Antony and Cleopatra Critics Flashcards
(20 cards)
What does William Hazlitt suggest about speaking and acting?
Speak and act from real feelings, according to the ebbs and flows of passion.
How does A.C. Bradley describe Cleopatra?
Coquetting, tormenting, beguiling… an enchantress.
What is A.C. Bradley’s view on Octavius’s character?
Took little interest in the character of Octavius.
What does Jan Kott say about rulers?
Even rulers do not have the freedom of choice.
How does Jonathon Dollimore describe power?
Described in terms of power: languages of possession and conspicuous wealth.
What does Linda Fitz suggest about Cleopatra?
Cleopatra needs to be demythologised.
What role does Janet Adelman attribute to Enobarbus?
He is the spokesman for Cleopatra’s paradoxes, establishing her portrait as one of the facts of the play.
What is Frank Kermode’s view on Octavius’s mentality?
A Machiavellian sense of political reality is the entirety of Octavius’ mentality.
How does Ernest Shanzer describe emotional extremes?
Violent veering between emotional extremes.
What does Lord Byron say about Cleopatra?
Cleopatra is the epitome of sex.
What does Adrian Poole say about the Egyptian world?
The Egyptian world of relaxed comic banter was shot through with Roman anxieties.
What is Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s view on Cleopatra’s identity?
Her otherness is twofold. She is an Oriental, and she is a woman.
How does Adrian Poole contrast Rome and Egypt?
Rome is home, work, duty, restraint, responsibility; Egypt is abroad, holiday, freedom, excess.
What does Derek Traversi say about the tragedy?
A tragedy of lyrical inspiration, justifying love by presenting it as triumphant over death.
What does William Hazlitt say about Cleopatra’s death?
The grandeur of her death redeems them (her faults).
How does Anna Brownell Jameson describe Cleopatra?
Cleopatra is a consistent inconsistency.
What does A.C. Bradley say about Cleopatra’s impact on Antony?
She destroys him.
What does George Bernard Shaw say about sympathy for Antony?
You can’t feel any sympathy with Antony after he runs away.
What is H.A. Mason’s view on the dramatic presentation of Antony?
The Antony who is presented dramatically never makes us believe in these.
Sean McEvoy on the nature of possessions of Rome vs Egypt
Rome focuses on worldly reputation where Egypt is fulfilments not to be measured in worldly terms
