", If Shakespeare had indeed intended for Antony to crossdress, it would have drawn even more similarities between Antony and Hercules, a comparison that many scholars have noted many times before. [71] The male-male relationship, some critics have offered, between the male audience and the boy actor performing the female sexuality of the play would have been less threatening than had the part been played by a woman. It is twice Cleopatra abandons Antony during battle and whether out of fear or political motives, she deceived Antony. My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder Cookies that are necessary to enable my site to function. It could be said that Antony and Cleopatra and their relationship represent the first meeting of the two cultures in a literary sense, and that this relationship would lay the foundation for the idea of Western superiority vs. Eastern inferiority. In the context of cross-dressing, "not Antony" could mean "when Antony is dressed as Cleopatra. “. Cleopatra, who was emotionally invested in Antony, brought about the downfall of Egypt in her commitment to love, whereas Mary Tudor's emotional attachment to Catholicism fates her rule. Cleopatra kills herself using the venomous bite of an asp, imagining how she will meet Antony again in the afterlife. He sends the messenger to be whipped. Mark Anthony was not without friends in Rome and seemed to gain the upper hand when two of his supporters were made consuls. [73] The abundant imagery concerning his person—"of penetration, wounds, blood, marriage, orgasm, and shame"—informs the view of some critics that the Roman "figures Antony's body as queer, that is, as an open male body... [he] not only 'bends' in devotion' but... bends over". [52] However, she quickly reconciles with Antony, reaffirming her loyalty towards him and never truly submitting to Caesar. Perhaps the most famous dichotomy is that of the manipulative seductress versus the skilled leader. [24] His language and writings use images of darkness, desire, beauty, sensuality, and carnality to portray not a strong, powerful woman, but a temptress. Antony falls for Cleopatra, even more strongly than his predecessor had, Caesar. Both utilise language to undermine the power of the other and to heighten their own sense of power. Although the characters do exercise free will to a certain extent, their success in regard to their actions ultimately depends on the luck that Fortune bestows upon them. The movement of the "moon" and the "tides" is frequently mentioned throughout the play, such as when Cleopatra states that, upon Antony's death, there is nothing of importance left "beneath the moon." A closer look at this intertextual link reveals that Shakespeare used, for instance, Plutarch's assertion that Antony claimed a genealogy that led back to Hercules, and constructed a parallel to Cleopatra by often associating her with Dionysus in his play. here comes Antony. "[48] (III.13.75–79). Cleopatra decides that the only way to win back Antony's love is to send him word that she killed herself, dying with his name on her lips. While Plutarch singles out the "order of exclusive society" that the lovers surrounded themselves with—a society with a specifically defined and clear understanding of the hierarchies of power as determined by birth and status—Shakespeare's play seems more preoccupied with the power dynamics of pleasure as a main theme throughout the play. Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) A key supporter of Julius Caesar, he helped the great general in his conquest of Gaul. [56] She is continually described in an unearthly nature which extends to her description as the goddess Venus. The lack of tolerance exerted by the hard-edged Roman military code allots to a general's dalliance is metaphorised as a container, a measuring cup that cannot hold the liquid of Antony's grand passion. The play contains thirty-four speaking characters, fairly typical for a Shakespeare play on such an epic scale. ...she did lie "[28] In literary terms a schema refers to a plan throughout the work, which means that Shakespeare had a set path for unveiling the meaning of the "container" to the audience within the play. This inner conflict leads him to become embroiled in a war with Caesar, one of his fellow triumvirs. Gajowski, Evelyn. Literary critics have also spent many years developing arguments concerning the "masculinity" of Rome and the Romans and the "femininity" of Egypt and the Egyptians. The straightforwardness of the binary between male Rome and female Egypt has been challenged in later 20th-century criticism of the play: "In the wake of feminist, poststructuralist, and cultural-materialist critiques of gender essentialism, most modern Shakespeare scholars are inclined to be far more skeptical about claims that Shakespeare possessed a unique insight into a timeless 'femininity'. Dio also claimed that she festooned garlands across the prow of her ship to suggest that she had been victorious and head off any would be conspirators. Antony attempted a short-lived defence of Alexandria but in the end he committed suicide rather than be taken back to Rome as a captive. [76] Quint argues that Cleopatra (not Antony) fulfils Virgil's Dido archetype; "woman is subordinated as is generally the case in The Aeneid, excluded from power and the process of Empire-building: this exclusion is evident in the poem's fiction where Creusa disappears and Dido is abandoned... woman's place or displacement is therefore in the East, and epic features a series of oriental heroines whose seductions are potentially more perilous than Eastern arms",[76] i.e., Cleopatra. [83] Plutarch, on the other hand, was given to "tendencies to stereotype, to polarise, and to exaggerate that are inherent in the propaganda surrounding his subjects."[84]. [35] Critic Lisa Starks says that "Cleopatra [comes] to signify the double-image of the "temptress/goddess". Antony is one of the triumvirs of Rome. (1.1.34–36), For Rome to "melt is for it to lose its defining shape, the boundary that contains its civic and military codes. Antony prepares to battle Octavius. Mark Antony—one of the triumvirs of the Roman Republic, along with Octavius and Lepidus—has neglected his soldierly duties after being beguiled by Egypt's Queen, Cleopatra. "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human" (Riverhead Books, 1998), Kermode, Frank. As noted in Cleopatra’s Early Life, it is possible that Cleopatra first met Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) when she accompanied her father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) to Ephesus to join forces with Gabinus, the subordinate of Julius Caesar. aftermath of the assassination of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra after the assassination of Caesar, Cassius Dio (155 or 163 – post 229 AD) Roman History, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus aka Plutarch (c46 – 120 AD) Life of Antony, Strabo (64 or 63 BC – AD 24) The Geography, Flavius Josephus (c37 – 100 AD) Antiquities of the Jews, Marcus Annaeus Lucanus aka Lucan (39 – 65 AD) Civil WarAppian (95 – 165 AD) Civil War, Joann Fletcher (2011) Cleopatra the Great: The Woman Behind the Legend, Prudence J. Jones (2006) Cleopatra: a sourcebook, Duane Roller (2011) Cleopatra: a biography. She embodies the mystical, exotic, and dangerous nature of Egypt as the "serpent of old Nile". Obverse: CLEOPATRAE • REGINAE • REGVM • FILIORVM • REGVM •, diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra facing right, with a prow at the point of her bust. Arthur Holmberg surmises, "What had at first seemed like a desperate attempt to be chic in a trendy New York manner was, in fact, an ingenious way to characterise the differences between Antony's Rome and Cleopatra's Egypt. [30] This sexualised act extends itself into Cleopatra's role as a seductress because it was her courage and unapologetic manner that leaves people remembering her as a "grasping, licentious harlot". [b] Given the well-established traditional connections between the fictional Dido and Aeneas and the historical Antony and Cleopatra, it is no surprise that Shakespeare includes numerous allusions to Virgil's epic in his historical tragedy. Eliot conveys the view of early critical history on the character of Cleopatra. .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, "Therefore when she was sent unto by diverse letters, both from Antonius himselfe, and also from his friends, she made so light of it and mocked Antonius so much, that she disdained so set forward otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus, the poope whereof was of gold, the sailes of purple, and the oares of silver, which kept stroke in rowing after the sound of musicke of flutes, howboyes cithernes, vials and such other instruments as they played upon the barge. Diana Kleiner points out "Anthony's perceived betrayal of Rome was greeted with public calls for war with Egypt". Most productions rely on rather predictable contrasts in costuming to imply the rigid discipline of the former and the languid self-indulgence of the latter. The office and devotion of their view Al-Dabbagh, Abdulla. She now agreed to meet him in Tarsus (modern-day Turkey) to discuss the prospect of Egyptian support in … Betray'd I am: And now for the person of her selfe: she was layed under a pavilion of cloth of gold of tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddesse Venus, commonly drawn in picture: and hard by her, on either hand of her, pretie fair boys apparelled as painters do set foorth god Cupid, with little fans in their hands, with which they fanned wind upon her.". 28 January 2013, Cunningham, Dolora. In 31 BC, Mark Antony and Cleopatra combined armies to take on Octavian in a sea battle at Actium, on the west coast of Greece. A Roman thought hath strook him. Antony is summoned back to Rome, where he clashes with another ruler Octavius before returning to Cleopatra in Egypt. In 31 BC, Mark Antony and Cleopatra combined armies to take on Octavian's forces in a great sea battle at Actium, on the west coast of Greece. The relationship between Antony and Cleopatra can easily be read as one of love or lust; their passion can be construed as being wholly destructive but also showing elements of transcendence. O'er-picturing that Venus where we see These criticisms are only a few examples of how the critical views of Egypt's "femininity" and Rome's "masculinity" have changed over time and how the development of feminist theory has helped in widening the discussion. This move most likely enraged Cleopatra, even if it seemed to be more of a political alliance than a love match, particularly as the following year (40 BC) she gave birth to twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II. Antony eventually realises that he, like other characters, is merely "Fortune's knave," a mere card in the game of Chance rather than a player. This possible interpretation seems to perpetuate the connections being made between gender and power. [37]:p.176–77 The Romans view Egypt as a distraction that can send even the best men off course. Shakespeare deviates from a strictly obedient observation of Plutarch, though, by complicating a simple dominant/dominated dichotomy with formal choices. Moreover, due to the flow of constant changing emotions throughout the play: "the characters do not know each other, nor can we know them, any more clearly than we know ourselves". According to Paul Lawrence Rose in his article "The Politics of Antony and Cleopatra", the views expressed in the play of "national solidarity, social order and strong rule"[36] were familiar after the absolute monarchies of Henry VII and Henry VIII and the political disaster involving Mary Queen of Scots. Early critics like Georg Brandes presented Egypt as a lesser nation because of its lack of rigidity and structure and presented Cleopatra, negatively, as "the woman of women, quintessentiated Eve. At Alexandria, Cleopatra begs Antony not to go, and though he repeatedly affirms his deep passionate love for her, he eventually leaves. CHARMIAN: Not he; the queen. Other scholars also discuss early critics' views of Cleopatra in relation to a serpent signifying "original sin". Menas suggests to Sextus that he kill the three triumvirs and make himself ruler of the Roman Republic, but he refuses, finding it dishonourable. Mark Antony and Cleopatra. James J Greene writes on the subject: "If one of the seminally powerful myths in the cultural memory of our past is Aeneas' rejection of his African queen in order to go on and found the Roman Empire, than it is surely significant that Shakespeare's [sic]... depicts precisely and quite deliberately the opposite course of action from that celebrated by Virgil. In return Cleopatra paid to outfit a large fleet to help Antony wage war against the Parthians. With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem Print. Manipulation and the quest for power are very prominent themes not only in the play but specifically in the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra. Through his language, such scholars argue, he tends to characterise Rome as "masculine" and Egypt as "feminine." The principal source for the story is an English translation of Plutarch's "Life of Mark Antony," from the Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Compared Together. Silver Denarius, uncertain Eastern mint, Autumn 34 BC. The two consuls and almost half of the Senate quit Rome to establish a new Senate in Ephesus where they were joined by Cleopatra (with a large fleet and plenty of gold) and a large army from the Greek nations. Now in battle with Octavius, Antony and Cleopatra suffer losses and miscommunication, and both eventually commit suicide. Octavius arrives, assuring her she will be treated with honour and dignity. Another example of ambivalence in Antony and Cleopatra is in the opening act of the play when Cleopatra asks Anthony: "Tell me how much you love." Tell him I am prompt The fancy outwork nature: on each side her However, Shakespeare also adds scenes, including many portraying Cleopatra's domestic life, and the role of Enobarbus is greatly developed. Constantine P. Cavafy's poem The God Abandons Antony, a hymn to human dignity, depicts the imaginary last moments of Mark Antony while he sees his fortunes turning around. There’s no doubt he fell under Cleopatra’s spell, but his romantic interest in the Queen was probably heightened by her great wealth and the resources available to her. Shakespeare, utilizing the metatheatrical reference to his own stage, perpetuates his motif of recklessness by purposefully shattering "the audience's acceptance of the dramatic illusion".[66]:p.201. in an aside, indicating to the audience that she intends for Antony to adopt this rhetoric. In her article "Roman World, Egyptian Earth", critic Mary Thomas Crane introduces another symbol throughout the play: The four elements. She grows content only when her courtiers assure her that Octavia is homely: short, low-browed, round-faced and with bad hair. [73] Antony even attempts to commit suicide for his love, falling short in the end. The fictional Aeneas dutifully resists Dido's temptation and abandons her to forge on to Italy, placing political destiny before romantic love, in stark contrast to Antony, who puts passionate love of his own Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, before duty to Rome. [84] For the Christian world, salvation relied on and belonged to the individual, while the Roman world viewed salvation as political. The historical Antony and Cleopatra were the prototypes and antitypes for Virgil's Dido and Aeneas: Dido, ruler of the north African city of Carthage, tempts Aeneas, the legendary exemplar of Roman pietas, to forego his task of founding Rome after the fall of Troy. Antony loses the battle as his troops desert en masse and he denounces Cleopatra: "This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me." They cast their caps up and carouse together Beguiled me to the very heart of loss. By revolution lowering, does become [72] His article argues that "women were barred from the stage for their own sexual protection" and because "patriarchally acculturated audiences presumably found it intolerable to see English women—those who would represent mothers, wives, and daughters—in sexually compromising situations". Antony and Cleopatra deals ambiguously with the politics of imperialism and colonization. "[65] Cleopatra immediately says, "Excellent falsehood!" Anthony had to return to Rome eventually and when he did the empire was split between the three generals (Antony, Octavian and Lepidus) with Antony taking control of the eastern territories as far as Albania. [58]:p.605 This dangerously beautiful woman is difficult for Shakespeare to create because all characters, male or female, were played by men. Orientalism plays a very specific, and yet, nuanced role in the story of Antony and Cleopatra. Author L.T. Enobarbus urges Antony to fight on land, where he has the advantage, instead of by sea, where the navy of Octavius is lighter, more mobile and better manned. The Romans view the Egyptians essentially as improper. In similar fashion, the isolation and examination of the stage image of Cleopatra becomes an attempt to improve the understanding of the theatrical power of her infinite variety and the cultural treatment of that power. They engage in a drunken celebration on Sextus' galley, though the austere Octavius leaves early and sober from the party. Here is my space! The Folio is therefore the only authoritative text today. For instance, in Act Five, Scene Two, Cleopatra exclaims, "Antony/ Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see/ Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness/ I'th' posture of a whore" (ll. Because the Aristotelian elements were a declining theory in Shakespeare's time, it can also be read as nostalgia for a waning theory of the material world, the pre-seventeenth-century cosmos of elements and humours that rendered subject and world deeply interconnected and saturated with meaning. And is become the bellows and the fan [27]:p.301 Finally, Fitz emphasises the tendency of early critics to assert that Antony is the sole protagonist of the play. This is, of course, unlikely and a near contemporary source suggests that Serapion was acting unilaterally. Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made The political attitudes of Antony, Caesar, and Cleopatra are all basic archetypes for the conflicting sixteenth-century views of kingship. [87] This realization suggests that Antony realises that he is powerless in relation to the forces of Chance, or Fortune. He ignores Rome's domestic problems, including the fact that his third wife Fulvia rebelled against Octavius and then died. So, Shakespeare's characters in Antony and Cleopatra, particularly Cleopatra in her belief that her own suicide is an exercise of agency, exhibit a Christian understanding of salvation. Born: January 14, 83 B.C., in Rome Died: August 1, 30 B.C., in Alexandria, Egypt Furthermore, Enobarbus, Antony's long-serving lieutenant, deserts him and goes over to Octavius' side. Act 3 Scene 13 Octavius sues for peace with Cleopatra. Many scholars interpret these lines as a metatheatrical reference to Shakespeare's own production, and by doing so comments on his own stage. It can also be speculated that Philo was referring to Antony cross-dressing in Act 1, scene 1: PHILO: Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, General Mark Antony now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. Egypt's magnetism and seeming cultural primacy over Rome have been explained by efforts to contextualise the political implications of the play within its period of production. Antony's and Cleopatra's deaths leave him free to become the first Roman Emperor, but he also feels some sympathy for them. Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) is best known as the Roman general who was a lover of Cleopatra. Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst Octavia was promoted to the status of Vestal Virgin and a modest statue of her (contrasting nicely with the opulent statue of Cleopatra placed by Julius Caesar) was set up beside one for Mark Anthony in the Forum. Many scholars suggest that Shakespeare possessed an extensive knowledge of the story of Antony and Cleopatra through the historian Plutarch, and used Plutarch's account as a blueprint for his own play. This claim is apparent in Brandes‘ argument: "when [Antony] perishes, a prey to the voluptuousness of the East, it seems as though Roman greatness and the Roman Republic expires with him. ", Hirsh, James. The concept of luck, or Fortune, is frequently referenced throughout Antony and Cleopatra, portrayed as an elaborate "game" that the characters participate in. Antony and Cleopatra quarrel and Octavius's messenger is beaten. [3]:p.45 She is frequently vain and histrionic enough to provoke an audience almost to scorn; at the same time, Shakespeare invests her and Antony with tragic grandeur. [18] Antony and Cleopatra was entered in the Stationers' Register (an early form of copyright for printed works) in May 1608, but it does not seem to have been actually printed until the publication of the First Folio in 1623. And is becomes the bellows and the fan After quelling a small rebellion in Syria he made for Alexandria where he received a jubilant welcome. Harris further implies that Romans have an uncontrollable lust and desire for "what they do not or cannot have. The plot is based on Thomas North's 1579 English translation of Plutarch's Lives (in Ancient Greek) and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Sicilian revolt to Cleopatra's suicide during the Final War of the Roman Republic. Literary Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and Universalism. [37] Critic James Hirsh has stated that, "as a result, the play dramatises not two but four main figurative locales: Rome as it is perceived from a Roman point of view; Rome as it is perceived from an Egyptian point of view; Egypt as it is perceived form a Roman point of view; and Egypt as it is perceived from an Egyptian point of view."[37]:p.175. [28] However, particularly in earlier criticism, the narrative trajectory of Rome's triumph and Cleopatra's perceived weakness as a ruler have allowed readings that privilege Shakespeare's representation of a Roman worldview. Mark Antony and Cleopatra’s embrace resembles the pairs of lovers in several sixteenth-century Venetian paintings, a paradigmatic example being the figures in Titian’s Venus and Adonis (1554, National Gallery, London), a work that Stothard knew well, and may have owned a copy.14 Stothard’s take on this pose was unusual, in that his Mark Antony assumes the distinct bent-knee pose traditionally afforded to the female supplicant, while Cleopatra … Scherer and critics who recognise the wide appeal of Egypt have connected the spectacle and glory of Cleopatra's greatness with the spectacle and glory of the theatre itself. This phenomenon is illustrated by the famous poet T.S. Kingdoms are clay! The Romans view the "world" as nothing more than something for them to conquer and control. Antony and Cleopatra battle over this dynamic as heads of state, yet the theme of power also resonates in their romantic relationship. He was born on January 14 around the year 83 BC. Cleopatra and Mark Antony on the obverse and reverse, respectively, of a silver tetradrachm struck at the Antioch mint in 36 BC. "[59] Where the dominating power lies is up for interpretation, yet there are several mentions of the power exchange in their relationship in the text. Cleopatra also succeeds in causing Antony to speak in a more theatrical sense and therefore undermine his own true authority. More contemporary scholarship on the play, however, has typically recognised the allure of Egypt for Antony and Cleopatra's audiences. Power is one of Cleopatra's most dominant character traits and she uses it as a means of control. Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold; The Roman ideal of power lies in a political nature taking a base in economical control. Throughout the play, oppositions between Rome and Egypt, love and lust, and masculinity and femininity are emphasised, subverted, and commented on. Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home; However, Harris points out that Caesar and Antony both possess an uncontrollable desire for Egypt and Cleopatra: Caesar's is political while Antony's is personal. "General Introduction: The Enemies of the Stage. This translation, by Sir Thomas North, was first published in 1579. A celebration was held by Octavian in Rome without him, no doubt to underline his absence. When Thidias, Caesar's messenger, tells Cleopatra Caesar will show her mercy if she will relinquish Antony, she is quick to respond: "Most kind messenger, Before battle, the triumvirs parley with Sextus Pompey, and offer him a truce. [25]:p.12 The symbol of the serpent "functions, at the symbolic level, as a means of her submission, the phallic appropriation of the queen's body (and the land it embodies) by Octavius and the empire". [73] Antony and Cleopatra can be read as a rewrite of Virgil's epic, with the sexual roles reversed and sometimes inverted. In the context of England's political atmosphere, Shakespeare's representation of Egypt, as the greater source of poetry and imagination, resists support for 16th century colonial practices. During this triumph in Alexandria, Mark Antony proclaimed Cleopatra the “Queen of Queens” and claimed that he, not Octavian, was the adopted son of Caesar. In Egypt, Cleopatra learns of Antony's marriage to Octavia and takes furious revenge upon the messenger who brings her the news. Cleopatra uses language to undermine Antony's assumed authority over her. Antony sailed to Pinarius Scarpus in Africa in search of allies and reinforcements but Scarpus refused to help him so he too fled to Alexandria. The principal source for the story is an English translation of Plutarch's "Life of Mark Antony," from the Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Compared Together. She elevated her first son, Caesarion, to full co-regent and her third child by Mark Anthony, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was born. Even this repays me"[48](3.12.69–70). But at the fringes of a war-torn empire the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love. To lay my crown at 's feet, and there to kneel. Mark Anthony returned to Egypt with Cleopatra and her father briefly and, even if she was not personally acquainted with him, she would certainly have been aware of his high esteem in the eyes of the people of Alexandria. Cleopatra charmed him with her wit and vivacity and her wealth and regal connections appealed to his vanity and greed. Shakespeare critics argue that the metatheatrical references in Antony and Cleopatra seem to critique this trend and the presentation of Cleopatra as a sexually empowered individual supports their argument that Shakespeare seems to be questioning the oppression of female sexuality in London society. "The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Drama" 2nd edition (Cambridge University Press, 2003). After some hesitation, Sextus agrees. Web. Forced to choose, he picked Cleopatra and the relative freedom of the east sending Octavia back to her brother in Rome. "The Characterization of Shakespeare's Cleopatra. Boys who, being mature in knowledge, [43], Feminist criticism of Antony and Cleopatra has provided a more in-depth reading of the play, has challenged previous norms for criticism, and has opened a larger discussion of the characterization of Egypt and Rome. But by sheer brute strength they would hold dominion over principalities and kingdoms. Another example of deviance from the source material is how Shakespeare characterises the rule of Antony and Cleopatra. This irony gap between word and deed of the characters results in a theme of ambivalence. (The other two members are Octavius and Lepidus.) Antony, the Roman soldier characterised by a certain effeminacy, is the main article of conquest, falling first to Cleopatra and then to Caesar (Octavius). Cleopatra’s astronomers were quick to interpret this as evidence that her offspring were destined to inherit Rome. To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, Antony accepts. The tragedy is mainly set in the Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Egypt and is characterized by swift shifts in geographical location and linguistic register as it alternates between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and a more pragmatic, austere Rome. Before Orientalism: London's Theatre of the East 1576–1626. Greenblatt, Stephen. Enobarbus decides he must leave Antony's service. Arthur L. Little, in agitative fashion, suggests that the desire to overcome the queen has a corporeal connotation: "If a black—read foreign—man raping a white woman encapsulates an iconographic truth... of the dominant society's sexual, racial, national, and imperial fears, a white man raping a black woman becomes the evidentiary playing out of its self-assured and cool stranglehold over these representative foreign bodies". "[20] However, as Heather James argues, Shakespeare's allusions to Virgil's Dido and Aeneas are far from slavish imitations. What, Eros, Eros! The story of Antony and Cleopatra was often summarised as either "the fall of a great general, betrayed in his dotage by a treacherous strumpet, or else it can be viewed as a celebration of transcendental love. Critics such as Charles Forker argue that the boy actors were a result of what "we may call androgyny". Freeman states, "We understand Antony as a grand failure because the container of his Romanness "dislimns": it can no longer outline and define him even to himself. "[29] This assessment of the changing way in which Cleopatra is represented in modern adaptations of Shakespeare's play is yet another example of how the modern and postmodern view of Cleopatra is constantly evolving.

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