William Shakespeare edited by Lee Bliss - Coriolanus

THE NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE

GENERAL EDITOR

Brian Gibbons

ASSOCIATE GENERAL EDITOR

A. R. Braunmuller, University of California, Los Angeles

From the publication of the first volumes in 1984 the General Editor of the New Cambridge Shakespeare was Philip Brockbank and the Associate General Editors were Brian Gibbons and Robin Hood. From 1990 to 1994 the General Editor was Brian Gibbons and the Associate General Editors were A. R. Braunmuller and Robin Hood.

CORIOLANUS

This generously annotated updated edition of Coriolanus provides a thorough reconsideration of Shakespeares 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 Shakespeares shaping of his primary source in Plutarchs Lives. It presents a fresh account of how the protagonists personal tragedy evolves within Shakespeares most searching exploration of the political life of a community. The edition is alert throughout to the plays 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.

THE NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE

Alls Well That Ends Well, edited by Russell Fraser

Antony and Cleopatra, edited by David Bevington

As You Like It, edited by Michael Hattaway

The Comedy of Errors, edited by T. S. Dorsch

Coriolanus, edited by Lee Bliss

Cymbeline, edited by Martin Butler

Hamlet, edited by Philip Edwards

Julius Caesar, edited by Marvin Spevack

King Edward III, edited by Giorgio Melchiori

The First Part of King Henry IV, edited by Herbert Weil and Judith Weil

The Second Part of King Henry IV, edited by Giorgio Melchiori

King Henry V, edited by Andrew Gurr

The First Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael Hattaway

The Second Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael Hattaway

The Third Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael Hattaway

King Henry VIII, edited by John Margeson

King John, edited by L. A. Beaurline

The Tragedy of King Lear, edited by Jay L. Halio

King Richard II, edited by Andrew Gurr

King Richard III, edited by Janis Lull

Loves Labours Lost, edited by William C. Carroll

Macbeth, edited by A. R. Braunmuller

Measure for Measure, edited by Brian Gibbons

The Merchant of Venice, edited by M. M. Mahood

The Merry Wives of Windsor, edited by David Crane

A Midsummer Nights Dream, edited by R. A. Foakes

Much Ado About Nothing, edited by F. H. Mares

Othello, edited by Norman Sanders

Pericles, edited by Doreen DelVecchio and Antony Hammond

The Poems, edited by John Roe

Romeo and Juliet, edited by G. Blakemore Evans

The Sonnets, edited by G. Blakemore Evans

The Taming of the Shrew, edited by Ann Thompson

The Tempest, edited by David Lindley

Timon of Athens, edited by Karl Klein

Titus Andronicus, edited by Alan Hughes

Troilus and Cressida, edited by Anthony B. Dawson

Twelfth Night, edited by Elizabeth Story Donno

The Two Gentlemen of Verona, edited by Kurt Schlueter

The Two Noble Kinsmen, edited by Robert Kean Turner and Patricia Tatspaugh

The Winters Tale, edited by Susan Snyder and Deborah T. Curren-Aquino

THE EARLY QUARTOS

The First Quarto of Hamlet, edited by Kathleen O. Irace

The First Quarto of King Henry V, edited by Andrew Gurr

The First Quarto of King Lear, edited by Jay L. Halio

The First Quarto of King Richard III, edited by Peter Davison

The First Quarto of Othello, edited by Scott McMillin

The First Quarto of Romeo and Juliet, edited by Lukas Erne

The Taming of a Shrew: The 1594 Quarto, edited by Stephen Roy Miller

CORIOLANUS

Updated edition

Edited by

LEE BLISS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, So Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City

Cambridge University Press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org

Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521429603

Cambridge University Press 2000, 2010

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2000

Updated edition 2010

7th printing 2013

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CRO 4YY

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Shakespeare, William, 15641616.
Coriolanus / edited by Lee Bliss ; [new introduction by Bridget Escolme]. Updated ed.
p. cm. (The new Cambridge Shakespeare)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-521-42960-3 (hardback)
1. Coriolanus, Cnaeus Marcius Drama. 2. Generals Drama. 3. Rome Drama. 4. Shakespeare,
William, 15641616. Coriolanus. I. Bliss, Lee, 1943 II. Title.
PR2805.A2B58 2010
822.33 dc22 2009046281

ISBN 978-0-521-42960-3 Hardback

ISBN 978-0-521-72874-4 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration copyright Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Editors of Shakespeare owe debts stretching back to those hard-working souls who produced the First Folio, despite the fact that we also revile them for the problems they bequeathed us. At the other end of the time-line, recent editors have offered a fresh scholarly look at the text, which forced me to wrestle with my own choices, and have contributed substantially to the Commentary in this edition: Philip Brockbank (Arden Shakespeare, 1976), the editors of the Oxford Complete Works (1986) and Textual Companion (1987), and Brian Parker (Oxford Shakespeare, 1994). An editor also owes a great debt to those associated with her publisher. A. R. Braunmuller, Associate General Editor, painstakingly read drafts of this edition and offered invaluable advice on matters of style as well as content. At Cambridge University Press Sarah Stanton was unfailingly supportive (and patient), and Paul Chipchase and Judith Harte were meticulous in catching lapses in consistency and accuracy of transcription.