Coriolanus

The Enriched Classics series offers readers such features as:

‧ A concise introduction that gives the reader important background information

‧ A chronology of the author’s life and work

‧ A timeline of significant events that provides the book’s historical context

‧ An outline of key themes and plot points to help guide the reader’s own interpretations

‧ Detailed explanatory notes

‧ Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

‧ Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

‧ A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader’s experience

‧ Reader-friendly font size

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Research emerita at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Consulting Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, and author of The Dramaturgy of Shakespeare’s Romances and of essays on Shakespeare’s plays and their editing.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at the Graduate School and at King’s University College at Western University. He is a general editor of the New Variorum Shakespeare and author of Early Modern Playhouse Manuscripts and the Editing of Shakespeare and of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeare’s plays.