently, writing about politics...
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In this essay, Motohashi sees Coriolanus as a critique of societies in which heterogeneous class elements coexist only at the expense of heroic individuals.
In act 3 of Coriolanus, Sicinius who lea...
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In the essay that follows, Marshall examines the ways in which the figure of Coriolanus challenges the ideal of the impenetrable body as a necessary condition of masculinity.
Feminists have frequen...
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In the following essay, Gurr explores Coriolanus as a critique of the concept of the body politic by examining Shakespeare's topical references to the Midlands riots and parliamentary quarrels....
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In the following essay, Parker contends that, in Coriolanus, Shakespeare puts forward "'the familial link" as the core of political life that resists the flux of historical upheav...
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In the following essay, Wilson interprets Coriolanus as Shakespeare's depiction of an emerging market economy, focusing particularly on his treatment of the fluctuation of values.
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The fami...
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In this essay, Miller understands Coriolanus as Shakespeare's attempt to reconceive the cultural significance of the topical events that shaped the play.
Studies of topicality comprise one t...
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In the essay below, Crowley contends that in Coriolanus Shakespeare was working within the framework of a mixed genre—an amalgamation of tragic and epic form.
Coriolanus has not been the obj...
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In the following excerpt, Jackson comments on the French Revolutionary setting of David Thacker's production of Coriolanus, and states that the liberties Thacker took with the text were effecti...
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In the review that follows, Liston offers a generally favorable assessment of Coriolanus, as directed by Tony Taccone. The production, notes Liston, is set in the feudalistic future and features an ...
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In the following review, Shore approves of Jonathan Kent's staging of Coriolanus, starring Ralph Fiennes in the title role, and praises the psychological treatment of the characters. Shore also...
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In the following review, Smith offers a negative assessment of Ralph Fiennes's Coriolanus, although the critic does praise the efforts of the other principal actors. Smith maintains that the pl...
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In the essay below, MacIntyre explores the significance of the stage and costume directions in Coriolanus, discussing as well the language related to clothing in the play. The critic demonstrates the ...
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In the following essay, Jagendorf relates the play's rhetoric of war to the fractured nature of the political body in Coriolanus, showing that the aristocratic class is associated with wholenes...
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In the essay that follows, Walker studies Coriolanus as a play focused on the battle between “body and speech.” Walker observes that in Coriolanus's derision for speech, a paralle...
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In the essay that follows, Holstun discusses the genre of Coriolanus, and considers the play’s relation to both tragedy and comedy.
Shakespearean drama provides the history of ideas with no ...
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In the essay below, Dean examines the play’s politics, dismissing the ‘ideological’ approach and contending that Coriolanus is a “tragedy of thwarted love.”
That ...
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In the following essay, Wells reviews the conflict between war and peace in ancient Rome as it is depicted in Coriolanus and examines how these conflicts parallel the political situation of Shakespear...
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In the following excerpt, Watson views Coriolanus's development in the play as a journey from his “natural self,” as a man with a questionable hereditary identity, to an “a...
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In the essay that follows, Goldman examines the unique way in which Coriolanus is discussed by the other characters in the play, noting that the other characters experience great difficulty in charact...
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In the following essay, Luckyj reviews the ways in which Volumnia's silence following her successful plea to Coriolanus to spare Rome has been interpreted. Noting that Volumnia's charact...
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In the essay that follows, Datta states that the central dilemma faced by Coriolanus is his disgust for, and battle to come to terms with, the pragmatism practiced by Rome's leaders and his adm...
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In the following excerpt, Johnson-Haddad praises director William Gaskill's effort to stage a minimalist Coriolanus, but adds that the production suffered from a weak cast and the absence of a ...
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In the following essay, originally published in 1962, Waith dissects Coriolanus's character, finding him to be a praiseworthy, though flawed, hero. Waith maintains that Coriolanus's grea...
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In the following essay, Carducci asserts that Coriolanus is a psychologically unbalanced character, and that Shakespeare used various conventions, rhetoric, and staging devices to underscore Coriolanu...
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In the following review, Shore assesses Jonathan Kent's production of Coriolanus for London's Almeida Theater. Shore notes that Kent's production focused on the personal aspects o...
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In the following review, Brantley evaluates the New York staging of Jonathan Kent's production of Coriolanus, starring Ralph Fiennes. Brantley observes that Fiennes's performance was acc...
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In the following review of Jonathan Kent's New York staging of Coriolanus, Lahr contends that Ralph Fiennes's Coriolanus lacked a sense of heroism and that Kent's direction failed...
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In the following review of Jonathan Kent's London production of Coriolanus, Holder remarks that the formidable setting complemented the play's themes of psychic and physical violence. Ho...
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In the following essay, Geisler examines the ways in which Coriolanus seems to presage the English Civil War of 1642, arguing that the play accurately dramatizes the way that political petitioning may...
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In the following essay, Garganigo demonstrates the ways in which Shakespeare used the physical body and the notion of the body politic in Coriolanus to indirectly criticize both James I's plan ...
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In the following excerpt, Thomas contrasts Shakespeare's dramatic presentation of Coriolanus with Plutarch's historical assessment of the figure, comparing the two authors' diverg...
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In the following review, Liston critiques director David Farr's 2003 production of Coriolanus at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, remarking on the ritualistic, stylized atmosphere of th...
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In the following essay, originally published in 1985, Barton emphasizes the historical and political themes of Coriolanus and considers the influence of Livy and Machiavelli on Shakespeare's dr...
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In the following essay, Poole argues that the compelling power of shame is one of the thematic touchstones of Coriolanus.
Coriolanus begins with a rush. The stage is instantly filled with physical ...
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In the following excerpt, Parker surveys political, psychological, and existential approaches to theme and character in Coriolanus.
The special brilliance of Coriolanus is its insight into the mutu...
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In the following essay, Van Dyke explores Shakespeare's characterization of Coriolanus through his non-verbal self-expression and use of language.
It has often been noticed that North'...
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In the following essay, Michael concentrates on Coriolanus as an isolated, tragic figure whose failure involves an inability to assert his own humanity.
Much of the criticism of Shakespeare'...
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In the following essay, Givan traces the sources of Coriolanus's self-destructive behavior.
The question of who Coriolanus is has become a critical stumbling block to understanding the play....
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In the following essay, Bligh highlights Coriolanus's unswerving devotion to a set of aristocratic ideals that eventually contribute to his undoing.
Coriolanus is no philosopher, but in his ...
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In the following excerpted review, Isherwood assesses director Jonathan Kent's 2000 production of Coriolanus at the Almeida Theatre in London, focusing on Ralph Fiennes's emotionally int...
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In the following review of director David Farr's 2002 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Coriolanus at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Carnegy finds the exotic setting in feudal J...
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In the following excerpted review of the 2003 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Coriolanus, Jackson praises the production's powerful evocation of the drama's themes of family prid...
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William M. Hawley
A skilled practitioner of martial law, Coriolanus ultimately favors the emancipation of peace over war. Convicted of treason in disparate jurisdictions, though, he dies for havi...
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In the following essay, originally presented in 1976, Adelman examines the psychology of Coriolanus in Shakespeare's play of the same name, illuminating his desire for masculine self-sufficienc...
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Burton Hatlen, University of Maine at Orono
Tonally, Coriolanus is Shakespeare's coolest tragedy. The protagonist does not invite audience identification—if anything, he spurns ...
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Ann C. Christensen, University of Houston
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Critical responses to Coriolanus tend to concentrate on two dominant issues: the political and the maternal. Approaches to the former typically addr...
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Because Coriolanus is largely a stage of competing self-interests, it seems wholly unnecessary to acknowledge their centrality in the play. Most of these interests are ephemeral or situational, and ar...
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"O, he is wounded; I thank the Gods for't!"
I had a boss who once told me that America started "going down the crapper" when women got the vote. He said politics should be about money and war, and t...
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It's a shame that Karin Coonrod's bold and brilliant new production of Coriolanus has been so misunderstood. The director stands virtually alone in refusing to talk down to Shakespeare (and therefo...
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Renowned Japanese theatre director Yukio Ninagawa's new
adaptation of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus opening Wednesday in
central London looks set to be a much anticipated highlight in a
s...
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British playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is
still popular in Japan not only on the stage but in TV dramas and
animated cartoons.
Two pieces were broadcast on the network...
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The disappointing new musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, adapted from the 1988 movie about two con men in the South of France, left me cold, I'm afraid. On the other hand, everyone was roaring with l...
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It started out amusing, in a way, but now it’s getting ugly—the little-noticed battle over The New York Times’ Shakespeare coverage.
Earlier this month, invocations of creationis...
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It started out amusing, in a way, but now it’s getting ugly—the little-noticed battle over The New York Times’ Shakespeare coverage.Earlier this month, invocations of creationism ...
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