Antony and Cleopatra: The Oxford Shakespeare
0
0
As an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner, Menrva Books earns from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Author Description
Now available in beautiful World's Classics editions--with handsome, four-color covers and new low prices--The Oxford Shakespeare offers new and authoritative edions of Shakespeare's plays. In each volume, an introductory essay provides all relevant background information together with an appraisal of critical views and the play's performance history. In addition, the detailed commentaries pay particular attention to the language and staging. These editions are perfect for all readers, whether actors needing stage directions, students desiring comprehensive (yet inobtrusive) notes, or the reader of classic literature returning to the Bard's timeless writings. The most formally ambitious and poetically brilliant of Shakespeare's tragedies, Anthony and Cleopatra is also one of his most critically contentious plays in terms of the degree and nature of its success. Always alert to the play's theatricality and boldly experimental design, the wide-ranging introduction offers a fresh critical account of the play, exploring its paradoxical treatment of gender and identity as well as the rich complexity and tensions of its much-loved poetic language. With a generous appendix of Shakespeare's source materials, this edition also offers a full stage history.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Menrva's Summary
THE PULSE
The tragic romance of Mark Antony and Cleopatra unfolds against the backdrop of a crumbling Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. The protagonist, Mark Antony, finds his political and military duties in Rome increasingly compromised by his intense devotion to the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. As the forces of Octavius Caesar move to consolidate power, Antony is torn between his obligations to his triumvirate and his desire for the Egyptian court. The narrative, presented in dramatic verse, tracks the inevitable decline of the lovers as they navigate shifting political alliances and the looming threat of total defeat.
INSIDE THE PAGES
- Exploration of the conflict between duty and personal desire.
- Use of expansive, poetic language to characterize the protagonists.
- Examination of gender roles and identity within a political context.
- Inclusion of historical source materials as an appendix.
- Detailed commentary on staging and theatrical performance.
- Analysis of the play's experimental design and structure.
- Comprehensive notes on archaic terminology and Elizabethan context.
- Documentation of the play's performance history across centuries.
THE COLLECTIVE ECHO
Discussion often centers on the play's unique blend of political intrigue and intimate character study. Readers frequently highlight the complexity of the titular characters, noting that their motivations remain a subject of intense debate among scholars. The work is often praised for its ambitious scope and the poetic density of its dialogue, which distinguishes it from other tragedies of the period. Critics often focus on the tension between the Roman values of order and the Egyptian values of passion, which serves as the primary engine for the narrative's tragic conclusion.
Page Count:
400
Publication Date:
2008-06-15
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0199535787
ISBN-13:
9780199535781
Drama
Plays
Classic Literature
Tragedy
Historical
Dramatic works
