A&C: AO3 (Historical)

Octavius Caesar

• Octavius Caesar is Rome's first emperor (later to be called Augustus Caesar)

• In Shakespeare's presentation of Caesar's steady (and from our POV, inevitable) rise to supreme power he controls much of the play's action by skilfully and cold-bloodedly manipulating the other characters.

• E.g. offering sister Octavia as a bride to cement the men's alliance against Pompey, even though Antony's reputation as a libertine makes the success of such a marriage doubtful

  • This control is matched in its relentlessness in his own control over himself, banishing conviviality and emotion from his life.

 

• Shakespeare does not give the conflict as a result of Caesar much representation, perhaps because the outcome was so familiar to his audience who would have been familiar with and had an interest in Roman history. Instead he directs the attention towards those he defeats, Antony and Cleopatra.

• Shakespeare doesn't mitigate the flaws in either them, and also grants his defeated heroes opportunities to best Caesar; having them rise above the self-repressed Caesar in their love for each other.

  • Antony is the envy of the Roman military because he has enjoyed the woman whom earlier Roman great men, like Julius Caesar, had loved. Cleopatra is an object of enduring fascination to the Romans: 'Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety.'

• Shakespeare's use of such rich figurative language of his heroes' recollection of their shared past and dreams that Caesar's success in world conquest seems a smaller thing than what Antony and Cleopatra found in each other.

• Much of what is presented in the concluding acts concerns the struggle over which images of Antony and Cleopatra are going to be handed down throughout subsequent history - images of humiliated captives or of triumphant lovers.

the relationship between Shakespeare’s A&C and the source material

• Shakespeare does make some significant changes to his source material (Plutarch's 'The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans') to emphasise drama and psychological complexity.

• Antony's marriage to Octavia lasts some years and produces children, but Shakespeare minimizes the alliance by making it short-lived and barren.

 

• As Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra laid claim to the venerable title of pharaoh: not just a devotee of the country's fabulously ancient gods, she ranked as one herself.

• She was worshipped as the New Isis by her native subjects.

• However, Cleopatra was actually a Greek: the heir to a dynasty originally founded by Ptolemy, a general of Alexander the Great.

  • The Ptolemies, over the centuries, has been unfailingly characterised by viciousness, sensuality and greed… yet their kingdom remained illumined by the glory of the conquering Macedonia.

  • Could draw a parallel to James I initially being king of Scotland

honour and Roman identity

Challenges to a person's honour, especially by those inferior in status, often resulted in violent expressions aimed to restore any damages inflicted. One's honour was more important than one's own life. Indeed, the historical record is filled with examples of individuals eagerly willing to die to obtain the glory of honour (or protect their honour), which transcends mortality.

 

Honour also derived from the exquisiteness and grandiosity of an aristocrat's home, including the number of slaves owned and the luxuriousness of the family's clothes. How elites carried themselves influenced their honour too. In the late years of the Republic through the Principate other factors including education, posture, pronunciation and literary accomplishments became important.

Honour was fundamental because it served as the primary element constituting an individual's identity. The mechanism through which persons acquired their identity was the community's recognition of their honour. The community, in a sense, produced the personal identities of individuals by acknowledging the appropriate characteristics and deeds a man undertook.

duels in Jacobean England (honour)

• In the early 17th century (1600s) the numbers of gentlemen drawn to the culture of a duel was increasingly to the extent of becoming part of the crisis of violence in 1610. A culture of aggressive honour encouraged duelling to gain 'satisfaction', that is, to restore one's honour by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it.

• Duelling established the status of a respectable gentleman and was an accepted manner to resolve disputes.

• By the 17th century it became regarded as a prerogative (right/privilege) of the aristocracy throughout Europe, attempts to discourage or suppress it generally failing.

the Great Chain of Being

The Great Chain of Being: the view that God had designed an ordered system for both nature and humankind within which every creature and person had an allotted place.

Since royal rank was bestowed by God, it was considered an offence for anyone to try to alter their preordained position. This prevented rebellion, for to defy the King was to defy God.

King James I wrote "The state of monarchy is the most supreme thing upon earth: for kings are not only God's Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called Gods."

Women were lower than men

James I and his favourites

• James I was notorious for having male favourites in court, when he travelled to London in 1603 he brought with him those from Scotland. These men played a key part in alienating James from Parliament and the people and James spent more time in their company, who flattered him, than with his wife. They undermined his standing in Parliament, many angered by the advice given to James by these non-elected Scottish men.

• James I not only sought out their advice, he was also very generous with treating them from the royal revenue, paying off their debts before his own. (but it could be argued that the Englishmen needed a royal handout a lot less than their Scottish counterparts because of their extra wealth, but it did cause antagonism in the royal court)

James I’s sexuality + relationships

• James I was renowned for his enjoyment of the company of handsome young male courtiers. His relationships were no secret at court, and he was very open about the men he favoured.

  • His court was packed with Scottish courtiers, and was particularly noticeable in the bedchamber.

  • Young, attractive men had their status elevated within his court by sharing a bedchamber with him, this trait of raising status of his male favourites dates back to when the king was 13 years old.

  • A particularly notable example is George Villiers who, after cultivating a relationship with the king, enjoyed an unprecedented rise to power that continued into the early reign of Charles I. He had an extraordinary amount of power and status very quickly e.g. being made duke.

• Elizabeth I never made anyone a duke, it hadn't been done for about a century

• The young men informed royal policy and acted as a bridge between the king and his army of suitors.

• Although there's not much evidence that these relationships were romantic (other than an erotic poem young James had written as a teenager) (and a physical letter between Villiers and James) it was suspected at the time, and now, that they were sexual in nature.

  • Could link to how James I's homosexuality is a weakened masculinity (like how Antony is emasculated by his love for Cleo which undermines Roman ideals of discipline, honour and rational leadership.)

  • This portrayal of weakened masculinity may also reflect/critique anxieties about powerful men being dominated by love or personal attachments