ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
Antony and Cleopatra
Type of Work Antony and Cleopatra is tragic stage play about a doomed love affair. It is also a history play, since it is based on real events in ancient times. Scholars often group it as one of Shakespeare’s “Roman plays,” along with Coriolanus and Julius Caesar.
Key Dates Date Written: Between 1606 and 1607.
First Printing: 1623 as part of the First Folio, the first authorized collection of Shakespeare's plays.
Sources .Shakespeare's main source for the play was the Life of Marcus Antonius, by Plutarch (46? BC-AD 120?). This biography is part of a larger Plutarch work, Parallel Lives, focusing mainly on famous Greek and Roman government and military leaders. Shakespeare used the English translation of Parallel Lives written by Sir Thomas North (1535-1601). North's translation, based in part on a French translation, was published in 1579 under the title The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes [Romans].
.......Shakespeare may also have reviewed the 1578 French play Marc Antoine, by Robert Garnier, which was translated into English in 1595 by Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke; the 1543 tragedy Cleopatra, by Giambattista Giraldi, known as Cinthio; and the 1599 play The Tragedy of Cleopatra, by Samuel Daniel.
Settings .The action takes place in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East between 40 and 30 BC. The grand, far-flung, macrocosmic scope of the settings helps to underscore the immensity of the political and emotional drives and impulses at work in the play. The settings also serve to demonstrate the pronounced differences between sober, straitlaced Rome and hedonistic, decadent Egypt.
.......The settings include the following: Cleopatra's palace in Alexandria, Egypt; the house of Octavius Caesar in Rome, Italy; the house of Sextus Pompeius in Messina, Italy; the house of Lepidus in Rome; a street in Rome; a meeting place near Misenum, Italy; the galley of Sextus Pompeius off Misenum; a plain in
Type of Work Antony and Cleopatra is tragic stage play about a doomed love affair. It is also a history play, since it is based on real events in ancient times. Scholars often group it as one of Shakespeare’s “Roman plays,” along with Coriolanus and Julius Caesar.
Key Dates Date Written: Between 1606 and 1607.
First Printing: 1623 as part of the First Folio, the first authorized collection of Shakespeare's plays.
Sources .Shakespeare's main source for the play was the Life of Marcus Antonius, by Plutarch (46? BC-AD 120?). This biography is part of a larger Plutarch work, Parallel Lives, focusing mainly on famous Greek and Roman government and military leaders. Shakespeare used the English translation of Parallel Lives written by Sir Thomas North (1535-1601). North's translation, based in part on a French translation, was published in 1579 under the title The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes [Romans].
.......Shakespeare may also have reviewed the 1578 French play Marc Antoine, by Robert Garnier, which was translated into English in 1595 by Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke; the 1543 tragedy Cleopatra, by Giambattista Giraldi, known as Cinthio; and the 1599 play The Tragedy of Cleopatra, by Samuel Daniel.
Settings .The action takes place in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East between 40 and 30 BC. The grand, far-flung, macrocosmic scope of the settings helps to underscore the immensity of the political and emotional drives and impulses at work in the play. The settings also serve to demonstrate the pronounced differences between sober, straitlaced Rome and hedonistic, decadent Egypt.
.......The settings include the following: Cleopatra's palace in Alexandria, Egypt; the house of Octavius Caesar in Rome, Italy; the house of Sextus Pompeius in Messina, Italy; the house of Lepidus in Rome; a street in Rome; a meeting place near Misenum, Italy; the galley of Sextus Pompeius off Misenum; a plain in