Coriolanus

Caius Martius is Rome’s fiercest soldier, a general whose courage in battle wins him the honorary name Coriolanus and a shot at the republic’s highest office. But his contempt for the common people and his refusal to beg for their votes turn the city against him, and he is driven into exile. Burning for revenge, he joins his old enemy and marches on Rome, until his mother’s pleading forces a terrible choice. Shakespeare wrote this austere political tragedy around 1608, drawing on Plutarch to examine pride, class conflict, and the uneasy bond between a warrior and the state he serves. It remains one of his sharpest studies of power and the crowd. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.