Summary:
Explores the William Shakespeare play, Antony and Cleopatra. Examines if the story is a tragedy or a love story. Provides passages from the text to support the thesis.
Question
'Shakespeare doesn't organize his tragedy as a drama of love between Antony and Cleopatra, but as a drama of the rise and fall of Antony in the struggle for world leadership'. What is your view"
Answer
Fundamentally, I disagree with this interpretation of the play. Indeed we do see the fall of the great Marc Antony but the play never actually depicts scenes of his rise to prominence. 'Antony and Cleopatra' is renowned as one of the greatest love stories of all time and I align myself with this conception.
In this play, Antony's rise to greatness is assumed from 'Julius Caesar' and from the stories and references the audience is given by other characters. This can be seen in Caesar's first scene in the play, Act 1 sc4, Caesar states:
"Thou didst drink
The stale of horses.....
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