Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Spartacus

I just recieved my bluray version of Spartacus (1960) starring Kirk Douglas. I have watched this movie countless times on VHS, DVD and now bluray. Watching Laurence Olivier portray Marcus Licinius Crassus made me think of Shakepeare's Gaius Marcius Corriolanus. This summer I saw the Stratford Festival's fine production of Coriolanus. Both Crassus and Coriolanus are Roman Generals of the Patrician class who dislike and distrust the Roman people.

Coriolanus refers to the common people as curs and fragments, the foes to nobleness and dissentious rogues. His utter contempt for the people is clear.
Who deserves greatness
Deserves your hate; and your affections are
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that
Which would increase his evil. He that depends
Upon your favours swims with fins of lead
And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye! Trust Ye?
With every minute you do change a mind,
And call him noble that was now your hate,
Him vile that was your garland. What's the matter,
That in these several places of the city
You cry against the noble senate, who,
Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else
Would feed on one another? 

Like Coriolanus, Crassus does not believe the plebeians deserve the right to rule nor are they to be trusted. Speaking with Marcus Glabrus (John Dall), Crassus says.
Do you think I made you commander of the garrison to
control some rock patch on Vesuvius? It was to control
the streets of Rome!

One day I shall cleanse this Rome which my fathers bequeathed me.
He means to cleans it of undesirables. 

Crassus refers to the people of Rome as the mob. When talking to Julius Caesar (John Gavin) Crassus asks, Why have you left us for Gracchus and the mob?
To which Caesar replies, ... this much I have learned from Gracchus: Rome is the mob.

This line is similar to the line from Shakespeare that was used as a rallying cry against Coriolanus: The people are the city!

After extinguishing the slave rebellion Crassus demands of a duplicitous senator: Did you truly believe that 500 years of  Rome could so easily be delivered into the clutches of a mob?

But Coriolanus believes it can. He fears giving the people too much power.
... In soothing them we nourish 'gainst our Senate
The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition...

... When two authorities are up,
Neither supreme, how soon confusion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both and take
The one by th'other.

When speaking with his slave, Atoninus (Tony Curtis) Crassus explains the position of the common people as the two of them watch Roman soldiers march by.
There, boy, is Rome! The might, the majesty... the terror of Rome.
There's only one way to deal with Rome, Antoninus, you must serve her. You must abase yourself before her. You must grovel at her feet.

When Coriolanus is denied councilship and is banished from Rome by the people, he makes his position clear how he feels about them in a parting shot.
You common cry of curs, whose breath I hate
As reek o'th'rotten fens, whose love I prize
As the dead carcusses of unburried men
That do corrupt my air...

One other comparison of Shakespeare and the movie Spartacus is the scene of Spartacus walking through his camp the night before a major battle. It reminds me of a similar scene in Henry V.

Both Spartacus and Coriolanus are good stories about Rome, freedom and politics. Watch Spartacus and go to Stratford and see Coriolanus.

Stephen Gaspar's books can be found on Amazon

Shakespeare - Two Roman Plays

My wife Susan and I just returned from our annual visit to the Stratford Festival where we viewed two of my favorite Roman plays by the Bard; Julius Caesar and Coriolanus.

The Stratford Festival's production of Coriolanus stars Andre Sills as the title character, an uncompromising, apolitical Roman general whose skill and determination on on the battlefield win him praise.  He, of course is hated by his own people when he directs that same harsh attitude toward them.

The production itself is untraditional as it uses a good degree of technology. It is visually compelling  and well worth seeing. Some of my favorite scenes have been cut, but the production and intermission runs almost three hours.

Lucy Peacock is excellent as Coriolanus's controlling mother Volumnia, perhaps Shakespeare's strongest female character.


A contemporary of Shakespeare's, Ben Johnson once said of the Bard, "He is for all time", comes to mind when one thinks of Coriolanus given the current political arena, particularly President Donald Trump and Premier Doug Ford, two untraditional leaders who have the ability to stir up controversy.


A few years ago I wrote a blog comparing Coriolanus with General George S. Patton. I am reprinting that blog here.


Watching the Royal Theater Live production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston reminded me of two things; the first was just how good a play this underrated tragedy truly is, and second, how much Caius Martius Coriolanus reminded me of General George S. Patton as portrayed by George C. Scott in the 1970 movie.

Both men are military men who are most comfortable at war. Both are unbending and apolitical

Both men held themselves and others to a higher standard, and both spoke their minds. When Patton believed one of his men a coward, not only did he tell the soldier so, but he slapped him for it. Both Coriolanus and Patton respected their adversaries, and both were accused of being overly proud.

I do not believe Coriolanus was overly proud. On a number of occasions he did not want to hear his accomplishments extolled.

"Pray now, no more...
I have done as you have done –
that’s what I can... for my country."

When his war wounds are mentioned:

"Scratches with briers,
Scars to move laughter only."

One of my favorite parts of Patton is the opening scene when Gen. Patton delivers a speech to inspire his men. This speech is based on the one Patton gave prior to D-Day. Patton uses coarse language, the kind of talk that the average dough boy could understand and appreciate.

When I heard Tom Hiddleston give Coriolanus’ brief battle speech in act I, scene VI, it reminded me of the Crispen Day speech Hiddleston did in Henry V. But the Coriolanus speech (like Patton’s) is not as grand as the Crispen Day speech, which centered around ‘band of brothers’. Coriolanus’ speech, on the other hand, emphasizes individualism, and every man finding courage in himself. He delivers the speech before his men covered in the blood of their enemies.

"If any such be here...
that love this painting
Wherein you see me smeared; if any fear
Lesser his person than an ill report;
If any think brave death outweighs bad life
And that his country’s dearer than himself:
Let him alone... follow Martius"

Both stories of these two men have a tragic ending. Neither die in a great battle as they would have preferred, but die rather unexpectedly. Both Patton and Coriolanus possessed shortcomings their world was not willing to accept. Both had too much nobility that their world could not tolerate. Patton and Coriolanus were great men, and their greatness was their undoing.


Stephen Gaspar's books are available on Amazon