About the work
Shakespeare likely wrote the tragedy around 1607/1608, near the end of his period as a writer of tragedies. No performance during Shakespeare's lifetime is documented; the play was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. Shakespeare's main source was Thomas North's English translation of Plutarch's life of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus.
Plot
The Roman general Caius Martius receives the honorary name Coriolanus after a decisive victory over the Volscians and is proposed by the patricians for the office of consul. His open contempt for the common people and their representatives, the tribunes, however leads to his banishment from Rome. Seeking revenge, Coriolanus joins the Volscian leader Aufidius and marches against his home city, but is finally persuaded by his mother Volumnia to withdraw, for which the Volscians kill him.
Cultural significance
The play is among Shakespeare's most politically pointed tragedies and is often read as a study of pride, demagoguery and the relationship between leadership and the masses; it is regularly rediscovered during times of crisis and debates about populism.