Her feminine capabilities affected love, relationships and the decisions that governed both Rome and Egypt. She controlled Egypt, Antony and even Caesar. Shakespeare portrayed Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, as a commanding presence. He has emphasized the influence and possibilities that a woman in control can possess.ĭuring patriarchal time periods men were rulers and they held a disproportional share of power. Cleopatra plays with gender, not in order to overcome social or familial obstacles but to transform conventional definitions, roles and boundaries" (Cook 261). Shakespeare's play is not about "what can be possessed and governed but what can be imagined and articulated. Was William Shakespeare writing a historical play when he wrote Antony and Cleopatra in 1606, or was he inspired by his own era and the similarities between female rulers, and the amount of change that took place as Elizabeth I was queen. Antony and Cleopatra – A Woman in Control
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |