* " Bloody thou art ; bloody will be thy end "-William Shakespeare in Richard III, 4. 4, 198.

* " The Gods sent not corn for the rich men only "-William Shakespeare in Coriolanus, 1. 1, 213.

:: Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra I. v

It is one of several Roman plays that Shakespeare wrote, based on true events from Roman history, which also include Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.

In 1984 the Riverside Shakespeare Company of New York City produced a modern dress Julius Caesar set in contemporary Washington, called simply CAESAR !, starring Harold Scott as Brutus, Herman Petras as Caesar, Marya Lowry as Portia, Robert Walsh as Antony, and Michael Cook as Cassius, directed by W. Stuart McDowell at The Shakespeare Center.

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

Many critics have noted the strong influence of Virgil ’ s first century Roman epic poem, the Aeneid, on Shakespeare ’ s Antony and Cleopatra.

Given the well-established traditional connections between the fictional Dido and Aeneas and the historical Antony and Cleopatra, it is no surprise that Shakespeare includes numerous allusions to Virgil ’ s epic in his historical tragedy.

As Janet Adelman observes, “ almost all the central elements in Antony and Cleopatra are to be found in the Aeneid: the opposing values of Rome and a foreign passion ; the political necessity of a passionless Roman marriage ; the concept of an afterlife in which the passionate lovers meet .” However, as Heather James argues, Shakespeare ’ s allusions to Virgil ’ s Dido and Aeneas are far from slavish imitations.

James emphasizes the various ways in which Shakespeare ’ s play subverts the ideology of the Virgilian tradition ; one such instance of this subversion is Cleopatra ’ s dream of Antony in Act 5 (“ I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony ” ).

James argues that in her extended description of this dream, Cleopatra “ reconstructs the heroic masculinity of an Antony whose identity has been fragmented and scattered by Roman opinion .” This politically charged dream vision is just one example of the way that Shakespeare ’ s version of the historical tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra destabilizes and potentially critiques the imperialist Roman ideology inherited from Virgil ’ s epic and embodied in the mythic Roman ancestor Aeneas.

These constant shifts in the perception of Cleopatra are well represented in a review of Estelle Parsons ’ adaptation of Shakespeare ’ s Antony and Cleopatra at the Interart Theatre in New York City.

In Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeare uses several literary techniques to convey a deeper meaning about the differences between Rome and Egypt.

Feminist theory, in respect to Antony and Cleopatra, often looks at Shakespeare ’ s use of language when describing Rome and Egypt.

Through his language, he tends to characterize Rome as “ masculine ” and Egypt as “ feminine .” According to Gayle Greene, “ the ‘ feminine ’ world of love and personal relationships is secondary to the ‘ masculine ’ world of war and politics, has kept us from realizing that Cleopatra is the play ’ s protagonist, and so skewed our perceptions of character, theme, and structure .” The highlighting of these starkly contrasting qualities of the two backdrops of Antony and Cleopatra, in both Shakespeare ’ s language and the words of critics, brings attention to the characterization of the title characters, since their respective countries are meant to represent and emphasize their attributes.

In their first exchange in Act I, scene 1, Cleopatra says to Antony, “ I ’ ll set a bourn how far to be beloved .” In this case Cleopatra speaks in an authoritative and affirming sense to her lover, which to Shakespeare ’ s audience would be uncharacteristic for a female lover.

If Shakespeare had indeed intended for Antony to crossdress, it would have drawn even more similarities between Antony and Hercules, a comparison that many scholars have noted many times before.

Shakespeare critics argue that the metatheatrical references in Antony and Cleopatra seem to critique this trend, and the presentation of Cleopatra as a sexually empowered individual supports their argument that Shakespeare seems to be questioning the oppression of female sexuality in London society.

Shakespeare ’ s audience may have made the connection between England ’ s westward expansion and Antony and Cleopatra ’ s convoluted picture of Roman imperialism.

In support of the reading of Shakespeare ’ s play as subversive, it has also been argued that 16th century audiences would have interpreted Antony and Cleopatra ’ s depiction of different models of government as exposing inherent weaknesses in an absolutist, imperial, and by extension monarchical, political state.

Many scholars suggest that Shakespeare possessed an extensive knowledge of the story of Antony and Cleopatra through the historian Plutarch, and used Plutarch ’ s account as a blueprint for his own play.

* Educational games like Arthur Saves the Planet, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects, and Shakespeare: The Bard Game

Shakespeare re-introduced part of the image, Cleopatra clutching the snake to her breast.

But by sheer brute strength they would hold dominion over principalities and kingdoms .” This assessment of the changing way in which Cleopatra is represented in modern adaptations of Shakespeare ’ s play is yet another example of how the modern and postmodern view of Cleopatra is constantly evolving.

Once the Women ’ s Liberation Movement grew between the 1960s and 1980s, however, critics began to take a closer look at both Shakespeare ’ s characterization of Egypt and Cleopatra and the work and opinions of other critics on the same matter.

Shakespeare famously alludes to this description when writing of Falstaff's death in Act II, Scene iii.

Even thirty years after his death " Sultan Solyman " was quoted by the English playwright William Shakespeare as a military prodigy in The Merchant of Venice ( Act 2, Scene 1 ).

* There's not a man I meet but doth salute me / As if I were their well-acquainted friend — Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 3 ( 1594 )

More was portrayed as a wise and honest statesman in the 1592 play Sir Thomas More, which was probably written in collaboration by Henry Chettle, Anthony Munday, William Shakespeare, and others, and which survives only in fragmentary form after being censored by Edmund Tylney, Master of the Revels in the government of Queen Elizabeth I ( any direct reference to the Act of Supremacy was censored out ).

Shakespeare sings the funeral song of Act IV, Scene 2, when asked about his view of death ( the song is titled " Fear No More ").

Shakespeare scholars describe unicorns being captured by a hunter standing in front of a tree, the unicorn goaded into charging ; the hunter would step aside the last moment and the unicorn would embed its horn deeply into the tree ( See annotations of Timon of Athens, Act 4, scene 3, c. line 341: " wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury "

William Shakespeare mentions Pentecost in a line from Romeo and Juliet Act 1, Scene V. At the ball at his home, Capulet speaks in refuting an overestimate of the time elapsed since he last danced: " What, man?

" Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1

" Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 1

Illustration of the death of Chiron and Demetrius from Act 5, Scene 2 ; from The Works of Mr. William Shakespeare, edited by Nicholas Rowe ( writer ) | Nicholas Rowe ( 1709 )

Aaron has a much larger role in Ravenscroft than in Shakespeare, especially in Act 1, where lines originally assigned to Demetrius and Tamora are given to him.

* Jackson, Macdonald P. " Stage Directions and Speech Headings in Act 1 of Titus Andronicus Q ( 1594 ): Shakespeare or Peele?

* Shakespeare, in Henry IV Part II Act 4 Scene 4 refers to aconite, alongside rash gunpowder, working as strongly as the " venom of suggestion " to break up close relationships ( cf Iago's role in Othello ).

Julius Caesar Ibbetson illustration of Act 4, Scene 5 ( Petruchio insists the moon is shining and Ketherina agrees ) from Boydell Shakespeare Gallery | The Boydell Shakespeare Prints ; engraved by Isaac Taylor ( 1759 – 1829 ) | Isaac Taylor ( 1803 ).

Arthur Rackham illustration of Act 5, Scene 2 from Tales from Shakespeare, edited by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb ( 1890 )

In literature, François Rabelais compares Gargantua's strength to that of Milo's in Gargantua and Pantagruel, and Shakespeare refers anachronistically to " bull-bearing Milo " in Act 2 of Troilus and Cressida.

* Coriolanus ( Act I, Scene 3 ) by William Shakespeare

* Hamlet ( Act II, Scene 2 ) by Shakespeare

* Cymbeline ( Act IV, Scene 2 ) by Shakespeare

Familiar as his garter " ( Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 1 Scene 1.

Yet, most tellingly, Shakespeare adapts, with minor changes, a passage from Book 7 of the Golding translation into an important speech in Act V of The Tempest.