AO5- critics

Critical comments for A and C- organised by theme

Rome/ Egypt

Kahn-  Rome becomes 'synonymous with masculinity"

Drakatis- "Egypt becomes a feminised space"

James Harris- Egypt promotes a "liberation from constricting gender roles and prudery.

John Lennard- make "Rome white, male, sexless" and Egypt "colourful" and "sexfull", "stressed the division of coldness of Rome and opulence of Egypt"

Lennard- Basic oppositional model (binary).

Love/ desire

Gil-Harris- Romans have 'an uncontrollable desire for what they do not or cannot do".

Bloom "Death is triumphant rather than tragic"

Kiney "Antony and Cleopatra speak themselves into legend"

Gender

Cooper- Octavia is a "token of exchange"

Quint "opposition between the East and the West is characterised in terms of gender".

Shapiro "Shakespeare was the noblest feminist of them all"

Lewis "gender roles and inverted and its Antony who is the true victim"

Cleopatra

Keith Rinehart- Cleopatra/ Elizabeth I both "attained apotheosis of a sort as a female deities"- elevated from the mundane- despite both being women.

Jameson- Cleopatra's "consistent inconsistency" - changes between male and female power dynamics. Mocking women's emotions as well.

Duraj- "Shakespeare allows Cleopatra to exhibit masculine- even Roman qualities".

SK- Ober "a leader with rank and power"

Antony

Bate- "from military leader to slave of sexual desire".

Bradley "by women he is not only attracted but governed"

LT Fitz "praiseworthy in Antony is damnable in Cleopatra"

Enobarbus

O'Connor "noblest character in the play" "organs and mouthpiece of the authors judgement"

Payne "cynic and misogynistic"

Khan-

Rome becomes 'synonymous with masculinity”

Drakatis-

"Egypt becomes a feminised space"

Harris-

Egypt is a "liberation from constricting gender roles and prudery”

John Lennard-

"Rome white, male, sexless" and Egypt "colourful" and "sexfull" , "stressed the division of coldness of Rome and opulence of Egypt"

 Prudential Journal-

Caesar "obsessed with power and political lousiness"

Gil-Harris-

Romans have 'an uncontrollable desire for what they do not or cannot do"

Bloom-

 "Death is triumphant rather than tragic"

Kiney-

"Antony and Cleopatra speak themselves into legend"

Cooper-

Octavia is a "token of exchange"

Quint-

"opposition between the East and the West is characterised in terms of gender".

Shapiro-

"Shakespeare was the noblest feminist of them all"

Lewis-

"gender roles are inverted and its Antony who is the true victim"

Keith Rinehart-

Cleopatra/ Elizabeth I both "attained apotheosis of a sort as a female deities"

Jameson-

Cleopatra's "consistent inconsistency"

Duraj-

"Shakespeare allows Cleopatra to exhibit masculine- even Roman qualities".

SK Ober-

(Cleopatra) "a leader with rank and power"

Bate-

"from military leader to slave of sexual desire"

Bradley-

"by women he is not only attracted but governed", “Antony is hyperbolic in all that he does”

LT Fitz-

"praiseworthy in Antony is damnable in Cleopatra"

O'Connor-

(Enobarbus) "noblest character in the play" "organs and mouthpiece of the authors judgement"

Payne-

(Enobarbus) "cynic and misogynistic"

Quint-

"opposition between the East and the West is characterised in terms of gender".

Shapiro-

"Shakespeare was the noblest feminist of them all"

Lewis-

"gender roles and inverted and its Antony who is the true victim"

Keith Rinehart-

Cleopatra/ Elizabeth I both "attained apotheosis of a sort as a female deities"

Jameson-

Cleopatra's "consistent inconsistency"

Duraj-

"Shakespeare allows Cleopatra to exhibit masculine- even Roman qualities".

SK- Ober-

"a leader with rank and power"

Caesar-

Lennard- 'Caesar is the archetypal of masculinity'

Prudential Journal- "obsessed with power and political lousiness"

Romans-

Gil-Harris- Romans have 'an uncontrollable desire for what they do not or cannot have'

Egypt-

Drakatis- "Egypt becomes a feminised space"

James Harris- Egypt promotes a "liberation from constricting gender roles and prudery.

Dowden- Egypt seen through a golden haze of sensuous splendour

Cleopatra’s power-

Jones- ‘Destructive and creative force’

Kettle-  (Cleopatra is) 'hardly the woman to die to of a broken heart'

Jameson- “consistent inconsistency”

A and C’s relationship-

Hamilton- The play's 'hyperbolic style' helps communicate the 'higher spiritual dimensions of Antony and Cleopatra's relationship'

Bates- "Gives historical form to the mythical encounter between Venus and Mars"

AC Bradley- ‘To love her is what he is born for’ 

Schlegel- “ as they die for each other, we forgive them for having lived for each other”

Antony’s actions-

Tennenhouse - "strips Antony of his military judgement"

Bradley- "Antony is hyperbolic in all that his does;

Antony’s death= often viewed as a tragicomic—both heroic and pathetic.

Cliff- “His inner struggle to find balance between two bonds and two sets of values”

Cliff-

“His inner struggle to find balance between two bonds and two sets of values”

Tennenhouse -

"strips Antony of his military judgement"

Kettle-  

(Cleopatra is) 'hardly the woman to die to of a broken heart'

Dowden-

“Egypt seen through a golden haze of sensuous splendour”

Cassius Dio-

'Depraved civilisation"