What is "coriolanus"

Coriolanus ( or ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. The tragedy is numbered as one of the last two tragedies written by Shakespeare along with Antony and Cleopatra.

Coriolanus is the name given to a Roman general after his more than adequate military success against various uprisings challenging the government of Rome. Following this success, Coriolanus becomes active in politics and seeks political leadership. His temperament is unsuited for popular leadership and he is quickly deposed, whereupon he aligns himself to set matters straight according to his own will. The alliances he forges to accomplish his own will result in his ultimate downfall and death.

Coriolanus is an unfinished German adaptation by the modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht of the English 17th-century tragedy by William Shakespeare. Brecht wrote it sometime between 1951 and 1953. This adaptation reveals the influence of Mao Tse-tung on Brecht's social thought especially the idea of primary and secondary contradictions which Mao discussed in his treatise On Contradiction. Brecht alluded to this text and discusses his development on the original and his ideas for its staging in an essay entitled "Study of the First Scene of Shakespeare's Coriolanus", which is written in the form of a dialogue with his collaborators at the Berliner Ensemble theatre company. The play was first staged by Heinrich Koch at the Frankfurt Schauspielhaus theatre, where it opened on 22 September 1962. It was later staged by the Berliner Ensemble in September 1964. Ruth Berghaus became famous for her staging of the slaughter scenes in this production. The play was published in an English translation by Ralph Manheim in volume nine of Brecht's Collected Plays.

Coriolanus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

Coriolanus or Coriolan may also refer to:

• Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, sometimes known as Coriolan, legendary Roman general who may have lived in the 5th century BC
• Coriolanus (Brecht), a 1950s adaptation of Shakespeare's play by Bertolt Brecht
• Coriolanus: Hero without a Country, a 1964 Italian film with Gordon Scott
• Coriolanus or Coriolan Overture, 1807 composition by Ludwig van Beethoven
• Coriolanus (film), a 2011 film adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy by Ralph Fiennes
• Coriolanus Snow, a fictional character in the Hunger Games trilogy'''
• Coriolan Brediceanu, Austro-Hungarian Romanian lawyer and politician
• Coriolan Suciu, Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian teacher and historian

Coriolanus is a 2011 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes in his directorial debut.