Shakespeare's Coriolanus Analysis

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: Background and Overview - Coriolanus is based on a Roman legend, which in turn was probably grounded in some truth. A few years prior to the events in the story, the last Roman king was overthrown by a group of Roman patricians (including Coriolanus) and the Roman Republic was established. With the balance of power disrupted, factions developed among the patricians (nobles) and the plebeians (commoners), with the latter group fighting for, and slowly gaining, more power. In the midst of the political conflict, famine stuck, but the patricians denied the poor's cries for free (or near- free) corn.