And though she be but little, she is fierce!

Let deeds express what’s like to be their words:  ‘We did request it; We are the greater poll, and in true fear, they gave us our demands.’

Humm’s Birthday Countdown 2020: My Favourite Hiddles

‘Come, let us go: this fellow had a Volscian to his mother; his wife is in Corioli and his child like him by chance. Yet give us our dispatch: I am hush’d until our city be a-fire, and then I’ll speak a little.’

‘Down, ladies; let us shame him with our knees. To his surname Coriolanus ’longs more pride than pity to our prayers. Down: an end; this is the last: so we will home to Rome, and die among our neighbours. Nay, behold’s: this boy, that cannot tell what he would have but kneels and holds up bands for fellowship, does reason our petition with more strength than thou hast to deny it.’

‘Say, what’s thy name? Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face bears a command in’t; though thy tackle’s torn. Thou show’st a noble vessel: what is thy name?’

‘Thou art my warrior; I helped to frame thee.’

‘We were all worried about it. How long can you suspend a human being upside down by his ankles? It was such a weird sensation every night. Inside myself, of course I was aware of the power of the scene. But inside myself it was almost a relief that the story was over. That whatever was required from me internally, to give this amazing story shape and meaning, it’s over. The rest is silence.’

Know thou first, I loved the maid I married; never man sigh’d truer breath; but that I see thee here, thou noble thing! More dances my rapt heart than when I first my wedded mistress saw bestride my threshold.

‘The blood I drop is rather physical than dangerous to me: to Aufidius thus I will appear, and fight.’

Favourite Tom Hiddleston images 29/ ∞

Tom Hiddleston as Caius Martius ‘Coriolanus’ in the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Coriolanus (2014)

Tom Hiddleston as Caius Martius in William Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’

Nothing to see here. Nope. Absolutely nothing whatsoever...

Coriolanus behind the scenes (2014)

‘The blood upon your visage dries; ’tis time it should be look’d to.’

‘And, sir, it is no small achievement to make me cry tears of compassion.’