I believe Cleopatra Essay Example for Free

I believe Cleopatra EssayIt is principally in this demeanor that I believe Cleopatra is more relevant to modern audiences than to Jacobean society. The idea of a female leader would be, after the reign of Elizabeth I, relatively unsurprising however, women were dormant regarded as the property of men. It is not hard to see why a modern c arer woman, having gone through several relationships of her own, would find more to tint to in Cleopatra than would a Jacobean housewife. Women in the 21st century hold a much more three dimensional position than those of Shakespeares time. They were considered then unwanted for the stage, replaced instead by some squeaking Cleopatra boy playing Cleopatra ithposture of a whore.Female sexuality in Jacobean times was considered, as written by Penny Gay, to be voraciously overwhelming, and since Cleopatra embodies that idea to the core, she would have seemed a dangerous character indeed to her first audiences. Then, she was a strange, exotic creature and an unknown quantity, exactly her character inspires altogether more empathy in more modern performances. In her portrayal by Judi Dench at the National Theatre in 1987, her suicide represented a grand resignation as opposed to a dark, frenzied retreat her attachment to Anthony was patheti gossipy touching. It is this, empathy and understanding, which the modern response adds to Shakespeares most passionate female character.Cleopatra is not done justice to by the flat, stylised Egyptian of Glenda Jackson, but flourishes as no more but een a woman. She is the poor maid of Janet Suzman, who at a lower place her regality is still an emotionally vulnerable character and all the more becoming because of it.But what of Anthony? As a 21st century observer, I view it as chronically unjust that Anthony is continually referred to as the protagonist Lord David Cecil described the play as simply the decline and fall of Anthony.Cleopatra is too often seen as the supporting act, wh en her character is no less rich than Anthonys and her journey no less significant. Antony is generally praised when he abandons her for politics, yet when she does what seems to her the same in the chaos of Actium, we are meant to condemn her. As L.T. Fitz writes, what is praiseworthy in Antony is damnable in Cleopatra he can pursue power, whilst she must simply dote. It cannot be forgotten that Cleopatra too has a throne to sit upon. She does not bring about Antonys fall in my view his political demise began before he ever met her.It is no closed book that historically, his relationship with Octavius was strained regardless of Cleopatras role. Given Shakespeares reliance on historical sources such as Plutarch, this cannot be disregarded when judging his representation of her character. Furthermore, it is Anthonys choice to stick to Cleopatra at Actium, as it was to become her guest when they first meet. Anthony always has the option to leave Cleopatra, for despite her charisma h e always holds the greater political power.Thus, if he must be seen to have fallen, it is because he opts to do so. In fact, I see his decision to value Cleopatras lie with over Roman politics as an ascent rather than a fall, and it is an ascent they make together. There is no one protagonist in the play, unless the couple are viewed in a unusual sense. Antony and Cleopatra combine themselves and the best values of their respective worlds. Antony retains his military valour, his ability to bear pain so like a soldier, but abandons the cold political conniving of Octavius and the new Rome.Cleopatra, on the other hand, keeps all her passion and her charisma but loses the worst of her childish wilfulness. Their love is beyond mortality, death is proud to take them, and in their mutual suicide they take on a god-like quality, articulated in Antony by Cleopatras eulogy of his legs bestrid the oceanhe was as rattling thunder. I believe that it is unfair to call this hyperbolic, which r emoves from its sincerity, when there can be no doubt that in her state of love and grief Cleopatra intends no exaggeration in her description of the emperor Antony. Together, Antony and Cleopatra attire above pragmatism and politics, and it is small wonder that they stun even Octavius, or that he should be moved by a pair so famous.I think it would be a dire injustice to call Cleopatra designing and blame her for Antonys political downfall it reduces her feverish passion, her wild hedonism and the staggering extent of her love to plotting, cunning and cruelty. To me, she represents a woman of enormous courage, in her leadership but also in her refusal to compromise on emotions, however unreasonable or spectacular they might be.She is foolish, yes, but never a coward her flight from Actium is not desertion but evidence of military inexperience and genuine fear. Her love for Antony is beyond the ordinary, it is beyond Caesar and Octavia, and how could the play be so poignant a trage dy were that not so? The very sadness of Antony Cleopatra is in the fact that the two lovers can unless triumph beyond the grave, in the death of love for the pursuit of politics an unworthy substitution if ever there was one. Cleopatra is no Iago, she has none of his manipulative maliciousness she is nothing more or less than a woman passionately and shamelessly in love.BibliographyEgyptian Queens and Male Reviewers L.T. FitzA Poem and cardinal Plays Robin HamiltonThe Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage Stanley Wells and Sarah Stanton(specifically Women and Shakespearean Performance Penny Gay)