A Brief Introduction to Coriolanus
We meet the cast and receive a synopsis of the play.
Not a fan of scrolling through an email? No worries! You can still read Coriolanus along with us via the Folger Shakespeare Library, the source for all of this substack’s Shakespeare, or via our Archive.
Coriolanus
By William Shakespeare
Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine
with Michael Poston and Rebecca Niles
Characters in the Play
Caius MARTIUS, later Caius Martius CORIOLANUS
VOLUMNIA, his mother
VIRGILIA, his wife
YOUNG MARTIUS, their son
VALERIA, friend to Volumnia and Virgilia
A GENTLEWOMAN, Volumnia’s attendant
MENENIUS Agrippa, patrician
COMINIUS, patrician and general
Titus LARTIUS, patrician and military officer
SICINIUS Velutus, tribune
Junius BRUTUS, tribune
Roman SENATORS, PATRICIANS, NOBLES
Roman LIEUTENANT
Roman OFFICERS
Roman AEDILES
Roman HERALD
Roman SOLDIERS
Roman CITIZENS or PLEBEIANS
Roman MESSENGERS
A ROMAN defector, Nicanor
Tullus AUFIDIUS, general of the Volscians
Volscian CONSPIRATORS of his faction
Three of his SERVINGMEN
Volscian SENATORS, LORDS
Volscian LIEUTENANT
Volscian SOLDIERS
Two of the Volscian WATCH
Volscian PEOPLE
A VOLSCIAN spy, Adrian
CITIZEN of Antium
Roman Lords, Gentry, Captains, Lictors, Trumpeters, Drummers, Musicians, Attendants, and Usher
ATTENTION: Spoilers beyond this point! If you are reading Coriolanus for the first time and would like to do so with no prior information about this play, stop reading here!
Synopsis
As Coriolanus begins, two Roman patricians, Menenius and Martius, calm a revolt by the city’s famished plebians. Martius, who despises the plebians, announces that their petition to be represented by tribunes has been granted. When Volscian invaders attack Roman territories, Martius helps lead the Roman forces, and almost single-handedly conquers the Volscian city of Corioles, winning the name “Coriolanus.” The Volscian leader, Aufidius, swears revenge.
Victorious in battle, Coriolanus expects to be made a consul, but by custom he must ask for votes from the plebians. He does this so contemptuously that he is rejected as a consul. The tribunes later charge Coriolanus with treason and banish him from Rome. He seeks his former enemy, Aufidius.
Coriolanus and Aufidius join forces to conquer Rome. On the brink of success, Coriolanus is persuaded by his mother, Volumnia, to spare the city, though he knows it may cost him his life. Aufidius and his fellow conspirators plot Coriolanus’s death. Coriolanus returns to Corioles, where he is assassinated. Rome honors Volumnia for saving the city.