Brief About Antony and Cleopatra Play's Chapters
| | Site Map | | | | | |
|
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Antony and Cleopatra, 1883 (detail)
Acknowledgement: This work has been summarized using The Complete Works of Shakespeare Updated Fourth Ed., Longman Addison-Wesley, ed. David Bevington, 1997. Quotations are for the most part taken from that work, as are paraphrases of his commentary.
Overall Impression: This is a moving and impressive play
Per Bevington Text: Plot is drawn almost in entirely from Plutarch Lives. It flouts the classic unities and ranges across great distance and time with 42 scenes and many more named characters (31) than usual. The vision is ambivalent and ironic. There is integral use of bawdry in the main characters. Egypt is presented as enchanting but enervating, a place of non-Roman practices such as transvestitism, oriental opulence, Epicurean feasting, etc. There is an inversion of dominance in sexual roles between A. and Cl. A. has been captivated by Cl. Rome is also portrayed as disfigured by political conniving. Octavia is a pawn for Octavius. Old friendships must be sacrificed for political expediency, and Pompey has allied himself with pirates to achieve his ends. Octavius Caesar embodies the ironic limits of political ambition, attacking only when he has the advantage, etc. whereas Antony is appealingly unpragmatic, refuses to blame others, generous even to Enobarbus when he deserts him, spontaneous, impatient with the ordinary. Antony's magnificent qualities help bring him down. Octavius is deeply cynical about women. Cleopatra is a "lass unparalleled", rising above her counterpart in Plutarch (Plutarch portrays her as primarily a temptress who causes the downfall of the hero), definable only in terms of paradox and contradiction, both a whore and a Lucretian Venus, sluttish and holy. Her mystery is like poetry itself. A. and Cl. fantasize that their love will be eternal despite the defeat they suffer in the eyes of others.
Act I
Act I Scene 1
Alexandria
|
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Antony and Cleopatra, 1883 (detail)
Acknowledgement: This work has been summarized using The Complete Works of Shakespeare Updated Fourth Ed., Longman Addison-Wesley, ed. David Bevington, 1997. Quotations are for the most part taken from that work, as are paraphrases of his commentary.
Overall Impression: This is a moving and impressive play
Per Bevington Text: Plot is drawn almost in entirely from Plutarch Lives. It flouts the classic unities and ranges across great distance and time with 42 scenes and many more named characters (31) than usual. The vision is ambivalent and ironic. There is integral use of bawdry in the main characters. Egypt is presented as enchanting but enervating, a place of non-Roman practices such as transvestitism, oriental opulence, Epicurean feasting, etc. There is an inversion of dominance in sexual roles between A. and Cl. A. has been captivated by Cl. Rome is also portrayed as disfigured by political conniving. Octavia is a pawn for Octavius. Old friendships must be sacrificed for political expediency, and Pompey has allied himself with pirates to achieve his ends. Octavius Caesar embodies the ironic limits of political ambition, attacking only when he has the advantage, etc. whereas Antony is appealingly unpragmatic, refuses to blame others, generous even to Enobarbus when he deserts him, spontaneous, impatient with the ordinary. Antony's magnificent qualities help bring him down. Octavius is deeply cynical about women. Cleopatra is a "lass unparalleled", rising above her counterpart in Plutarch (Plutarch portrays her as primarily a temptress who causes the downfall of the hero), definable only in terms of paradox and contradiction, both a whore and a Lucretian Venus, sluttish and holy. Her mystery is like poetry itself. A. and Cl. fantasize that their love will be eternal despite the defeat they suffer in the eyes of others.
Act I
Act I Scene 1
Alexandria