The play Anthony and Cleopatra belongs
to one group of Shakespeare's plays, along with Othello,
King Lear, Macbeth and Timon of Athens, which were written
at approximately the same time, and deal with the same basic
topic: what happens when "great" and "noble" minds
give way under the assault of personal emotion. One of the
greatest playwrights of all times has used the most widely
known love legend from antiquity as a basis for his universal
tale about the relationship between love and political power
and between the public and the private, as well as about the
conflict between two ages with differing political concepts.
This is one of the most complex and most challenging of
Shakespeare’s plays which on the one hand portrays
a dark and intimate analysis of “the fatal attraction” and
individual sexuality, located in the mysterious and sensuous
world of ancient Egypt, and on the other, an analysis of
public responsibility and the tragedy which ensues from fatal
political division. The issue of the conflict between the
private and the public, duty and feeling – the favourite
Shakespearean idea originating from his earlier historical
plays – has been perfected in Anthony and Cleopatra.
This is a timeless literary piece which is endlessly inspiring,
not only in terms of dramaturgy, but also in terms of the
world we currently live in.
Anja Susa |
