Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was performed first circa 1607 at the Blackfriars Theater or the Globe Theater by the King’s Men. Its first appearance in print was in the Folio of 1623.

   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 (a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals) 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.

   Many consider Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, whom Antony describes as having ‘infinite variety,” as one of the most complex and fully developed female characters in the playwright’s body of work. She is frequently vain and histrionic enough to provoke an audience almost to scorn; at the same time, Shakespeare invests her and Antony with tragic grandeur. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses. It is difficult to classify Antony and Cleopatra as belonging to a single genre. It can be described as a history play (although it does not completely adhere to historical accounts), as a tragedy (although not completely in Aristotelian terms), as a comedy, as a romance, and according to some critics, e.g. McCarter, a problem play. All one can say with certainty is it is a Roman play, possibly even a sequel to another of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Julius Caesar.