Coriolanus is the last written of Shakespeare’s tragedies and the one which most clearly pits the struggle between different classes as being an important part of the reason why things change. In many ways, Coriolanus prefigures Marxist analysis of society and history in that it depicts the conflict between the working classes of Rome with the aristocratic class that Coriolanus depicts as being the reason why things happen. There is also a right wing perspective, since the aristocratic class responds to conflict with violent repression of the working classes and, of course, this ends with the pointless waste of nearly everyone being killed.

The play is set in pre-Republican Rome times, with the city state contending with other Italian city states so as to establish hegemony over the Italian peninsula. Coriolanus (his name is an honorific awarded as the result of defeating the people of a city of the same name) returns to Rome in triumph, with many opportunities opening up to him. Alas for him and the people of Rome, he is a very patrician figure who professes to believe that personal honour, family loyalty and the unwillingness to compromise are appropriate traits in a commander. Alas further for the people of Rome, no better opposing figure is made available to prevent the rise of Coriolanus to positions of power: in a very prescient scene, Coriolanus decides to place the opinion of his (extraordinarily rich but badly-educated) mother above the obvious needs of the people. This being a tragedy (which is announced in the title), the audience will know that the bodies will soon start to be piled up across the stage.

Owing to the inevitable disruptions among the aristocracy, Coriolanus is exiled from Rome and hastens to join some enemy state (he is a real conservative, placing his own beliefs above those of expedience); his ability to join up with enemy armies leads to him threatening the safety of Rome itself at the head of enemy powers (the ability of Shakespeare to speak across the centuries is very evident here). Warfare continues and the poor, as ever, suffer the most as Coriolanus attempts to demonstrate that his ‘values’ are worth the deaths and misery of the unenfranchised poor. Pretty much the only positive aspect to be taken from the conclusion of the play is that the aristocrats again quarrel over the spoils of battle and Coriolanus is identified as an outsider and, hence, punished. Cutthroats (available in every country in every era) are hired to silence Coriolanus. Violence leads to more violence.