Antony and Cleopatra Essay

Throughout Antony and Cleopatras massive theatrical history, many generations have perceived the represented conflict amidst eastern and western set in the light of their own concerns, often concluding that one sphere is innately more clean than its converse. This is heightened by Shakespeares ambiguity in his portrayal of the characters of Caesar and Cleopatra, who embody West and tocopherol respectively.Many of Shakespeares contemporaries saw striking parallels between Caesar and the new King James, who had expressed a wish to sprain a new, English Augustus. Audiences, therefore, could infer that through the authors portrayal of Caesar as a chilly force, lacking empathy and humanity but proffering peace and unity, Shakespeare was alluding to James as representative of a new horse opera value system that he could not fully endorse. Audiences may have understood the idea that with the heralding of a new era, a key element which the east in the diarrhoea represents had been repressed from the British consciousness. any(prenominal) would have associated this with the death of Queen Elizabeth, a popular, enigmatic ruler who, in retrospect seemed to embody the exsert of a Golden Age, where mystery and splendour existed alongside reason and politics.Often, priggish Victorian audiences found the play rather challenging to their notion of the innate supremacy of British civilisation and Western values. By the nineteenth century, Britain had metamorphosed into a dominant world power similar to that controlled by Caesar, and many features, such as a rampant imperialism, a strive for power, and a tendency to frequently moralise, were in common with that of the capital of Italy presented by Shakespeare.Their Western perspective, and the absence of any moral conclusion by Shakespeare, led many Victorians to adopt the Roman viewpoint ultimately empathise with Caesar and condemn the protagonists love as innately immoral. Many Victorians were repelled by an ei nsteinium that was practically the antithesis of their society the frank portrayal of sexuality, the fraternisation of royals with commoners, and the all overall decadence of the Alexandrian court were condemned, and although audiences were lock fascinated by Cleopatra, she was cast as the villain of the piece, whoThe triple pillar of the world transformedInto a strumpets fool.The 20th century saw a diverse range of responses towards the antithesis, many same with the perspectives from which theatrical productions approached the problem. There is still sometimes the tendency to moralise the concepts of Rome and Egypt, arguing one moldiness be good and the other automatically bad, and many productions focus on either the political (Roman) or the emotional (Egyptian) aspects of the play.Since the catastrophe of September 11th, the media have largely exaggerated the notion of an inherent conflict between the Christian West and the Islamic East, and this adds a new dimension to the play for current viewers.The antithesis between Rome and Egypt tears them apart, but also inextricably entangles them. As without light, there would be no darkness, where East does not exist, the concept of West is nullified. Both are essential components of complete humanity, and Caesars apparent victory over Egypt is notable only for its superficiality the East can never be expunged, and will always be a key element of human consciousness.However, through their deaths, Antony and Cleopatra transcend these converse forces, and in reconciling East and West to reach the ultimate potential of their humanity are propelled into the realms of mythology. The conclusion is one merging tragedy and supreme divinity, where the lovers are seemingly destroyed by the world yet truly conquer it, praise into immortality and splendour as the magnificent lovers that the tumultuous, paradoxical mortal world could never allow them to be.BibliographyAntony and Cleopatra William ShakespeareAntony an d Cleopatra A Shakespearean adjustment -John F DanbyMacmillan Master Guides Antony and Cleopatra Martin Wine