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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of the study in this writing is The Tragedy of Coriolanus written by William Shakespeare. The play is also known as Coriolanus. The
foregoing evidence combining with style and meter indicated a time late in 1608 or early in 1609 as the period of composition. The Tragedy of Coriolanus was first
staged in London around the year 1608. This play was taken from book entitled The Complete Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare edited by William Allan
Nelson and Charles Jarvis Hill, published by Houghton Mifflin Company 1942. The play was first adopted into movie in 1952 by Bertolt Brecht. Then, Ralph
Fiennes, through Hermetof Pictures, BBC Films and Lonely Dragon Production, adopted again in 2011 with modern concept.
The play consists of five acts and each page is completed with footnote which helps the writer to understand the play. The Tragedy of Coriolanus is a play
that told about the main character, Caius Marcius or Coriolanus, a Roman soldier. As a soldier, he shows his patriotism to protect his country but he hates his own
people. The consequences, he is expelled from his country Rome and joins the enemy country, Volsce, to take revenge against Rome. At the end, he makes a
contrary peace treaty which brings him to tragic end. This tragic play is also about how the main character faces problems and conflicts as the representation of the
qualification of being a good leader.
B. Approach of the Study
In a purpose to reach a basic understanding of a literary work or to criticize it, the writer needs an appropriate approach that fits the purpose of the
study, which is to reveal the moral values of leadership reflected in the main character
’s attitudes and conflicts in the play. Therefore, the Moral-philosophical Approach is taken as an approach in a purpose to analyze this play.
The aim of moral-philosophical approach is to know how a work of literature deals with moral lesson teaching. Guerin et al 2011: 60 in A Handbook
of Critical Approaches to Literature state that “the basic position of such critics is
that the larger function of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues
”. They state that figurative language and other purely aesthetic considerations are considered as secondary teaching. The primary point is the
moral or philosophical teaching. Guerin et al 2011: 61 state that the critic who employs the moral-
philosophical approach insists on ascertaining and stating what is taught also. It seems reasonable, then, to employ moral philosophical analyses among other
methods in getting at the meaning of literary work seems to call for them. The statement implies that moral philosophical believes with the moral teaching. The
moral teaching is expected to gives some good effect for the readers. The strong reason, the writer chooses Moral-philosophical Approach in
this study is because the approach helps to reveal the moral values, notably moral values of leadership
as seen through main character’s attitudes and conflicts faced. Main character’s attitudes and conflicts faced in the play reflect some moral
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