Antony and Cleopatra

Description

First performed around the year 1607, Antony and Cleopatra is one of William Shakespeare’s renowned tragedies. The Bard uses the plot to animate the strong contrasts between war and love, tragedy and irony, and the ambition of a noble Roman soldier at war in his own soul with the powerful attraction and love of a remarkable woman.

The action is set in Rome and Egypt, with the main protagonists being Mark Antony, one of the triumvirs of the Roman Republic, and Cleopatra, the legendary last pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt. The dynamics between the two are captivating to watch throughout the story, as Antony is in constant conflict between his duties to Rome and his love and desire for Cleopatra. Eventually the two are briefly united, but Antony’s ties and confrontations with Rome, together with Cleopatra’s unruly nature, prove to be further challenges.

The central theme in the play seems to be the constant shifting of tones between ironic and heroic, never allowing the balance to shift too much in the favor of one or the other, but maintaining the flow of the story through brilliant characterizations and scenes that showcase the characters’ remarkable depth and complexity.

Shakespeare manages to keep his audience at the edge of their seat throughout this remarkably dynamic and well-constructed play. The characters themselves seem to come alive in the most unpredictable manners, and Shakespeare not only creates a small set of realistic main characters, but also uses messengers, subordinates and servants to paint a more vivid, insightful and entertaining picture of the complete story.

From the most casual dialogue to the most exciting of passages, even reading this story will make you feel like you are traveling back through time to be a witness of history. Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra will thrill, delight and shock you, just as it has its many audiences and readers throughout the past 400 years.
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