Page "Antony and Cleopatra" Paragraph 164

What is said about Cleopatra is not always what one would normally say about a ruler ; the image that is created makes the audience expect “ to see on stage not a noble Sovereign, but a dark, dangerous, evil, sensual and lewd creature who has harnessed the ‘ captain ’ s heart ”.

This dangerously beautiful woman is difficult for Shakespeare to create because all characters, male or female, were played by men.

Phyllis Rackin points out that one of the most descriptive scenes of Cleopatra is spoken by Enobarbus: " in his famous set speech, Enobarbus evokes Cleopatra's arrival on the Cynus ".

It is an elaborate description that could never possibly be portrayed by a young boy actor.

It is in this way that " before the boy Cleopatra can evoke Cleopatra's greatness, he must remind us that he cannot truly represent it ".

The images of Cleopatra must be described rather than seen on stage.

Rackin points out that " it is a commonplace of the older criticism that Shakespeare had to rely upon his poetry and his audience's imagination to evoke Cleopatra's greatness because he knew the boy actor could not depict it convincingly ".