Antony and Cleopatra
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Scholars have suggested that Cleopatra is one of William Shakespeare’s most complex and powerful female characters, while others see her as a sexualized object. Analyze Cleopatra’s role in the narrative . Is she depicted as a powerful leader, a manipulative seductress, or a mixture of both? Use evidence from the text to explain your argument.
Egypt and Rome are set up as opposite societies in the play. How is each one depicted, and what is the significance of each? Does Shakespeare seem to portray one society as better or worthier of victory, or is there ambiguity in the portrayal of both?
When Antony and Cleopatra was originally performed, all roles would have been played by male actors, with the character of Cleopatra being portrayed by a younger boy. How might that context change your view of the treatment of gender transgression throughout the play? How does the play explore notions of masculinity and femininity more generally?
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76 Cleopatra Essay Topic Ideas & Examples
🏆 best cleopatra topic ideas & essay examples, 👩🏾 good research topics about cleopatra, ✍️ interesting topics to write about cleopatra, ❓ questions about cleopatra.
- Cleopatra and Her Influence on the Ptolemaic Dynasty C and he left the will that he allowed Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII, her younger brother, to rule the kingdom and Cleopatra was directed to wed her brother and deputy ruler because of the Egyptians’ […]
- Cleopatra’s Life, From Her Ascension to the Throne to Solemn Death The bond between Antony and Cleopatra continued to strengthen and resulted in the return of most of Egypt’s empires that had been conquered by the Romans.
- Rulers From Different Cultures: Cleopatra and Wu Zetian The main difference was the family background of Cleopatra and Wu Zhao. The second cultural divergence was the governments of the two countries in which Cleopatra and Wu Zhao ruled.
- Cleopatra’ and Caesar’ Relationship It must be noted though that based off historical accounts the relationship between Cleopatra and Julius Caesar was bound to fail even before it started due to the volatile combination of their personalities and the […]
- Roles in Diplomacy: Cleopatra and Hatshepsut The reemergence of Nubia and the Kushites, which were the allies of Hyksos, was a major threat to the survival of the kingdom and Hatshepsut was expected to take a strong action to salvage the […]
- “Since Cleopatra Died” by Neil Powell Therefore, the misuse of tense and context in Shakespeare can drastically change the meaning of any of his plays, even among the characters in the plays themselves.
- “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Coriolanus” by Shakespeare According to Aristotle, the tragedy of the hero is as a result of his weakness becoming superior hence, he shows frailness in his judgment.
- “Cleopatra” by Michael Grant Life of Cleopatra is still one of the most captivating subjects in a world’s history. In the introduction to Cleopatra the author designates the main thesis of his work.
- “Cleopatra” Movie by Joseph L. Mankiewicz The movie spans the last years of Egypt before it became a Roman province, with the political intrigue around it and the emotional intrigue that Cleopatra stirred with her wit, beauty, and ambition.
- Queen Elizabeth I and Cleopatra as Female Leaders She led her country with a lot of zeal and determination to give the best and rectify the shortcomings of her predecessors.
- Cleopatra: Heartless Oppressor or Conscientious Goddess Caesar was embroiled in a civil war against the Roman general, Pompey, who had fled to Egypt with the hope of garnering support from Cleopatra’s brother and Pharaoh at the time, namely, Ptolemy-XIII, whereby the […]
- Cleopatra – The Queen of Egypt The queen wanted the assistance of Caesar, and thus she found a way of going to the Regal citadel to speak to Caesar and request for her cause for action.
- Cleopatra: The Last Queen of Egypt Cleopatra was the only female ruler in prehistoric times to customarily govern autonomously- not simply as an heir to her late husband- but to a great extent; she attempted to rescue and save a dying […]
- Do Antony and Cleopatra Transcend the East-West Divide in Their Relationship? This piece of work gives a critical analysis of the play, Antony and Cleopatra, with much emphasis given to the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra. From the play, it is palpable that the relationship between […]
- Character Analysis: Enobarbus in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
- Comparative Study Between Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet
- Comparison of Wealth in Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest
- Analysis Of The Movie ‘Cleopatra’
- Analysis of the Significant Woman on Egypt’s Last Pharaoh, Cleopatra
- How was Cleopatra portrayed through art, particularly the Renaissance?
- How Does Act 1 of Antony and Cleopatra Prepare the Reader for Tragedy?
- How Shakespeare Makes The Audience Aware Of Cleopatra’s Infinite Variety In The Opening Act?
- Nefertiti and Cleopatra, Famous and Powerful but Very Different
- Comparison Of Pharaoh Cleopatra And Tang Empress Wu Zetian
- Conflict Between Public and Private Life in the Story of Cleopatra
- What Does the Passage Tell Us About Plutarch s View of the Relationship Between Anthony Cleopatra?
- What Do Representations of Cleopatra in Film and on Television Tell Us About How Her Reputation Changed over Time?
- What impression does Dio give of the relationship between Cleopatra and Antony?
- Who Is Cleopatra?
- Why Was Cleopatra And The Reason The Egyptian Empire Fell?
- Biography and Life Work of Cleopatra, an Egyptian Queen
- History of the Reign of Cleopatra in Egypt in 51 BC
- Caesar and Cleopatra’s Affair at the Expense of Calphurnia
- Cleopatra and Mark Antony
- Cleopatra and the Role of Women in Ancient Societies
- Cleopatra’s Beauty Explained by History
- Who Emerges As The Most Powerful Figure Throughout The Play?
- How Does Shakespeare Construct The Conditions For Tragedy In Antony And Cleopatra?
- Love and Politics in Antony And Cleopatra
- Octavian, Anthony and Cleopatra: Propaganda and the Myth
- Political Interests Of Antony And Cleopatra
- Main Characteristics of Tragedy in the Dramatic and Literary Sense Applied to Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
- Relationships Between Men and Women in Paradise Lost
- Which Egyptian Queen made the greatest contribution to her country Hatshepsut or Cleopatra?
- What Ultimately Made Cleopatra Attractive?
- What Type of Ruler Was Cleopatra?
- How Was Cleopatra Successful?
- How Does Shakespeare Depict Cleopatra?
- Why Was Cleopatra a Strong Woman?
- Who Was the Real Cleopatra?
- How Did Cleopatra Make an Impact on Society?
- How Does Shakespeare Construct the Conditions for Tragedy in Antony and Cleopatra?
- What Does the Passage Tell Us About Plutarch’s View of the Relationship Between Antony and Cleopatra?
- How Was Cleopatra Educated?
- Was Cleopatra a Feminist?
- How Was Cleopatra Described?
- What Lessons Can We Learn From Cleopatra?
- How Does the Conflict Between Roman Duty and Egyptian Sensuousness Develop the Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra?
- Did Cleopatra Benefit Egypt?
- Why Is Cleopatra an Icon?
- What Impression Does Dio Give of the Relationship Between Cleopatra and Antony?
- How Does Shakespeare Present the Idea of Cleopatra as a Powerful Character?
- How Do We Know Cleopatra Existed?
- Was Cleopatra’s Tomb Found?
- Which Egyptian Queen Made the Greatest Contribution to Her Country: Hatshepsut or Cleopatra?
- Why Was Cleopatra Famous?
- How Has Cleopatra Changed the World?
- What Were Cleopatra’s Major Accomplishments?
- Was Cleopatra a Successful Ruler?
- What Makes Cleopatra Great?
- How Did Cleopatra Impact Egypt?
- Does Cleopatra Deserve Her Reputation as a Seductress?
- How Did Cleopatra Impact the Modern World?
- Was Cleopatra More of an Egyptian or Greek Monarch?
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Antony and Cleopatra William Shakespeare
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Antony and Cleopatra Essays
Infinite virtue: a close reading of antony and cleopatra, iv.viii.12-18 alex hoffer, antony and cleopatra.
IV.viii of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra is a short scene, less than 40 lines, and an entirely unexpected one. The preceding scenes of Act IV, such as Hercules' departure and Enobarbus' desertion, heavily foreshadow Antony's defeat. When...
Stoic Constancy in Antony and Cleopatra Leah Milner
Antony and Cleopatra is a play of conflicting values and paradoxical ideologies. Its central dynamic is the Roman/ Egyptian dichotomy, with each pole representing a web of associated values and attributes. Egypt is variously associated with "the...
The Power of True Loyalty Tarek Sultani
The value of loyalty is that it allows its recipient to feel secure in a world where almost nothing is absolute. Under this circumstance, loyalty has become a highly valued quality in today's society. Unfortunately true loyalty is a difficult...
Witchy Women: Female Magic and Otherness in Western Literature Rose Roll
Tales of women as sorceresses and magic-wielders abound in the literature and mythology of cultures that promote the gendered binary of culture over nature, activity over passivity, and reason over superstition. In these patriarchal societies,...
Pain, Power and Folly Anonymous
The title characters of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra are difficult to fully understand due to their seemingly illogical actions towards one another. At times, they seem to be in direct opposition to each other's causes, yet still fully and...
Horned Soldiers Kenneth Russo
Military prowess is a quality attributed to many of Shakespeare's male characters. Great military men such as Hotspur, Lear, Hal and Julius Caesar share a proclivity for the military arts with Othello and Marc Antony. As a superior dramatist,...
Meeting and Conversation as Character Development in Antony & Cleopatra Jory Anna Nagel
In Shakespeare, first impressions are often an implicit demonstration of a main theme. In Antony and Cleopatra, the first meeting of Antony and Octavius Caesar is no exception. In this reunion of the triumvirate, the three leaders of Rome,...
How does Shakespeare present Antony and Cleopatra's relationship? Anonymous
Antony and Cleopatra’s love for one another is the prominent theme throughout the play, and although both characters profess to an incomparable “peerless” love, they encourage doubt in the audience by acting in a manner that appears to contradict...
Rome and Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra Robert Drane
How and why does Shakespeare create two distinct worlds of Rome and Egypt in the first two acts of the play?
Antony and Cleopatra is set predominantly in Egypt and Rome and Shakespeare organises the plot around the conflict between East and West....
Virginia Woolf and William Shakespeare Anonymous
Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” offers a major piece of literary analysis with an eye towards the ever evolving role of the female author. During Woolf’s discussion of past and present writers, she repeatedly refers to the work of William...
“Listening in Silence”: The Roles of Captain Wentworth and Cleopatra in Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra Anonymous
Placing Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion and William Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra side by side, one observes an interesting parallelism in the manner in which the protagonists are portrayed. Though the views and opinions of Austen’s Anne...
Paradox and Similarity in Antony and Cleopatra Phoebe Witts 12th Grade
To its original audience, experiencing political change as the new rule of James led to the expansion of the British Empire, Antony and Cleopatra resonates with the “infinite variety” they were experiencing and the vast changeability of the modern...
Duality in Act One of Antony and Cleopatra Lucy McCracken 12th Grade
'Antony and Cleopatra' by William Shakespeare is a tragic play which centres around the renowned love affair of the eponymous characters and its political and personal repercussions. In Act One, Shakespeare uses both the distinction of time and...
Character Development in Act Two of Antony and Cleopatra Lucy McCracken 12th Grade
With six of its seven scenes set in the West, Act Two of 'Antony and Cleopatra' by William Shakespeare largely concerns the politics of Rome. Act Two is important in further developing the characters of Antony, Octavius, Cleopatra and Enobarbus....
Shakespeare's Elusive Cleopatra Anonymous 12th Grade
Of Shakespearean representations of women, it is perhaps the inexhaustible character of Cleopatra that is the most elusive of classification, which seems fitting given Antony and Cleopatra’s own defiance of dramatic genre with its tragic, comedic...
Imagery in Antony and Cleopatra Ishan Marvel College
In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare uses grand evocative imagery for a variety of reasons such as juxtaposing Rome against Egypt, and to add different dimensions to the main characters. Moreover, there are a few overriding themes throughout the...
Use of Stagecraft in Antony and Cleopatra Holly Partridge 12th Grade
Shakespeare uses stagecraft in a number of different ways to create dramatic effects in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. Jacobean stages were very simple, not much more than an empty wooden platform thrust into the middle of spectators with no scenery to...
Cleopatra: Merely a "Morsel for a Monarch?" Megan Shannon 11th Grade
Cleopatra, “Egypt’s Queen,” is arguably Shakespeare’s most resilient and enchanting female protagonist. She is personified as the embodiment of her country, ‘the soul of Egypt’, and defies the reductive Jacobean “most monster-like” perspective of...
West and East: Values in "Antony and Cleopatra" Tina Gan 12th Grade
In Antony and Cleopatra , Shakespeare constructs conflicts between world empire and human passion. The sensual and wasteful opulence of the East, where ‘the the beds are softer’ is juxtaposed to the cold, bare efficiency of the West. Egypt stands...
Tension in Antony and Cleopatra Joseph Collins 12th Grade
In his play Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare develops a constant theme of clashing duty and desire that can be seen throughout the entirety of the work; this theme is most potently exemplified through the actions of the main characters,...
The Spectrum of Duty and Desire: An Analysis of Antony and Cleopatra Dakotah Gerlach 12th Grade
In his play, Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents duty and desire on a metaphorical spectrum through the individual narratives of several characters including Antony, Cleopatra and Pompey. When presenting duty and desire in Antony and...
From Tragedy to Reality: Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, and "Antony and Cleopatra" Sebastian Melbourne College
William Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra and Samuel Johnson’s exploration of Shakespeare’s techniques and his verity within theatre in ‘The Plays of William Shakespeare' both engage the topic of the representation of reality. The play...
Actium and a New Perspective on Antony: The Dramatic Significance of Act 3 Scene 11 Yaw Guan Hong 11th Grade
The Battle of Actium is one of the more pivotal moments in Antony and Cleopatra. Mark Antony, having lost the battle, undergoes a period of self-reflection and emotional trauma which changes our perception of the character. The analysis of the...
The Importance of Enobarbus in "Antony and Cleopatra" Ellis Tilley 11th Grade
In ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ Enobarbus is a trusted follower and close friend of Antony’s, who has the freedom of speaking openly about personal issues that Antony confides in him about. Although he has limited influence over Antony when compared...
Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Antony and Cleopatra — The Portrayal Of The Relationship Between Antony And Cleopatra By Shakespeare
The Portrayal of The Relationship Between Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare
- Categories: Antony and Cleopatra
About this sample
Words: 3055 |
Pages: 6.5 |
16 min read
Published: Jun 29, 2018
Words: 3055 | Pages: 6.5 | 16 min read
Table of contents
Introduction, cleopatra's controlling behavior, antony's submissive reaction, hyperbolic affection and complimentary comparisons, sacrifice and political motivations, suicides of antony and cleopatra.
"The purposes I bear; which are, or cease, As you shall give the advice."
"Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch of the rang’d empire fall!"
“until of many thousand kisses the poor last I lay upon thy lips.”
“Shall I abide in this dull world, which in thy absence is no better than a sty?”
“Where art thou, death? Come hither, come; come, come”. Keep in mind: This is only a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get custom essay
References:
- Greenblatt, S. (Ed.). (2018). “Antony and Cleopatra”. The Norton Shakespeare (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
- Shakespeare, W. (2019). “Antony and Cleopatra”. In B. Mowat & P. Werstine (Eds.), Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra (Folger Shakespeare Library). Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.
- Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2010). Antony and Cleopatra (Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations). Infobase Publishing.
- Bevington, D. M. (2005). Antony and Cleopatra (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series). Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare.
- Neill, M. (Ed.). (2017). “Antony and Cleopatra”. The Oxford Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra (Oxford World’s Classics). Oxford University Press.
- Vaughan, V., & Vaughan, A. T. (2016). Shakespeare’s Caliban: A Cultural History. Cambridge University Press.
- Dollimore, J. (2017). Radical Tragedy: Religion, Ideology and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
- McAlindon, T. (2003). The Tragic Knot: Antony and Cleopatra as a Problem Play. The Review of English Studies, 54(215), 241-261.
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By the end of the play, the eponymous, tragic hero Antony has lost the battle of Actium and ultimately kills himself after the defeat. Due to this many would say that Caesar has achieved a complete victory over his rival; [...]
In William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," the character Enobarbus plays a multifaceted and crucial role. As a trusted follower and close friend of Antony, he serves as a confidant to the protagonist, offering a unique [...]
Military prowess is a quality attributed to many of Shakespeare's male characters. Great military men such as Hotspur, Lear, Hal and Julius Caesar share a proclivity for the military arts with Othello and Marc Antony. As a [...]
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Love, Pleasure, and Decadence
Antony and Cleopatra opens with a scene in which Antony professes his unfathomable love for Cleopatra and, while the play covers much of the political drama surrounding the crumbling of the Roman republic and creation of the Roman Empire under Octavius, it is also centrally about the romantic relationship between Antony and Cleopatra (after all, it’s not entitled Antony and Octavius ). Antony tells Cleopatra that his love has no bounds, and often it certainly…
Honor, Loyalty, and Betrayal
Antony and Cleopatra takes place at a time of serious political turmoil and civil strife, with leaders rising and falling, as Fulvia , Pompey , Lepidus , Octavius , Antony , and Cleopatra all jostle for political power. Thus, ordinary people, advisors, soldiers, and attendants are forced to decide who to follow and be loyal to. The leaders, meanwhile, must rely on the loyalty of their followers. It is when Antony's soldiers effectively desert that…
Strategy, Manipulation, and Power
As various political players struggle for control over the crumbling Roman republic, most of the play’s characters attempt to strategize and manipulate their way to safety and power. Alliances shift throughout the play, as Antony and Octavius begin on the same side (against Pompey ), before Octavius turns on Lepidus , and Antony and Octavius turn on each other. Lesser commanders must figure out their own strategies, as well. Enobarbus leaves Antony, hoping it will…
Messages, Warnings, and Omens
Shakespeare’s tragedy is filled with messages and warnings; messengers and helpers come and go in both Rome and Egypt, bringing important news to major political players like Antony , Cleopatra , and Octavius . The play shows the importance of these intermediary characters who are necessary for the main characters’ plans to be carried out (and upon whom the plot of the play relies). But at the same time, the play shows the danger of…
Gender Roles
Throughout the play, Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship transgresses the bounds of traditional gender roles. Cleopatra is powerful and manipulative, and Antony seems to become weaker and less decisive as he spends more time under her sway. His men worry that he is under the control of Cleopatra and his soldier Canidius tells a fellow soldier that because of this they are “women’s men.” In Act 2, Scene 5, Cleopatra mentions a time that she got…
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Antony and Cleopatra
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Libretto by John Adams from Shakespeare with supplementary passages from Plutarch, Virgil and and other classical texts. Libretto consultation by Elkhanah Pulitzer and Lucia Scheckner .
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“ [Amina] Edris ’ performance—tonally luxuriant, dramatically changeable, inspiring equal degrees of awe and pathos—rose to the challenge in every way.” -San Francisco Chronicle
“The cast is top-notch. Gerald Finley … as Antony offers a fine blend of fading nobility and lovesick weakness.” -Financial Times
“ Eun Sun Kim ’s conducting and constant cueing of the singers is splendid, especially in the big orchestral interludes where Adams’s music takes flight.” -The Telegraph
A Roman general and an Egyptian queen embark on a torrid romance, one that will disrupt alliances, end marriages, and spark a pitiless war that gives rise to a new leader, Caesar.
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SCENE 1 : Cleopatra’s bedroom in Alexandria. Antony is barely recovered from the previous night’s festivities. She taunts him about his Roman wife Fulvia and needles him repeatedly about “the scarce-bearded Caesar.” Realizing he must temporarily return to Rome, Antony affirms his love for her, to which she responds with scorn and self-pity. SCENE 2 : In Rome Caesar voices his disgust for Antony’s shirking of duties in Egypt while he, Caesar, has to deal with a mounting insurrection. Antony arrives, greeted by a chilly, annoyed Caesar. A heated argument ensues. Agrippa makes a surprise proposal: that Antony marry Octavia, Caesar’s sister, who has recently become a widow. To everyone’s astonishment Antony agrees. Enobarbus describes the fantastic scene when Antony first met Cleopatra in Cydnus, her glamorous arrival, dressed as Aphrodite, on her barge with its perfumed, purple sails, and her irresistible magnetism (“Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.”) SCENE 3 : Back in Alexandria Cleopatra lounges by the pool, pining away theatrically for Antony. Eros arrives with news of Antony’s marriage to Octavia. Cleopatra erupts in a rage. Unwilling to hear the truth she continues to ask the same question, “Is he married?” SCENE 4 : Antony, humiliated by Caesar and forced to move to Athens in order to isolate him and minimize his influence, resolves to make preparations for war against him. Now officially Antony’s wife, Octavia voices her frustration in being caught in the middle of the two men she loves. She must choose between her husband and her brother. Perhaps she already senses Antony will abandon her. An infuriated Caesar receives the news that Antony and Cleopatra are back together again and behaving in flagrant disregard of Rome, Antony “bestowing” Cyprus, Lydia, Syria to her as if he had the power to do so. Caesar is interrupted by the surprise appearance of his pregnant sister Octavia, who has fled back to Rome. Insulted now two-fold, Caesar declares war against Antony. SCENE 5 (The Battle of Actium): Despite the fact that his navy is cobbled together from inexperienced sailors and inadequate vessels, Antony is exuberant, savoring the return of his long-lost military prowess. His pride is such that he believes he can win any contest. Cleopatra has provided sixty of her own Egyptian warships. The naval battle goes badly for Antony, and at a critical moment Cleopatra inexplicably recalls her ships. Worse still, Antony draws back his navy and flees, following hers. The result is catastrophic. Alone on the deck of his ship, Antony rues his fascination with Cleopatra and blames her as well as himself for the catastrophic outcome of the battle. (“All is lost! This foul Egyptian has betrayed me.”)
SCENE 1 : Returned to Egypt, Antony and Cleopatra replay the devastating lost sea battle. She is contrite for having withdrawn her ships from the battle, never having suspected he would follow her. His military power, he says, has been neutered by his love for her. He will now have to send entreaties to the young Caesar, a galling humiliation for Antony, the once celebrated warrior. In Rome Caesar reads petitions from both Antony and Cleopatra, both bowing to his authority and begging his mercy. He orders Agrippa to go to Alexandria and convince Cleopatra to abandon Antony. Agrippa, now in Alexandria, meets alone with Cleopatra to present Caesar’s proposal. She responds ambiguously while Agrippa flamboyantly kisses her hand. Antony, having observed this, interrupts and orders Agrippa to be whipped. In a blistering diatribe, Antony unloads on Cleopatra—“the false soul of Egypt”-- accusing her of duplicity and lack of faith in him. Charmian urges her queen to flee to safety in the monument (a fortified tower). SCENE 2 : Caesar gives a rousing speech to the populace, proclaiming Rome’s absolute dominance over the known world. A chorus of “vox populi” hail his ascendance. This signals the end of the Republic and with it, the rise of the Roman Empire and Caesar’s transformation to Emperor Augustus. SCENE 3 : Cleopatra, returned to her court, bids her maid Iras to go to Antony and inform him that she, Cleopatra, has committed suicide out of remorse. It is a ruse on her part, intended to recapture his attention. But Antony believes this false information and, in despair, orders his loyal servant Eros to help him commit suicide. Eros refuses, killing himself instead, forcing Antony to carry out the act alone. But Antony bungles. Charmian arrives, is shocked to see him writhing in agony and tells him that Cleopatra is indeed still alive. Cleopatra, up to now afraid to leave the security of the monument, is unable to resist coming to Antony. She rushes to his side in a state of extreme remorse and despair. With great effort the women carry his heavy, nearly lifeless body up the stairs to the safety of the monument. He is failing and she is beside herself, (“Noblest of men, wil’t thou die? Hast thou no care of me?”) Antony dies in her arms. SCENE 4 : A triumphant Caesar dispatches Maecenas to go to Cleopatra and offer official forgiveness, although his ulterior motive is to exhibit her in Rome as a victory trophy. There is now no hope of escape for Cleopatra. Maecenas arrives in Alexandria with Caesar’s patronizing message. (“Be of good cheer. You’ve fallen into a princely hand; fear nothing.”) But Roman soldiers suddenly seize Cleopatra, who reacts by attempting to stab herself. Maecenas orders them to release her, but not before he admits to Cleopatra that Caesar indeed will parade her in humiliation through the streets of Rome. Cleopatra commands her women to bring her finest clothes, her crown and her jewels. A peasant brings a basket that contains several poisonous asps. Each of the women lies back and applies an asp to her body. Cleopatra imagines she hears Antony call. (“I see him rouse himself to praise my noble act. I hear him mock the luck of Caesar.”) She dies.
Amina Edris
Gerald Finley
Paul Appleby
Alfred Walker
Elizabeth DeShong
Brenton Ryan
Taylor Raven*
Hadleigh Adams
Patrick Blackwell*
Gabrielle Beteag
Timothy Murray
Philip Skinner
Creative team.
Eun Sun Kim
Elkhanah Pulitzer
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Constance Hoffman
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer/Mixing Engineer
Projection Designer
Bill Morrison*
Lucia Scheckner*
Movement Director
Chorus Director
Fight Director
* San Francisco Opera Debut
PERFORMANCES September 10, 15, 18, 23, 27; October 2, 5, 2022 Co-commissioned and co-produced with the Liceu Opera Barcelona and the Metropolitan Opera New York
Made Possible By
This production is made possible, in part, by Opening Weekend Grand Sponsor Diane B. Wilsey.
Additional support provided by the Carol Franc Buck Foundation; the Edgar Foster Daniels Foundation; Bertie Bialek Elliott; Bob Ellis; John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn; Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem; and the Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for New Productions.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Antony and Cleopatra Essay Examples
Shakespeare's 'antony and cleopatra': conflict of love and power.
Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' portrays a tragic play, with a conflict of love and power. Antony and Caesar both connote a drive towards different passions in which the themes of love and power cause conflict between both parties. The ideals of the two distant lands...
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