Coriolanus - Paul Werstine, Barbara A. Mowat, William Shakespeare
tl;dr I overall enjoyed this story, and found it to be one of the easier Shakespeare plays to read. 

Description Caius Martius Coriolanus is a great warrior of the Roman people, but he also has a rather easy to ignite temper. A few political leaders, Brutus and Casiuis, aren't so fond of Coriolanus though, and they plan a way to keep him from getting political power. Big mistake, guys, as now you get to face the wrath of he that was once your war hero. 


So, I rather enjoyed this story but it also made me sad. I really liked Corioloanus' character. From reviews I've read, it sounds like I shouldn't like him. That we're meant to hate him. But I don't. He's a warrior. Thats what he does, thats what he's spent his life training for. But then people want him to become a political powerful figure. They want him to take part of this creepy weird ritual where he has to basically strip down and show the public his wounds that were inflicted during battle. But Coriolanus doesn't want to do that. He doesn't revel in killing others. Its his job, but he doesn't want to go parading the death he caused and shoving it in everyone's faces. 



I thought that was absolutely fantastic. It showed depth to the character. That he was more than just an angry bull who would go off at any moment. I also think its awesome I can use gifs from the play for this review. WIN!



Anyways. I am really excited to see this performed, as it can come across very differently that how I read it. I also feel like much of this still applies today. You have some political figures that are supposed to "represent and care for the people" who spin things in a way to get their desired outcome. You have the masses turn against someone they loved so easily, because the people love to see their prince/princess fall. They love to hate the ones they once loved. 


Anyways. If you're new to Shakespeare, this is a good one to start with. Its fairly straight forward and very quick to get through.