Table of Contents
Information about this book Editing Guide line s for this work. Introduction:
List of Characte rs (in alphabe tical orde r) Act One Scene One
Act One Scene Two Act One Scene Thre e Act One Scene Four Act One Scene Five Act One Scene Six Act One Scene Se ve n Act One Scene Eight Act One Scene Nine Act One Scene Te n Act Two Sce ne One Act Two Sce ne Two Act Two Sce ne Thre e Act Three Scene One Act Three Scene Two
Act Three Scene Thre e Act Four Sce ne One Act Four Sce ne Two Act Four Sce ne Thre e Act Fo ur Sce ne Fo ur Act Four Sce ne Five Act Four Sce ne Six
Act Four Sce ne Se ve n Act Five Sce ne One Act Five Sce ne Two Act Five Sce ne Thre e Act Five Sce ne Four Act Five Sce ne Five Act Five Sce ne Six
Castings:
Information about this book
Title statement
Coriolanus
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
ISBN No: 978-1-909941-26-7
Publication:
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Players-Shakespeare.com, 4/1 Dundonald Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6RY
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Source
Derived from the OUP First Folio edition published under the same Creative Commons Licence. Players-Shakespeare.com in no way implies that the OUP endorse us or our use of their work.
The OUP First Folio texts were originally prepared by Trevor Howard-Hill for use in his single colume concordances to Shakespeare (OUP, 1969f). They have since
been reformatted to modern standards and carefully proofread by staff of Oxford University Press' Shakespeare Department for use in the new "Old Spelling" Oxford Shakespeare, under the general editorship of Dr Stanley Wells: The complete works / William Shakespeare; general editors, Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor; editors Stanley Wells ... [et al.] ; with introductions by Stanley Wells. -- Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1986. -- (Oxford Shakespeare).
Front cover:
Volumnia and Virgilia plead with Coriolanus
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APoussin_Coriolan_Les_Andelys.jpg , Poussin, 1652-1653
Guidelines for Reading Modern First Folio plays
If you need help in interpreting this Modern First Folio Edition of Coriolanus, 'Guidelines for Reading Modern First Folio plays', available from Players- Shakespeare.com 's online shop, should be helpful.
Editing Guidelines for this work.
Peter Hall (in 'Shakespeare's Advice to the Players'), John Barton, (in 'Playing Shakespeare'), and Jonathan Bate (in 'The Case for the Folio'), all recommend that the First Folio should be used as the starting point for editing a script for a Shakespeare production.
A key barrier to using the First Folio is that it is not widely available in modern electronic formats, and its C16 spelling slows down comprehension for many actors and directors.
This edition of the First Folio is designed to overcome those difficulties, and that objective has driven the editing of this play, and others in the Edition.
Editing guidelines to make the First Folio easily read by modern English readers.
Modernise the spelling of all words with a current equivalent
Where a modern equivalent does not exist, leave the First Folio word, and highlight it as something which needs to be considered when editing the play for production.
Change words which have changed meaning and spelling to their modern equivalent (e.g. each occurrence of 'then' has been changed to 'than' where that makes sense in the context).
Leave First Folio punctuation as it is
Leave First Folio capitalization as it is.
Add modern Act and Scene divisions, following Arden
Add apostrophes to words where that aids comprehension
Do not modernise words which are still well-understood (e.g. Hath is not changed to has)
Replace '&' with 'and'
Remove unnecessary hyphens in the middle of words
Change 'I' to 'Ay' where appropriate
Where necessary, shorten words with apostrophes to improve scansion.
Move some parts of lines to improve scansion
Some very obvious mistakes have been corrected (e.g. mis-allocation of lines)
It should be clear that many of these guidelines require judgement and is by no means clear that the best decisions have always been made. This edition is being published under a Creative Commons licence, and it is hoped that, as well as being free, this will encourage people to suggest changes to improve the text of all books in the edition, so that the edition continues to evolve.
Support for e-book readers:
This edition is designed to support a variety of electronic formats. In particular:
iBook format on Apple iPads and iPhones
epub format on Android Tablets and Smartphones as well as Nook readers and software
epub format for Adobe Digital Editions on PCs, Macs, and other supported hardware
mobi format for Kindles and Kindle software
pdf format for PCs, Macs, and Linux, and printing (on UK and US sized paper)
Wide support for major ebook platforms is provided so that a group (e.g. a play- reading group, or actors in the early stages of rehearsal) can each use their own personal e-readers in a play-reading or rehearsal.
Some editing guidelines have been designed to make sure that the script are legible on the various formats. In particular:
Character names in the script are on a separate line, in caps and in bold, to provide clear identification of the speaker, and provide as much space as possible on the line to minimise word-wrap in text.
Stage Directions are in blue, italicised, in bold, and centred to provide clear identification of Stage Directions. Note that not all e-book readers support colour.
If the script is edited, provision has been made for Director's notes to be shown in the script as Red and Bold, left-justified.
Prose sections are provided in a single paragraph blocks to allow each e- book reader to wrap depending on its screen and the user-selected text size.
Shared lines between speakers have not been indented due to the different limitations of each e-book reader and the user-selected text size.
Play-reading Notes:
Play-reading Notes are provided both on characters, and in individual scenes. These are meant to provide top-level guidelines to the shape and structure of the play. It is hoped that this will be particularly helpful in a play-reading, where not all readers may be familiar with the play. It may also be useful in early readings in preparation for production, when the cast are still familiarising themselves with the play.
When the text is particularly difficult, the Notes may provide a 'precis' of the main thrust of the argument, to help with developing the tone of the text delivery.
They are not intended to say anything profound about the play – indeed they may come across as pretty banal. The way to sound the depths of a Shakespeare play is through exploring it in reading and rehearsing and performing it. The play-reading notes provided are meant to be an introduction to the shallow-end, and to aid easy reading of the play in a play-reading situation.
Introduction:
The Play:
Coriolanus was probably first performed between 1607 and 1609, so it is Jacobean rather than Elizabethan. It's primary source was 'The Life of Caius Martius Coriolanus' in The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, translated into English by Thomas North. The fable of the belly probably comes from Camden's Remaines, published in 1605, where a very similar fable is attributed to Adrian IV.
The play comes to us through the First Folio. There is no quarto.
Plot:
The story of Coriolanus is one of a proud, arrogant, early (1st battle fought against Tarquin, ex-king of Rome) Roman soldier, willing to fight and die for his country, who comes into conflict with the people, and their representatives the tribunes, when he puts himself up for election as consul. When the action takes place, Rome was moving from a monarchy slowly towards the Roman version of democracy (SPQR – Senatus Populusque Romanum). The struggle for power between the Patricians / Aristocrats and the Plebs is ongoing.
The Plebs reject Coriolanus, essentially for his arrogance, and he joins with Rome's enemies, the Volscians, to overthrow Rome. His widowed mother, who had brought Coriolanus up alone, persuades him not to invade Rome, and he returns to the Volscians, who kill him.
So this play is yet another dramatisation of the conflict between aristocratic virtues and the emerging democratic values, as we have seen in Troilus and Cressida, Richard II, or more generally, the Henriad (Richard II, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, Henry V).
The sub-plots enrich and deepen this story:
The play starts with scenes showing the battles between the Roman and Volscian armies. These show the strong bonds and values of soldiers fighting together and depending upon eachother for their lives and in the common struggle for their
homeland, Rome. There are also the beginnings of hints that their struggle with their enemy also creates respect and even bonds for and with the enemy.
When Coriolanus returns to Rome, his comrades and his mother, Volumnia, persuade him to offer himself for the Consulship. Coriolanus's relationship with his mother is another key element of the play. She is instrumental in the plot: she persuades Coriolanus to stand for Consul; she persuades Coriolanus to give up his attack on Rome, and return to the Volscians and his death. She also seems to embody for Coriolanus the aristocratic virtues of Rome. She delights in her son's valour, 'Coriolanus, must I call thee?'', and she offers him political sagacity:
'O sir, sir, sir, I would have had you put your power well on, Before you had worn it out.'
Perhaps she represents the matronly disciplines of Rome, or the desire of the woman in a masculine society to live through her son. Perhaps she provides an opening for exploring the role of women in encouraging their men folk to go to war as, for example, the women in The Four Feathers. It is perhaps no coincidence that she brought Coriolanus up alone, being widowed early.
In the conflict between Coriolanus and the people and tribunes, Shakespeare is perhaps less sympathetic towards the people than one might expect. He put a high premium on political stability. He seems to see the conflict between Coriolanus and the people, at a time of national insecurity, as part of the self-destructive potential of human society.
When Coriolanus is banished, and joins with the Volscians, his recent enemies, against Rome, we see the bond between them in almost sexual terms:
'We have been down together in my sleep, Unbuckling helms, fisting each other's throat-- And wak'd half dead with nothing.'
Considerations for C21 production:
These seem unfashionable themes today. We find it difficult to honour and respect
the soldier's virtues, even though we still depend upon them. The democratic ideal has won out over the aristocratic values.
Perhaps because they are so unfashionable, it is time to listen to them again, amd find some way of bringing this story to a modern audience.
The character of Coriolanus seems to be not dissimilar to that of the archetypal English Public Schoolboy. Some emphasis on aristochratic values, including the pursuit of excellence; public service; and contempt for those they are still inclined to call 'the plebs'."
What is particularly interesting is the Roman view of Coriolanus. Plutarch, who indirectly was the source of Shakespeare's story, in 'The Life of Coriolanus', has a few revealing statements which reflect the Roman view:
" Caius Marcius [Coriolanus]... lost his father at an early age, and was reared by his widowed mother.... The same Marcius bore witness for those who hold that a generous and noble nature, if it lack discipline [from the father], is apt to produce much that is worthless along with its better fruits, like a rich soil deprived of the husbandman's culture. For while the force and vigour of his intelligence, which knew no limitations, led him into great undertakings, and such as were productive of the highest results, still, on the other hand, since help indulged a vehement temper and displayed an unswerving pertinacity, it made him a difficult and unsuitable associate for others. "
"Marcius, who thought he owed his mother the filial gratitude also which would have been due to his father, could not get his fill of gladdening and honouring Volumnia."
"He had indulged the passionate and contentious side of his nature, with the idea that there was something great and exalted in this, and had not been imbued, under the influence of reason and discipline, with that gravity and mildness which are the
chief virtues of a statesman. Nor did he know that one who undertakes public business must avoid above all things that self-will which, as Plato says, is the "companion of solitude"; must mingle with men, and be a lover of that submissiveness to injury which some people ridicule so much."
If Plutarch and the Romans should be right about the weaknesses resulting from being brought up without a father, perhaps we are in for some interesting times when with the children of the current large number of single-parent families grow up.
List of Characters (in alphabetical order)
1ST CITIZEN
1ST LORD
1ST OFFICER
1ST ROMAN
1ST SENATOR
1ST SERVINGMAN
1ST SOLDIER
1ST WATCH
2 LADIES
2ND CITIZEN
2ND LORD
2ND OFFICER
2ND ROMAN
2ND SENATOR
2ND SERVINGMAN
2ND SOLDIER
2ND WATCH
3RD CITIZEN
3RD LORD
3RD ROMAN
3RD SERVINGMAN
4TH CITIZEN
5TH CITIZEN AEDILE AUFIDIUS BOY BRUTUS CITIZEN
CITIZEN 1 CONSPIRATOR
CITIZEN 2 CONSPIRATOR
CITIZEN 3 CONSPIRATOR COMINIUS
CORIOLANUS
GENTLEWOMAN HERALD LARTIUS LIEUTENANT MARTIUS MENENIUS MESSENGER NOBLE
OFFICER PATRICIAN ROMAN SENATOR SICINIUS SOLDIER TRIBUNES VALERIA VIRGILIA VOLSCE VOLUMNIA
Gentlewoman attending on VIRGILIA
Roman and Volscian Senators, Patricians, Aediles, Lictors, Soldiers, Citizens, Watchmen, Servants to Aufidius, and other attendants.
Scene:
Rome and the neighbourhood, Corioles and the neighbourhood, Antium
Guidelines for Reading Modern First Folio plays
If you need help in interpreting this Modern First Folio Edition of Coriolanus, 'Guidelines for Reading Modern First Folio plays', available from Players- Shakespeare.com 's online shop, should be helpful.
Act One Scene One
Enter a Company of Mutinous Citizens, with Staves, Clubs, and other weapons.
1ST CITIZEN
Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
ALL
Speak, speak.