Page "Antony and Cleopatra" Paragraph 59

The postmodern view of Cleopatra is complex.

Doris Adler suggests that, in a postmodern philosophical sense, we cannot begin to grasp the character of Cleopatra because, “ In a sense it is a distortion to consider Cleopatra at any moment apart from the entire cultural milieu that creates and consumes Antony and Cleopatra on stage.

However the isolation and microscopic examination of a single aspect apart from its host environment is an effort to improve the understanding of the broader context.

In similar fashion, the isolation and examination of the stage image of Cleopatra becomes an attempt to improve the understanding of the theatrical power of her infinite variety and the cultural treatment of that power .” So, as a microcosm, Cleopatra can be understood within a postmodern context, as long as one understands that the purpose for the examination of this microcosm is to further one ’ s own interpretation of the work as a whole.

Author L. T.

Fitz believes that it is not possible to derive a clear, postmodern view of Cleopatra due to the sexism that all critics bring with them when they review her intricate character.

He states specifically, " Almost all critical approaches to this play have been coloured by the sexist assumptions the critics have brought with them to their reading .” One seemingly anti-sexist viewpoint comes from Donald C. Freeman ’ s articulations of the meaning and significance of the deaths of both Antony and Cleopatra at the end of the play.

Freeman states, “ We understand Antony as a grand failure because the container of his Romanness “ dislimns ”: it can no longer outline and define him even to himself.

Conversely, we understand Cleopatra at her death as the transcendent queen of “ immortal longings ” because the container of her mortality can no longer restrain her: unlike Antony, she never melts, but sublimates from her very earthly flesh to ethereal fire and air .”