Summary:
This essay compares the two main settings, Rome and Egypt, in Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra. Describes how the setting of this tragedy is split between two places that are diametrically opposed geographically and symbolically. Considers how Shakespeare used the opposing places as conflict for Antony.
Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra is different form the rest of his other plays. The setting of this tragedy is split between two places that are diametrically opposed geographically and symbolically. The split is between the west and the east or between Rome and Alexandria, the capitol cities of two different kingdoms. There may be other plays that take place in more then one place, but in Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeare switches form one place to another in the same act. One scene might take place in Rome while the next is in Cleopatra's Alexandria. Characters are also moving from one place to the other, specifically Antony and Enobarbus. While Alexandria symbolizes pleasure and sensuality, Rome is more stoic and based on reason rather than emotion. The different styles of living of the two contrasting places are.....
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