What’s it about? There’s this guy named Antony. And this queen named Cleopatra. They are in love. But they make mistakes, and certain people don’t want them to be together, and they both end up killing themselves.
What is it really about? Antony and Cleopatra are in love but there are complications and they kill themselves. It’s kind of a (slightly more) feminist Romeo and Juliet, actually
No, really. What’s it ACTUALLY about? Control. But really this iconic relationship between our title characters.
My thoughts:
So…
I was expecting to like this play a lot more than I did. I don’t know if I maybe just read it at the wrong time for me, or if it’s just simply not for me. I mean, obviously, it’s Shakespeare, so the writing is beautiful, etc. But I just…didn’t love it. Don’t get me wrong. I liked it. It was good. But I didn’t love it like I love most of Shakespeare’s work that I’ve read so far. Maybe it’s the Romeo and Juliet vibe (which I said at the very beginning of my project was not my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays)? Or the jilted lover vibe? Maybe I was expecting better things from Cleopatra’s character? Maybe I was expecting too much? Who can say.
The main parts that really held my attention and interest were the deaths at the end. The first time in the play that I was really inclined to truly feel empathy for Cleopatra was as she watched her lover/boyfriend/partner die. From that scene through her own death is what I felt was truly compelling.
I think one reason that I found those couple of scenes so compelling was because of their emphasis on control. Both Antony’s death and Cleopatra’s death were about control – ending things on your own terms.
There’s something both ironic and potent about using this historical couple to demonstrate a struggle to maintain control, even though they were enormously powerful figures. It really emphasizes the universality of that struggle, and I can appreciate that.
If you are looking for a Valentine’s Day-worthy Shakespeare play, though, you can do much worse than this. The chemistry is definitely there!
Highlights:
I am dying, Egypt.
And this:
Where art thou, death? Come hither, come. Come, come, and take a queen worth many babes and beggars.
Absolutely devastating, and there’s almost a noble, selfless quality to the idea that she’s almost giving her life in exchange for the lives of “many babes and beggars” (even though that’s not really what is happening…).
