Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding

That has become familiar over the last ten days. That mind you, is unusual--I am seldom angry; sure, I can lose it over the Premier League or ideology, but not a fuming rancor.

Well, enough of Covid-driven work stress, I loved this play.

My wife and I went to see the Ralph Fiennes directed film adaptation years ago, largely because it was shot in and around Belgrade. I have watched a few times since and am always moved by its martial poetry. The play focuses on the historical Gaius Marcius, here named Caius Marcius: an aristocratic general with a spectacular talent for war and a simmering loathing for the preterite and all their common-ness (during one rebuke he advises them to wash their faces and clean their teeth). This certainly builds no bridges or aqueducts, when in . . .-- but his military honor places him in the political spotlight and our unapologetic hero won't play nice and many unfortunate things occur. Public caprice is satirized as is the ease in which political agency responds. It would be centuries before the flip itself would be switched. .

liked it more than othello but less than the comedies....he is such an interesting character and i couldn't figure out how to feel about him through the entire thing, but i think that it the point and i like it. i wrote an essay about the latent homoeroticism between coriolanus and aufidious and i really enjoyed analyzing it in that way, so i do have the attachment to it through that...also the play with tom hiddleston <3

Coriolanus is an interesting protagonist because I'm not sure what Shakespeare wants us to think about him. He is snobbish and completely unwilling to show any respect to the plebes but also brilliant and fearless in battle while trying to quell those who praise him. He is uncompromising and would rather be executed by common people than treat them with respect simply because he doesn't think they deserve respect. He is a man of black and white, little gray, which doesn't make him very likeable but it does make him memorable.

I thought I might like Coriolanus and I really did.

Coriolanus is a magnificent hero soldier. A Roman killing machine. But he is an awful diplomat and he really doesn’t like the common man at all. So when he returns to Rome from battle and is put forward to stand for high office he says all the wrong things..
his enemies use his poorly chosen words and he ends up banished, bitter and (it’s a tragedy so eventually ..) bumped off.

What I loved was the relevance for the world today (I mean generally, no specific finger pointing here). The people are swayed by a sweet talking flatterer.. politics is about saying the things to keep the people happy and Coriolanus fails in that regard. He lives by actions not words and Rome nearly falls because the people overlooked the power of his actions in favour of believing rumours and lies told about him. (Admittedly Coriolanus was incredibly rude to the masses tho).

The play is also about bullying and how to stand up and speak when you see wrong, even if you are the only one.
It is about speaking uncomfortable truths.
It is about recognising who you are and not being persuaded to be someone you are not.
There is one heck of a nasty mother in this..I liked reading her increasingly shocking comments.
There is all this and much more in Coriolanus I loved it.
Shakespeare never gives any answers or moral judgment, he leaves his readers and play goers to ponder. I think there is a thesis full of ponderings in this one. Only five more to go for my Shakespeare project.

This is a play I came to without any knowledge - I had no clue of this one. I watched the Ralph Fiennes directed film: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/coriolanus_2010/ and agreed with the critics - it's great - intense and well acted. I highly recommend it.

Here are some resources I found helpful:

Full Text: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/coriolanus/full.html
The wiki is good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolanus
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/coriolanus/summary.html

The theme of power and the different classes runs throughout the play, and I found it very interesting how Coriolanus was unwilling to listen to the people he was invited to rule. Distrust and distain were felt not only by him but with Brutus and Sicinius. One review I read affirmed it was Coriolanus pride and stubbornness were ultimately his doom.

This was also a clear example that you may not want to promote your best employee into a position of power - which we know happens all of the time. Coriolanus was an outstanding warrior on the battlefield but an extremely poor politician.

Favorite quotes:

"He's a very dog to the commonalty."

"What's the matter, you dissentious rogues,
That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves scabs?"

"Nature teaches beasts to know their friends."

"What is the city but the people?"

"Would you have me
False to my nature? Rather say I play
The man I am."

"Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace."

This play should really be talked about more. I have never heard of it until I saw something about the play online. This is one of Shakespeare more complicated works and sometimes I did not understand the political things going on. Still, I was very shocked I had not heard about it before, considering how good it was. It may not be my favourite play, but it does make the top five. I strongly recommend this play to any Shakespeare fan.