Coriolanus (The New Cambridge Shakespeare), Second Edition

This generously annotated updated edition of Coriolanus provides a thorough reconsideration of
Shakespeare’s remarkable, and probably his last, tragedy. A substantial introduction situates the play
within its contemporary social and political contexts – dearth, riots, the struggle over authority
between James I and his first parliament, the travails of Essex and Ralegh – and pays particular
attention to Shakespeare’s shaping of his primary source in Plutarch’s Lives. It presents a fresh
account of how the protagonist’s personal tragedy evolves within Shakespeare’s most searching
exploration of the political life of a community. The edition is alert throughout to the play’s theatrical
potential, while the stage history also attends to the politics of performance from the 1680s onwards,
including European productions following the Second World War. A new introductory section by
Bridget Escolme covers recent productions of Coriolanus, and criticism of the last ten years, with
particular focus on identity, gender and the politics of the play.