Antony and Cleopatra
Book of the Week: Antony and Cleopatra by the bard himself, William Shakespeare
Reviewed by our very own Franca 🎭
“’Antony and Cleopatra’ follows the turbulent, messy, tragic, and beautiful love story of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman consul Mark Antony. Over the course of ten years, their love is one of chaos and destruction, but also one of profound mutual respect and deep admiration. Antony and Cleopatra are playful, they are obsessed with each other, and, in true Shakespearean fashion, they are incredibly dramatic. (‘If it be love, tell me how much?’ Cleopatra demands from Antony in her very first line. A classic diva moment.)
It is hard to pick a favourite Shakespeare play but something always draws me back to ‘Antony and Cleopatra.’ I love the way Shakespeare plays with opposites and the breaking of binaries. I love how the Roman and Egyptian worlds appear in stark contrast to each other and in the middle stand Antony and Cleopatra. They are proof that one can be Roman and Egyptian, though Caesar cannot see this.
I’m obsessed with how Shakespeare so uses words of connection and separation in every single scene to signify how Antony and Cleopatra’s love makes and simultaneously breaks relationships. Shakespeare cleverly plays with the male and female sphere and asks whether one might exist in both worlds. Antony’s love for Cleopatra binds him to the female, sensual Egypt of Cleopatra and her women. But a commitment to Egypt means the betrayal of his Roman brotherhood. How can he serve Caesar and marry his sister, the proper and obedient Octavia, when he is so enamoured with Cleopatra and her wild and unshackled life in Egypt? Their relationship is doomed from the beginning, maybe even more so than some of Shakespeare’s other tragic lovers. Antony and Cleopatra simply ask for too much. They ask to break the binary divide that control our world.
I dare everyone to read or watch this play and not shed even a single tear when Caesar concludes the tragedy with ‘She shall be buried by her Antony. / No grave upon the earth shall clip in it / A pair so famous.’’”
Happy reading, friends ☀️