ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas Norths translation of Plutarchs Life of Markus Antonius and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Parthian War to Cleopatras suicide. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antonys fellow triumvirs and the future first emperor of Rome. The tragedy is a Roman play characterized by swift, panoramic shifts in geographical locations and in registers, alternating between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and the more pragmatic, austere Rome. Many consider the role of Cleopatra in this play one of the most complex female roles in Shakespeares work. She is frequently vain and histrionic, provoking an audience almost to scorn; at the same time, Shakespeares efforts invest both her and Antony with tragic grandeur. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses.