William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

Helen Whall (College of the Holy Cross)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Traditionally grouped with Shakespeare’s “Roman plays”,

Antony and Cleopatra

opens and closes in Egypt. Probably written in 1606-07, it was not printed until the

1623 Folio

. Beginning with the

Folio

, editors have traditionally imposed classical act/scene divisions on a play that contains 42 scenes. Those scenes move rapidly between Egyptian and Roman settings, between land and sea. Since such fluidity defies classical division, many early critics pronounced Shakespeare’s structure “flawed”. His primary source, Thomas North’s 1579 translation of

Plutarch’s Lives

, similarly misled scholars to assume that

Antony and Cleopatra

celebrates the rise of a Roman empire. Through such a lens, Antony is a deeply flawed western hero brought down by an eastern temptress. Inevitably,…

1941 words

Citation: Whall, Helen. "Antony and Cleopatra". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 August 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6560, accessed 19 March 2024.]

6560 Antony and Cleopatra 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.