A05 Critical Quotes

Question 1

Cleopatra’s Dominance

Answer 1

Simpson
‘The play, in fact, might have been called Cleopatra’

• Cleopatra’s dominance over Antony (Act 3, Scene 11 and 14)
• Cleopatra’s dominance over Caesar (Act 5, Scene 2)
• Cleopatra’s dominance over nature (Act 2, Scene 2)

Question 2

Importance of Cleopatra’s suicide

Answer 2

Mills
‘Does she kill herself to be with Antony or to escape Caesar? It is the final question.’

• Does she not want to be a prisoner of Caesar’s triumph OR does is it a declaration of her love to Antony

Question 3

Antony Around Cleopatra

Answer 3

Robin Cameron
‘Antony follows her like a lovesick schoolboy’

• Battle of Actium
• Cleopatra’s control over Antony
• Antony’s loss of Roman identity = emotion (love) over reason

Question 4

Fast Paced Structure

Answer 4

Dr Johnson
‘Continual Hurry’

• Play moves between two locations and their are 44 scene changes. This creates a sense of ‘continual hurry’ reflecting Antony’s internal conflict and how ‘Antony is torn between two worlds’
• Highlights the chaos of empire.

Question 5

Cleopatra Being Masculine

Answer 5

Duraj
‘Shakespeare allows her to exhibit masculine - even Roman qualities.’

• Cleopatra seems to exhibit the most control = over Antony and Caesar = masculine trait
• Antony becomes increasingly weaker and indecisive = Feminine trait
• The lines between gender are blurred
• In the RSP 1999 production of Antony and Cleopatra, there was a cross gender casting, where men took on the role of Cleopatra, highlighting this blur in gender

Question 6

Structure of the Play

Answer 6

Emry Jones
‘untidy-looking arrangement serves to bring out the untidiness of life’

• Shifting and unpredictability of Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship = such as the Mediterranean sea
• Chaos of empire
• 44 scene changes = mirroring Antony’s chaotic internal conflict and chaotic pull between Rome and Egypt

Question 7

Performance of Antony and Cleopatra’s Relationship

Answer 7

Harold Bloom
‘We never see them alone together’

• ‘If it be love indeed, tell me how much’
• Highlighted by the cosmic imagery = their love transcends earthly limitations = their love is powerful and mythologises them = however this shows the extent of the destructiveness of their relationship e.g death
• Emphasised by Cleopatra’s theatrical nature e.g her death in Scene 5, Act 2.