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Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare,

Cynthia Marshall (Essay),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor),

Paul Werstine (Editor)

3.70 · Rating details · 31,446 ratings · 1,357 reviews

A romantic tragedy about the relationship between Mark Antony and the Queen of Egypt, including notes and critical commentary.

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Paperback, 336 pages

Published 2005 by Washington Square Press (first published 1606)

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May 12, 2007 Bill Kerwin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 16th-17th-c-brit, stuart-drama

This play is so good, it is not merely a masterpiece: it is a mystery. The two protagonists are alternately noble and petty, wise and foolish, and yet they never seem inconsistent or self-contradictory because Shakespeare--here is the mystery--consistently maintains a tone that is paradoxically both ironic and heroic. Part of it is the language, which shifts seamlessly from mellifluous monologues adorned with cosmic imagery (comparing Anthony and Cleopatra to continents, stars,etc.) to the most ...more

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May 13, 2011 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: drama, historical, british, classics, literature, 17th-century

The Tragedie of Antony and Cleopatra = Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare

The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives 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.

The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate and the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The tragedy is mainly set in Rome and Egy The Tragedie of Antony and Cleopatra = Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare

The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives 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.

The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate and the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The tragedy is mainly set in Rome and 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.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه جولای سال 1984میلادی

عنوان: آنتونی و کلئوپاترا؛ نویسنده: ویلیام شکسپیر؛ مترجم: علاالدین پازارگادی؛ نمایشنامه غم انگیز آنتونی و کلئوپاترا؛ تهران، بنگاه ترجمه، 1334؛ چاپ دیگر 1359؛ چاپ دیگر تهران، علمی فرهنگی، 1379، در 245ص؛ شابک 9789644452581؛ چاپ هفتم 1392؛ موضوع نمایشنامه های نویسندگان انگلیسی سده 16م

عنوان: آنتونی و کلئوپاترا؛ نویسنده: ویلیام شکسپیر؛ مترجم: محمدعلی اسلامی ندوشن؛ تهران، یزدان، 1363؛ در 238ص؛

عنوان: آنتونی و کلئوپاترا؛ نویسنده: ویلیام شکسپیر؛ مترجم: هادی عادلپور؛ تهران، سمیر، 1392؛ در 527ص؛ شابک 9789642201068؛

عنوان: آنتونی و کلئوپاترا؛ نویسنده: ویلیام شکسپیر؛ مترجم: فرینوش رمضانی؛ تهران، نشر مرکز، 1393؛ در 58ص؛ شابک 9789642131655؛

نمایشنامه‌ ای عاشقانه، و تراژیک، «آنتونیوس و کلئوپاترا»؛ اثر «ویلیام شکسپیر» است؛ این نمایشنامه، «آنتونی» سردار بزرگ «رومی» را، همچون عاشقی دلباخته‌ تصویر می‌کند، که آنچنان در دام عشق «کلئوپاترا»، ملکه ی «مصر»، اسیر گشته، که «سلطنت»، و «لشکرکشی»، و مسئولیت‌های دیگر خود را، در مقام سرداری «رمی»، به هیچ می‌شمارد؛ اگرچه نخست برای سازش با همکار خود «قیصر اکتاویوس»، به «روم» بازمیگردد، و با خواهر او ازدواج میکند، اما عشق «کلئوپاترا»، بار دیگر باعث می‌شود، که همه چیز را ترک کند، و دوباره به «مصر» بازگردد؛ رقابت سیاسی بین دو سردار «رومی»، منجر به جنگ می‌شود، و «آنتونی» شکست می‌خورد، و خودکشی می‌کند؛ «کلئوپاترا» نیز، پس از مرگ دلداده ی خود، برای اینکه او را، در رکاب «قیصر اکتاویوس»، به اسارت، به «روم» نبرند، دست به خودکشی می‌زند؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 13/10/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Sep 04, 2017 Henry Avila rated it it was amazing

Mark Antony the Roman general , right- hand man of the great Caesar, a shadow to be sure of the most famous ruler of Rome and his unsurpassed conquests in the history of the Empire , yet he Antony , had ability just not enough to overcome his weaknesses. Excessive drinking and chasing beautiful women and ignoring his duty, a bit coarse in truth. The fatal meeting with Queen Cleopatra v11, Greek in blood little of it Egyptian in what is now modern Turkey, she dazzled him floating down a river, th Mark Antony the Roman general , right- hand man of the great Caesar, a shadow to be sure of the most famous ruler of Rome and his unsurpassed conquests in the history of the Empire , yet he Antony , had ability just not enough to overcome his weaknesses. Excessive drinking and chasing beautiful women and ignoring his duty, a bit coarse in truth. The fatal meeting with Queen Cleopatra v11, Greek in blood little of it Egyptian in what is now modern Turkey, she dazzled him floating down a river, the Cydnus ( now called Berdan) on a large barge , all that sparkling opulence the purple sails, silver oars, golden canopy under which the queen lies, dressed like a Greek goddess, the perfumed vessel's delicious aroma spread by the gentle wind,
crossing the waters to its banks, crowds gather the music plays everyone hears, loves...awed and fascinated at the spectacular sight . Not a beauty no Elizabeth Taylor...what she lacked physically, the temptress made up by her intelligence speaking at least seven languages, today the monarch of the Nile would be called an intellectual. Cleopatra's main interest was preserving the independence of her beloved ancient Egypt, she gave it all. Nevertheless the queen who became his fifth wife her third husband, ( having married her two younger brothers previously) must of realized Mark was no Caesar, his adopted son, biologically grand- nephew Octavian soon to be called Augustus Caesar, was the closest to Julius in ability, if not a good military leader which men would trust and follow into deadly battle. But he choose well his generals and admirals, the massive sea battle of Actium off the coast of Greece, September 2, 31 B.C. over 500 ships and many thousands of crewmen fought and died proved it. The final struggle, the inevitable contest to be the supreme leader of the Roman world came and the winner ...well you can read the results in a history book or see a film. Shakespeare's poetry makes a tragedy come to life, the magic continues in the words, page after page the sentences wonderfully connect the emotions and fears grip the reader, we may know the outcome still the interest never evaporates, the facts are not important the enchantment is... Antony and Cleopatra were buried in the same tomb now lost and unknown near Alexandria, when the desert winds blew the shifted sands flowed into the air and came down again, covering all... the memory of man is short... ...more

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Apr 22, 2016 Dolors rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Seekers of sagacity and good literature

Recommended to Dolors by: John Willliams

Shelves: read-in-2016, getting-to-know-shakespeare

Shakespeare does it again.
He mingles the historical with the imaginary, the public with the private, the tragedy with the theatrical to infuse life into one the most popular couples in ancient Rome; the star-crossed lovers Anthony and Cleopatra. Love and war were never more indistinguishably fused.
The fact that the Bard brings forth his masterful descriptive skills almost avoiding the use of the soliloquy, his trump car and most employed device to create poignant psychological portraits, makes t Shakespeare does it again.
He mingles the historical with the imaginary, the public with the private, the tragedy with the theatrical to infuse life into one the most popular couples in ancient Rome; the star-crossed lovers Anthony and Cleopatra. Love and war were never more indistinguishably fused.
The fact that the Bard brings forth his masterful descriptive skills almost avoiding the use of the soliloquy, his trump car and most employed device to create poignant psychological portraits, makes the characterization of the protagonists all the more an astonishing feat.
Because Anthony, Cleopatra and Octavius are presented as contradictory individuals, whose passions represent public symbols in the realm of political machinations, and the burden of their pressing responsibilities eschews easy stereotyping.

Anthony is a man of action with grand aspirations. He attempts to rationalize his ardent love for Cleopatra and capitulates to his ancestry, acting like a uniting bridge between the Roman and the Egyptian values. His ultimate self-sacrifice in front of Caesar’s hegemony after his boundless desire has overpowered his warrior’s ambition is an act of equal nobleness and desperation, worthy of “A Roman, by a Roman; Valiantly vanquished”, instead of the humiliated hero.
Cleopatra might easily be the most complex and thought-provoking of Shakespeare’s female characters, which is denoted in the unusually poetic, allegoric language she employs. She refers to herself as the “Nile” and her words acquire a particular cadence that could be associated with water. What a better metaphorical antithesis for the classical notion of fixed and stable identity? For Cleopatra embodies such radical “otherness”, such histrionic voluptuousness, capricious and dangerously tantalizing that in her converges the exoticism of the “Eastern” mysteries that both repel and attract the self-restrained Roman leaders, first Julius Caesar, and then Marc Anthony.

“She shall be buried with Anthony-
No grave upon earth shall clip in it
A pair so famous. High events as these
Strike those that make them; and their story is
No less in pity than his glory which
Brought them to be lamented.”

Such is the tribute Octavius pays to his rival, displaying a remarkable empathy that bespeaks of the Emperor’s unwavering sense of justice. Anthony and Cleopatra’s surrender anticipates the end of an era, the dissolution of Egypt as a powerful opponent to the Roman Empire and the beginning of unrestful times, precluding the expansion of Christianity and posterior entrance into the obscure Middle Ages.
And so again, the reader is left wondering whether Shakespeare was writing a love-tragedy, a historical play with a rather anti-climatic conclusion or a nostalgic elegy to a splendorous past that saw its end coming.
Whatever the case, I envision joyful times ahead trying to figure out Shakespeare’s teasing riddles and contradicting myself as I change perspectives throughout my life.
Few things are so comforting like such thought.
Few things are this precious. ...more

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Jun 12, 2017 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fiction, 4-written-pre-20th-century

Book Review
4 out of 5 stars to Antony and Cleopatra, a play published in 1606 by William Shakespeare.This is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, partially for some of the reality on which it is based. Some know the full story, others know bits and pieces. Cleopatra, famous in her own right, is the Queen of Egypt. Caeser is conquering the world. Antony rules Rome for a while. The love affair between these three, plus a former wife and the sister, Octavia, create such a beautiful a ...more

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Oct 30, 2015 Barry Pierce rated it liked it

Shelves: 17th-century, read-in-2015, plays

Mark Antony is a real pain in the asp.

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Mar 25, 2013 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: traditional-fiction, history, 2017-shelf

I wish you all the joys of the worm.

You know, for the longest time, I had placed this of all of Shakespeare's plays among the highest in my estimation, for where else could I have so many references to melting or even have an early punk band write a song about it? (Melt, Siouxsie and the Banshees)

Indeed, Let Rome in Tiber melt! I really enjoyed the triumvirate of powers, the play on politics and the whole chaos of such an equal footing between Ceasar, Antony, and Cleopatra. Can we blame the woma ...more

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Nov 19, 2013 Darwin8u rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: drama, 2017, shakespeare

“Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me”
― William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

description

A great Shakespeare play, but one (for me) that is still overpowered by Shakespeare's earlier tragedies. The story is based on Plutarch's Lives (North's translation). The weight and strength of this play is, obviously, going to center on Cleopatra and Antony. They are fascinating as a couple (literary and political binaries) and Cleopatra is amazingly, spectacularly, flushed-out by Shake ...more

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Sep 10, 2018 Loretta rated it it was amazing

Shelves: plays, shakespeare, classic, my-2018-reading-challenge, five-star-reads

Shakespeare at his best...😊.

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May 26, 2020 ❀ Rose ❀ rated it liked it · review of another edition

I don’t think I’m gonna write a very articulate review for this one. I enjoyed it and it’s a good play but it lacks a little something. I just couldn’t connect with the characters as much and the whole plot line just wasn’t my fav (which is super disappointing since this was the play that I was most excited to read cz...hellooooo we have arabs in here yay!). The writing is of course amazing but for some reason this just fell flat for me *shrugs*.

Next up: The Winter’s Tale🤞🏼

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Jul 23, 2018 MJD rated it it was amazing

Antony and Cleopatra were interesting characters. It was a fun read.

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Oct 14, 2019 Ivana Books Are Magic rated it it was amazing

Antony and Cleopatra is one of my personal favourites when it comes to Shakespeare's tragedies. With its mix of politics, statesmanship and romance, this play is wonderfully complex and intellectually stimulating. As a love story, I find it a lot more interesting that the better known Romeo and Juliet. Antony and Cleopatra are royal and larger than life personalities but also very human. I greatly enjoyed their psychological portrayal and their dynamics as a couple. Both are cunning and intellig ...more

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Sep 25, 2020 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: english-16th-c, plutarch-plays, roman-plays, theatre, shakespeare

I was previously unfamiliar with this masterpiece and now find it to be truly one of Shakespeare's most majestuous works and Cleopatra to be one of his most epic and eloquent heroines. One can never tire of reading the description of her progress on the Nile (which Shakespeare adapted from Plutarch with his own unique poetic vision as described by MacCallum in Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background). I would highly recommend MacCallum but also the reading of Julius Caesar before this one ...more

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Jul 10, 2013 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

What does it say about me that I find myself so much in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra? More-so even than in Hamlet. In Cleopatra I see my many shortcomings in love: my possessiveness, my jealousies, my need for attention and affection, and most of all the need to have love proven again and again; and ultimately these are the foibles which bring about my own destruction in love. Like Cleopatra, I think I know my advantages, what angles I look best, where best to drive conversation, what acti What does it say about me that I find myself so much in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra? More-so even than in Hamlet. In Cleopatra I see my many shortcomings in love: my possessiveness, my jealousies, my need for attention and affection, and most of all the need to have love proven again and again; and ultimately these are the foibles which bring about my own destruction in love. Like Cleopatra, I think I know my advantages, what angles I look best, where best to drive conversation, what activities most flatter me. But also like her, I am unsure in whole of my lovers. There is no barometer for another's heart, and though their love may be proven again and again, it is impossible for me to truly believe in the reading. Like Cleopatra, I am a great actor when need be, but ultimately even my acting is swept away by my sometimes desperate need to have my love validated. I can imagine Cleopatra today, sitting on her divan, prostrate, wondering "will he text me? It has been hours!"

Cleopatra is perhaps hopelessly overwrought in her emotions, a bit too theatrical to always be taken seriously in her love. It is the trouble with ego that makes love so potent, so unstable. Antony and Cleopatra rival each other in their estimations of themselves. While the pride of Othello is balanced by the serving diminution of Desdemona, the egos of Cleopatra and Antony are mirrored and enhanced in each other. For me, I often wonder where self-love and self-esteem fit into love of the other: is it better to be balanced, or matched? The stories of Othello and Antony and Cleopatra would seem to indicate the inadequacy of either arrangement. But can I conceive a love between two people with no pride or estimation of themselves? So little self-valuation seems an unhealthy virtue - certainly one that is impossible for many (myself included). I was wondering yesterday, which is what compelled me to this review, "Is it possible to love myself so much that I make my own happiness in love impossible?" and I have been haunted by this question in it's exact phrasing since then. The notion of self-love is not to say a true over-estimation of oneself, but an outward confidence worn like a loose robe, the measurements are uncertain and their motives are unclear. Self-love is often compensatory for slighted esteem, covering up your faults with what you know (or believe) to be your best qualities.

But love forces you to be naked. In the literal and metaphorical senses. Stripped of this robe, I feel I am especially on display: my body and character are scrutinized by the other, I am forced to drop away my protective garments, my shields and defenses. I am stripped and standing awkwardly, and there is no way to know what estimates I am registering in the mind of the other. Cleopatra feels this nakedness acutely. She feels insane and sometimes undirected jealousy, unfounded hatreds and insecurities. She ruins her lover in an attempt to see if his love is true, only to give birth to his anger:

CLEOPATRA:
O my lord, my lord,
Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought
You would have followed.

ANTONY:
Egypt, thou knew'st too well
My heart was to thy rudder tied by th' strings,
And thou shouldst tow me after. O'er my spirit
Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

CLEOPATRA:
O, my pardon!

Cleopatra's understanding of love leverages on the currency of forgiveness. "How much am I worth to Antony" is answered by "What will he sacrifice for me, what will he forgive me for?" There are only two ways to have love proven: the positive and the reactive. The former is impossible to force, it comes from the other unprompted. It is the unexpected gift, the unexpected call, the seemingly-unnoticed glance. It is perfect in it's completeness, it is most assuring, but it loses all value when it is prodded. The reactive is the tool of Cleopatra. It is the apology, it is forgiveness, it is the quieting kiss, the forced or guilted penance. Reactive proofs of love have diminishing returns, it "makes hungry where most it satisfies" like Cleopatra herself. Each proof of love in this sense produces more questions and uncertainties than it answers or quells. It will always beg the question of "Why?" which is unanswerable. No "I love you" purchased in this way can be fully believed because it is motivated, and love is unmotivated.

I have heard much about love. I have read many books, seen many movies, watched the stages of friendship blossom into the buds of love with friends and family, but I am yet experienced in this all-consuming and self-stripping love. I fall too quickly and repent my trippings, I mortgage my pride on unsteady affections, I am untrusting of stalks of green loves. All that is new is too tenuous for me, not sturdy enough to carry my expectations of overwrought emotions. Even now I am writing this review to distract myself for the begging question of "will he text me" - why do I need this validation? Will I always be doomed to suffer the asperities of Cleopatra's fate? But is it better to be Antony? Is it better to be always hot with love, and carry the heavy burdens of disillusion? Or never feel that heat: be always secure but cool to the touch?
(Someone tells me: this kind of love is not viable. But how can you evaluate viability? Why is the viable a Good Thing? Why is it better to last than to burn?)
Is it better to last than to burn? If death is the mother of beauty, then my tragedy has beauty to it. In love I am the balance of life and death; a pharamacopoeia poison and panacea in equal parts. I suffer, I struggle, I endure.

Tragedy is life, but not life is pure tragedy, there always elements of comedy. If it is self-love that forces this play to it's dual-suicide, it is also the catalyst for perhaps one of the finest moments of tragicomedy in Shakespeare:
MARK ANTONY
I am dying, Egypt, dying:
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.

CLEOPATRA
No, let me speak; and let me rail so high,
That the false housewife Fortune break her wheel,
Provoked by my offence.

MARK ANTONY
One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety. O!

CLEOPATRA
They do not go together.

MARK ANTONY
Gentle, hear me:...
Antony's and Cleopatra's loves of themselves are the only forces in them which survive the bleak gravitas of Antony's death. The constant need to have the last word: the need for victory. While Desdemona serviley accepts her husband's hatred and condemnation, and then his murder, Cleopatra nor Antony can accept the possibility of losing the last word to the other. While their love and adoration of each other seems genuine, their loves of their own self-image of victors hopelessly prevails, leading to Antony's death amidst a moment of comedy and contention with his love. "No, let me speak..." ...more

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Jun 06, 2020 Daniel Chaikin rated it liked it · review of another edition

One of the wilder plays I've read from Shakespeare. He made an effort to capture the chaotic state of world as Marcus Antony and Octavius Caesar maneuvered in their uncertain power struggle, and that chaotic state is reflected in the complicated portrait of Cleopatra. The play races around the Mediterranean empire, from Alexandria to Rome to Greece to a couple other places, and a large assortment of characters fill in key roles, managing an attempt at some historical reality, pulling in a few h ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 Carlo rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare

I read this directly following on from Julius Caesar, expecting more of the same. Imho however the play isn't in the same class. It's lack a certain "omph" and urgency. Even the chemistry between the two protagonists only really gets going, ironically, towards the end. ...more

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May 24, 2020 Marta rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, shakespeare

A complicated play on many levels. It has many themes: politics, love, loyalty and betrayal, power dynamics between men and women, death, honor, greatness. There are many characters and many scenes. I should see this play staged as I am not sure how theaters deal with the numerous scene changes.

The alternating between sober Ceasar in Rome, and extravagant Cleopatra in Egypt are meant to emphasize the opposite of temperaments and surroundings (as I learned from my research). Two worlds and two wa A complicated play on many levels. It has many themes: politics, love, loyalty and betrayal, power dynamics between men and women, death, honor, greatness. There are many characters and many scenes. I should see this play staged as I am not sure how theaters deal with the numerous scene changes.

The alternating between sober Ceasar in Rome, and extravagant Cleopatra in Egypt are meant to emphasize the opposite of temperaments and surroundings (as I learned from my research). Two worlds and two ways of living are clashing: and the prudent, restrained, calculating, military, male world wins over opulent, rich, soft, female world.

The structure of the play is unbalanced. Too much happens in Act 3, much of it being expository dialogue. Act 4 was my favorite as I found Antony’s final scenes to be the highlight of the play, however it was way too long. Act 5 could have been cut in half.

I enjoyed Antony’s character: he prevaricates, changes his mind, is stubborn, jealous, but magnificent in doing so. However Cleopatra does not get her due status: she is displayed wanton, easy to anger, capricious. Her final act is her most dramatic and magnificent; otherwise she appears manipulative and superficial. Her being a shrewd politician is not mentioned; rather, Romans blame her for leading Antony astray, when it is plain to see that Antony’s own faults led him to his doom.

We had a very interesting discussion with the group #shakespearereadalong on Litsy. We have compared it to Romeo in Juliet, as in both plays lovers commit suicide for each other. However, Antony and Cleopatra’s main motive for dying is to preserve their honor. They are at the end of very eventful lives, while Romeo and Juliet have not started living yet. Interesting to observe that R&J is an early play of Shakespeare’s, whereas A&J is a late one, and his take on doomed lovers reflect his stage in life.

Overall I appreciated a lot of the themes in the play, and the complexity of the characters, so I am giving it 4 stars, but it really is more like a 3.5 due to the unevenness of pace. ...more

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Jun 28, 2019 Jonfaith rated it really liked it

Shelves: the_plays_the_thing

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.

This sprawling play is excessively vast and devotes far too little to Daenerys, I mean Cleopatra. Political melodrama with more twists and setbacks than S7 of GoT. The saving grace of the play is the incandescent poetry which sparkles all the more by its scarcity amongst so many martial hymns.

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May 19, 2012 David Sarkies rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: those who like Shakespeare

Recommended to David by: My English Teacher

Shelves: tragedy

The Final Saga of the Roman Republic
19 May 2012

This is truly a play of epic proportions, taking place in areas from the centre of Rome to her periphery, such as Egypt and the borders of Parthia. It is one of Shakespeare's later works, and the skill in which he brings so much together onto the stage simply goes to show how skillful he was at producing drama. Now, some scholars like to argue that Shakespeare could not have been responsible for so many plays of such high quality, however I persona The Final Saga of the Roman Republic
19 May 2012

This is truly a play of epic proportions, taking place in areas from the centre of Rome to her periphery, such as Egypt and the borders of Parthia. It is one of Shakespeare's later works, and the skill in which he brings so much together onto the stage simply goes to show how skillful he was at producing drama. Now, some scholars like to argue that Shakespeare could not have been responsible for so many plays of such high quality, however I personally find such research and argument to be quite useless. In the end, I tend to, and have always tended to, lean towards the mythological than the scientific, and while it may be the case that Shakespeare was not responsible for the plays, I personally see no benefit in such argument.

One of the things that I struggle with these plays is that they can be difficult to follow at times with the poetical language of the 17th Century and the difficulties in determining which character is what (and in some cases involves flipping back to the dramatis personae). I have also been watching the series Rome, and the characters of Mark Antony and Cleopatra seem to invade my mind from that show making it a little difficult differentiating the characters. The Mark Antony of the TV series is a much more brutal and despotic character than is Shakespeare's. However, we must remember two things, and they are that Shakespeare is not attempting to give us an insight into the culture and lifestyles of Ancient Romans, while Bruno Heller is not trying to produce, or even rewrite Shakespeare. In fact it is very clear that Heller, in his TV series, is giving Shakespeare a very wide berth.

I find the topics of Shakespeare's plays quite interesting though because I have noted that Shakespeare seems to steer clear of writing any plays based upon biblical stories, even tragedies (and there are many stories in the bible that a skillful playwright could transform into a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions), but rather he seems to lean much closer to the secular world of Ancient Rome. Further, he does not seem to go to rewrite the ancient tragedies, even those of Seneca (Shakespeare did not know Greek therefore he only had access to Greek texts that had been translated, such as Plutarch's Lives). Even then, Shakespeare only borrow three stories from Plutarch's lives, that being Coriolanus, Julius Ceaser, and Mark Antony (even though Julius Ceaser is the tragedy of Brutus).

I am almost inclined to suggest that if it was not for this play or for Julius Ceaser, that the characters of Ceaser, Brutus, Antony, and Cleopatra, would probably not be as dominant in our culture as they are. In a way, Shakespeare took one of the defining periods of Roman History, namely the period in which the republic collapsed to be replaced by the empire, and placed them onto the stage. Whether this play is supposed to be a 'sequel' to Julius Ceaser is difficult to determine, though it is interesting to note that Bernard Shaw later wrote a third play, Ceaser and Cleopatra, to turn this into a trilogy.

The background of these events is when Ceaser Augustus finally came in on his own and ascended to the throne as the first emperor of Rome. However, it is also interesting that after this we have another great shift in European history, in that we shift from the west, back to the east, to the birth, life, and death, of the Messiah. However, this is not mentioned in the play, though there are some hints to the appearance of Herod of the Jews.

It is difficult to tell whether there is truly a fatal flaw in Mark Antony, and it is also difficult to determine whether Cleopatra actually loved. Her trick at the end of the play, where she feigns death, and as a result, Antony kills himself, is not the action of somebody in love, even chivalrous love. In a way she has been testing Antony's love throughout the play, but whether she loved him, or simply lusted after him, is difficult to tell. Many of us like to see this as a love story, but to me, it is not. It is a story about a man who let himself become possessed by a wiry woman and in turn brought about his downfall. Remember two things about Egypt of this period, it was not a part of Rome, rather it was a protectorate, and secondly, Cleopatra considered herself a god. While she was subservient to Rome, she still did not recognise Rome as her ruler. As such, by sinking her claws into Antony proved a way of enabling her to shift the balance of power back to her.

It is interesting that Shakespeare uses the serpent as the means of her death. It is almost as if the serpent is submitting herself to a serpent. She wrapped her coils around Antony and enchanted him, and in doing so set his downfall in motion (remembering that this is not the Mark Antony that is portrayed elsewhere). Ceaser tries everything to break her spell, including marrying him to his sister, but he fails. In the middle of an important battle with the pirates that are preventing wheat shipments from reaching Rome, Antony deserts and travels to Egypt. In Egypt he finds that his soldiers are deserting, and even though he wins the first battle, he makes a tactical error, by fighting at sea instead of land, and as a result, he is defeated.

However, it is interesting that Ceaser does not condemn or punish him for his crimes. It appears that Ceaser understands that it was Cleopatra's whiles that dragged him to this point, and has his body carried off in honour, and leaves his legacy intact. However, Cleopatra, recognising that her life in luxury and as a queen of Egypt is over, instead of going into slavery, she poisons herself. We hear her speak of being a slave and of watching plays where she is turned into a whore and mocked on stage. It is not her position that leads her to her death, but her legacy. However, it is not the legacy that has come down to us, as we, today, know of Cleopatra as the beautiful queen of Egypt.

I have also written a blog post on a version of the play by the Royal Shakespeare Company that I recently saw in the cinema. ...more

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Nov 20, 2013 Roy Lotz rated it really liked it

Shelves: this-and-that, drama, anglophilia, bardolatry

LEPIDUS: What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?

ANTONY: It is shaped, sir, like itself, and is as broad as it hath breadth. It is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs. It lives by that which nourisheth it, and, the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.

LEPIDUS: What color is it?

ANTONY: Of its own color too.

This is Shakespeare’s most exiting play. The many and rapid changes of scene function like the shaky, shifting camera angles in a Jason Bourne movie: both accelerating

LEPIDUS: What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?

ANTONY: It is shaped, sir, like itself, and is as broad as it hath breadth. It is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs. It lives by that which nourisheth it, and, the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.

LEPIDUS: What color is it?

ANTONY: Of its own color too.

This is Shakespeare’s most exiting play. The many and rapid changes of scene function like the shaky, shifting camera angles in a Jason Bourne movie: both accelerating the pace, and showing us a variety of perspectives from which to view the action, all the while keeping some angles carefully hidden from view. We see too much and not enough. The play is exhausting to read or watch, a constant torrent of development and action; and yet, by the end, it is terribly difficult to decide what stance to take towards the principle characters.

Antony cuts a poor figure in this play. Unlike the persuasive and savvy politician of Julius Caesar, here he is a bungler past his prime. In this he reminded me most strongly of Macbeth, another ruler who botches everything he tries to do (Antony even botches his own suicide). The two of them are charismatic, independent, and powerful personalities who, nevertheless, are much too susceptible to suggestion. I should say, rather, that they are too apt to ignore good and to follow bad advice. Antony illustrates this even more than Macbeth: all the play long, he is continually waving away his best counselors to follow the unruly impulses of his heart. He has no ability to put aside pleasure for practicality. It is impossible not to sympathize with him—the play would be tedious and dreary if he were totally unsympathetic—but it was, for me, also impossible to root for him.

Octavius is the perfect foil for this passionate hero. I admit that I like Octavius perhaps more than Shakespeare intended. He is so wonderfully efficient and commanding. In every scene he is issuing orders, rapid-fire, and every one of these orders is calculated and shrewd. He takes in all the essential facts of every situation at a glance, and at once his mind hits upon the correct course of action. He is unbending and unrelenting in his pursuit of his goal. Compared with Antony’s agonizing indecision about whether he wants to be a Roman commander or an Egyptian paramour, this is terribly refreshing. There is no question—in my mind at least—that he should and must be the ruler of Rome, since Antony is so manifestly unfit for the role. And yet, for all his single-minded pursuit of his aims, there is an undercurrent of pity and tenderness—his love of his sister and his outrage at her betrayal, and his tears for Antony’s death—that makes him a complete, sympathetic character.

Cleopatra is the most complex character in this play. Like Antony, she is passionate and mercurial; but unlike Antony, there always seems to be a part of herself that is unconquered by her impulses, a more calculating awareness that allows her to cast a spell over everyone in her presence. Like Iago, she is always acting, playing the part of herself, although to what end is not always clear. Unlike Iago, we never see Cleopatra in private, and have no windows into her solitary consciousness. Also unlike Iago, Cleopatra is constantly overwhelmed by her circumstances; the play she is trying to write never goes according to plan, usually thanks to Octavius. Indeed, the only person impervious to her is Octavius, whose cold, stiff demeanor wards off her dramatic performance. That being said, Cleopatra is the only character whom Octavius can neither understand nor conquer. His silver-tongued messengers to her end up getting manipulated, ignored, or conquered themselves (as in the case of Dolabella).

By chance, I watched this play while making my way through Alexandre Kojève’s interpretation of Hegel, much of which focuses on the famous Master-Slave dialectic. Whatever the applicability of Kojève’s thesis to Hegel’s ideas (that’s for another review), it strikes me that this scheme sheds some light on this play. The Master, in Hegel’s famous chapter, is stuck in a paradoxical situation. He craves the recognition of another self-consciousness, and will risk his life for this recognition; and yet his desire leads him to subjugate the Other to the role of Slave, whose recognition cannot satisfy the Master, since the Slave is not supposed to have any perspective whatever.

Now, it seems that Antony and Cleopatra’s erratic and passionate behavior is shaped by this paradox. The two of them are the masters of the world, surrounded by servants and slaves. They command, and are obeyed. But—unlike Octavius, who is comfortable with the role of impersonal master—neither can be satisfied with this obedience. They are bored by it. The two of them do not wish to be recognized simply as “masters,” but as individuals: as Antony and as Cleopatra. Yet this recognition can only come from an equal, from another master: from each other. This is why, in every scene, they always seem to be performing for each other. They are the only suitable audience for each other’s performance, the only audience that can give the satisfaction of individual recognition.

I think this is why critics have disagreed about whether they truly “love” one another. They seem to be using one another, intimately but self-interestedly, to achieve the full feeling of selfhood. They are like two mirrors reflecting each other’s light. This recognition is so vital that they will risk power, fortune, even life itself, only to sustain it one moment longer. Octavius cannot play this role for either of them. He wishes only to be obeyed; his personality, his private feelings and sympathies, are ruthlessly repressed in order to be the ideal master. Likewise, neither Antony nor Cleopatra can give Octavius what he wants: unconditional obedience. Octavius quite literally wants to reduce them to slavery, dragged in chains in a triumphal procession. This would be a fate worse than death for these two actors.

It is only in the final act, after Antony’s death, that Cleopatra seems to discover that she does not need Antony: she can be an audience to herself, she can recognize her own individuality. This is what makes her performance in Act V so overwhelming. She emerges from the circumstances that constantly thwart her plans, she breaks free of the need to be seen to feel complete. At this moment, the only action which will preserve her autonomy and her individuality is her self-destruction, since Octavius will reduce her to the level of a trophy if she allows herself to live. Her death is not wholly tragic, therefore, but has the pathos of self-transcendence.

Then Octavius strides in, and true to form he begins issuing orders for their burial and mourning. (I wonder what percentage of his lines are direct orders.) This is the play's emotionally ambiguous end. We miss the passionate intensity of Antony and Cleopatra. Octavius may be compelling in his way, but he is certainly not charismatic. And yet we can’t helping feeling—or I can’t, at least—that the self-destructive, wasteful, and egotistical love affair between these two mortal gods had to end, for the world’s sake if not for theirs. ...more

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Jul 31, 2020 Inkspill rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: drama-script-4-stage-or-audio, author-shakespeare-william-related

more 3.5 stars

The drama follows on from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but it’s a complete change of pace. This is set four years later, there is a rift between Marcus Antony and Octavius. The welfare of Rome is overseen by both of them and a third Lepidus, whom Shakespeare pays the least attention to.

I’m not sure what to make of this play – in the background there’s a rumble of rift and war when it’s driven by love. I think one of the problems with this play is that there are too many minor char ...more

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Jun 06, 2016 Evan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2016-reads, toga-time-tomes, my-faves, bard

Mark it thus...
The Bard meets the greatest love story of all time.
And the result is -- hours later -- after epic power plays, wrenching loyalty shifts in love and politics, the movements of nations; love won, lost, won and lost again -- after anger, vengeance, recrimination, betrayal and tears -- the tears of the players, and ours; and the final extinguishment of love's embers, we are spent and satisfied and elated and, again, moved by the work of an incomparable genius.

I devoted myself to an An ...more

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Jun 04, 2010 Rowland Pasaribu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Scholars believe that Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra in 1606, immediately after Macbeth, and it is one of the last great tragedies that Shakespeare produced. The most geographically sweeping of Shakespeare’s plays, Antony and Cleopatra’s setting is the entire Roman Empire, its backdrop the well-documented history of Octavius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Cleopatra. Shakespeare’s primary source for Antony and Cleopatra was the Life of Marcus Antonius contained in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Scholars believe that Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra in 1606, immediately after Macbeth, and it is one of the last great tragedies that Shakespeare produced. The most geographically sweeping of Shakespeare’s plays, Antony and Cleopatra’s setting is the entire Roman Empire, its backdrop the well-documented history of Octavius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Cleopatra. Shakespeare’s primary source for Antony and Cleopatra was the Life of Marcus Antonius contained in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, which was translated into English by Sir Thomas North in 1579. North’s language was so rich that Shakespeare incorporated large, relatively unchanged excerpts of it into his text. The plot of the play also remains close to North’s history, although characters like Enobarbus and Cleopatra’s attendants are largely Shakespearean creations.

The action of the story takes place roughly two years after the events of Shakespeare’s earlier play about the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar. At the beginning of that tragedy, Caesar has triumphed over his rival Pompey the Great, the father of young Pompey in Antony and Cleopatra, and aspires to kingship. Caesar is then assassinated by Cassius and Brutus, who hope to preserve the Roman Republic. Instead, Cassius and Brutus are defeated by Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar, Julius’s nephew, who then join Marcus Aemilius Lepidus to create a three-man government, or triumvirate, over the empire.

Historically, the action of Antony and Cleopatra takes place over a ten-year span, whereas in the play the story is compressed to fit the needs of the stage. Antony is clearly much older than he was in Julius Caesar, and his political instincts seem to be waning. Octavius Caesar was only a minor character in the earlier play, but here he comes into his own as the man who will rise to become the first Roman emperor. Most of the political battles and machinations depicted are historically accurate, as is the romance of the title characters.

In his opening lines to Demetrius, Philo complains that Antony has abandoned the military endeavors on which his reputation is based for Cleopatra’s sake. His criticism of Antony’s “dotage,” or stupidity, introduces a tension between reason and emotion that runs throughout the play (I.i.1). Antony and Cleopatra’s first exchange heightens this tension, as they argue whether their love can be put into words and understood or whether it exceeds such faculties and boundaries of reason. If, according to Roman consensus, Antony is the military hero and disciplined statesmen that Caesar and others believe him to be, then he seems to have happily abandoned his reason in order to pursue his passion. He declares: “Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch / Of the ranged empire fall” (I.i.35–36). The play, however, is more concerned with the battle between reason and emotion than the triumph of one over the other, and this battle is waged most forcefully in the character of Antony. More than any other character in the play, Antony vacillates between Western and Eastern sensibilities, feeling pulled by both his duty to the empire and his desire for pleasure, his want of military glory and his passion for Cleopatra. Soon after his nonchalant dismissal of Caesar’s messenger, the empire, and his duty to it, he chastises himself for his neglect and commits to return to Rome, lest he “lose [him:]self in dotage” (I.ii.106).

As the play progresses, Antony continues to inhabit conflicting identities that play out the struggle between reason and emotion. At one moment, he is the vengeful war hero whom Caesar praises and fears. Soon thereafter, he sacrifices his military position by unwisely allowing Cleopatra to determine his course of action. As his Roman allies—even the ever-faithful Enobarbus—abandon him, Antony feels that he has, indeed, lost himself in dotage, and he determines to rescue his noble identity by taking his own life. At first, this course of action may appear to be a triumph of reason over passion, of -Western sensibilities over Eastern ones, but the play is not that simple. Although Antony dies believing himself a man of honor, discipline, and reason, our understanding of him is not nearly as straight-forward. In order to come to terms with Antony’s character, we must analyze the aspects of his identity that he ignores. He is, in the end, a man ruled by passion as much as by reason. Likewise, the play offers us a worldview in which one sensibility cannot easily dominate another. Reason cannot ever fully conquer the passions, nor can passion wholly undo reason.

Although Antony and Cleopatra details the conflict between Rome and Egypt, giving us an idea of the Elizabethan perceptions of the difference between Western and Eastern cultures, it does not make a definitive statement about which culture ultimately triumphs. In the play, the Western and Eastern poles of the world are characterized by those who inhabit them: Caesar, for instance, embodies the stoic duty of the West, while Cleopatra, in all her theatrical grandeur, represents the free-flowing passions of the East. Caesar’s concerns throughout the play are certainly imperial: he means to invade foreign lands in order to invest them with traditions and sensibilities of his own. But the play resists siding with this imperialist impulse. Shakespeare, in other words, does not align the play’s sympathies with the West; Antony and Cleopatra can hardly be read as propaganda for Western domination. On the contrary, the Roman understanding of Cleopatra and her kingdom seems exceedingly superficial. To Caesar, the queen of Egypt is little more than a whore with a flair for drama. His perspective allows little room for the real power of Cleopatra’s sexuality—she can, after all, persuade the most decorated of generals to follow her into ignoble retreat. Similarly, it allows little room for the indomitable strength of her will, which she demonstrates so forcefully at the end of the play as she refuses to allow herself to be turned into a “Egyptian puppet” for the entertainment of the Roman masses (V.ii.204).

In Antony and Cleopatra, West meets East, but it does not, regardless of Caesar’s triumph over the land of Egypt, conquer it. Cleopatra’s suicide suggests that something of the East’s spirit, the freedoms and passions that are not represented in the play’s conception of the West, cannot be subsumed by Caesar’s victory. The play suggests that the East will live on as a visible and unconquerable counterpoint to the West, bound as inseparably and eternally as Antony and Cleopatra are in their tomb.

In one sentence, i will say this is, "The Struggle Between Reason and Emotion"… :D
...more

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May 16, 2016 Jenny rated it liked it · review of another edition

Not what I expected at all. A Midsummer Night's Dream is much more exotic than this classic love story between a Roman man and an Egyptian woman. The play should really be called Antony and Caesar because it's more about their relationship than it is about Antony and Cleopatra's. The introduction in my edition notes that there are many flaws in this play and that it's too long. I agree. This doesn't have Shakespeare's usual humor or eloquence, and there are many short short scenes that could hav ...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Cleopatra: the fiercest, most fabulous queen in Shakespeare.
Marc Antony: can't even commit suicide right. ...more

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Apr 10, 2016 Marnie rated it really liked it

Ah, Shakespeare. How many times will I return to a review of your work, only to realise I have rated it unfairly?

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Jul 14, 2016 Laurel Hicks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2017-7, books-read-in-2017, 2019-3, audible, books-read-in-2018, books-read-in-2016, books-read-in-2020, 2018-1, books-read-in-2019, 2020-8

"Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transform’d
Into a strumpet’s fool. Behold and see." ...more

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Apr 03, 2012 R.J. Askew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A WONDERFUL PIECE OF WORK

Love. Power. Love. Power. Which is the eye drawn to? It’s said women love powerful men. So does love follow power? Wealth seems to. Are powerful men happier than all the rest? And powerful women? It’s said that men are terrified of them. And if the lover loves the power more than its holder? Can love conquor power? And if it does? What of power then? Can a powerful man surrender to love and remain powerful? Behind every powerful man… Power. Love. Power. Love. Antony. C ...more

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Sep 25, 2009 Kay Fair rated it really liked it

Their celebrity couple name would be... AntoPatra.

And essentially, that is what Antony and Cleopatra are: a celebrity couple. And just like the crazy jump-on-the-couch love of TomKat, their affection is subject to deep suspicion and speculation by the public. The romance of AntoPatra is often compared with that of Romeo and Juliet in regard to both passion and poetry. However, the circumstance of celebrity makes Antony and Cleopatra vastly, sadly different from the star-crossed young lovers of V Their celebrity couple name would be... AntoPatra.

And essentially, that is what Antony and Cleopatra are: a celebrity couple. And just like the crazy jump-on-the-couch love of TomKat, their affection is subject to deep suspicion and speculation by the public. The romance of AntoPatra is often compared with that of Romeo and Juliet in regard to both passion and poetry. However, the circumstance of celebrity makes Antony and Cleopatra vastly, sadly different from the star-crossed young lovers of Verona. It is tantamount to comparing Brangelina with some high school sweethearts from Nowhere, Montana. Celebrities must adjust their behaviors and passions to suit their positions. The most interesting aspect of AntoPatra's love is therefore not the expression of their affection, but rather the adjustment of their amour.

These lovers seem to have torn a page from a Harold Pinter play and mastered the art of subtext, saying more between their lines than within them. This is especially the case when other characters are witness to the exchanges between the lovers. A celebrity couple is never truly alone, since they belong, at least in part, to the public. The fact that this is a play and an audience is truly present (even during "private" moments) just serves to elevate that paradox. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the audience may often find itself holding its collective breath as it attempts not to interrupt the intimacy of the incredibly private trysts of the young lovers. On the other hand, in Antony and Cleopatra, the audience is the literal translation, an extension, of the public eye characterized onstage. Every cough and shuffle of the audience can just serve to remind Antony and Cleopatra that someone, somewhere, is always watching.

When a celebrity relationship first develops, we all conjecture over whether it's "for real." Is it just because his career is slacking? Is it a stunt to take media attention off her botched boob job? Etc. Etc. Ad Nauseum. And the more I view AntoPatra as a celebrity couple, the more I find myself analyzing the sincerity of their purported affection. Would Cleopatra love Antony if he were a mere Roman warrior? Would Antony care for Cleopatra if she were an Egyptian peasant? Likely not. I'll go out on a limb here and say defiantly not. While it can't be said that their love is based solely on the advantages one garners for the other (their relationship often creates more drama than glory), it is likely that they love based on the prestige of their partner. They see each other as worthy, powerful equals. As with modern celebrity couples, the attraction of power and wealth to power and wealth isn't necessarily just due to elitism. They understand (even if they fail to accept) the constraints that power, wealth and position imply. (Complete review available at www.whatrefuge.blogspot.com) ...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Rhiannon Johnson rated it really liked it

The character Cleopatra, in William Shakespeare's “Antony and Cleopatra,” possesses a multitude of contradictions. Through constant clashes in speech and action, Shakespeare constructs a complex female character. Critic Anna Jameson refers to Cleopatra as “a brilliant antithesis—a compound of contradictions” (Quint 244). Jameson recognizes Shakespeare's “deep meaning and wonderous [sic] skill in the apparent enigma” of Cleopatra (244). Shakespeare remediates the stories of Plutarch and Genesis t ...more

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About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been tr William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day.

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

According to historians, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout the span of his life. Shakespeare's writing average was 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. There have been plays and sonnets attributed to Shakespeare that were not authentically written by the great master of language and literature.
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Quotes from Antony and Cleopatra

“The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack: the round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets,
And citizens to their dens.” — 1098 likes

“In time we hate that which we often fear.” — 839 likes

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