Antony and Cleopatra (SparkNotes Literature Guide)
By SparkNotes
()
About this ebook
Making the reading experience fun!
Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides: chapter-by-chapter analysis
explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols
a review quiz and essay topics
Lively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers.
Read more from Spark Notes
King Lear: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Much Ado About Nothing (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBird by Bird (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tempest (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Like It (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Macbeth: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Julius Caesar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Richard III (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsiders (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRomeo and Juliet: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Atlas Shrugged SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHenry V (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Measure for Measure (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Years of Solitude (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTempest: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51984 SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Merchant of Venice (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Where the Red Fern Grows (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Raisin in the Sun (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMerchant of Venice: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dune (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRomeo and Juliet SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Winter's Tale (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet: No Fear Shakespeare Graphic Novels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Kill a Mockingbird SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLord of the Flies SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHenry IV Parts One and Two (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Comedy of Errors (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Antony and Cleopatra (SparkNotes Literature Guide)
Related ebooks
Antony and Cleopatra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony & Cleopatra (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony & Cleopatra: History's Most Famous Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEncounters with Love: That Changed the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTitus Andronicus (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegends of the Ancient World: The Life and Legacy of Mark Antony Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony and Cleopatra (Annotated by Henry N. Hudson with an Introduction by Charles Harold Herford) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Othello: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cleopatra: I Am Fire and Air Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Merchant of Venice (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoriolanus (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Julius Caesar SparkNotes Literature Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare for All Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe End of the Roman Republic: The Lives and Legacies of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Mark Antony, and Augustus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCleopatra and Antony Set Free: Shakespeare Revamped Vampire Romance: Love at First Bite, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amorous Prince: "Love ceases to be a pleasure when it ceases to be a secret." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's Tales: Antony and Cleopatra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Satyricon (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pericles (SparkNotes Literature Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Othello" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJulius Caesar: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Merchant of Venice: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Study Guide to Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony and Cleopatra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julius Caesar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Y is for Yorick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pericles, Prince of Tyre Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Coriolanus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Book Notes For You
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor: Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill: Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Good Energy by Casey Means:The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInvisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by John Gottman: Conversation Starters Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Summary of The New Menopause by Mary Claire Haver MD: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Bad Therapy by Abigail Shrier: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides: Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Untamed by Glennon Doyle: Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy: Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guide to Bessel van der Kolk's, MD The Body Keeps the Score Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Workbook for The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counter intuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery by Brianna Wiest : Discussion Prompts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Short History of Nearly Everything - Behind the Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fifty Shades Trilogy by E.L. James (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson: Summary by Fireside Reads Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer: Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Antony and Cleopatra (SparkNotes Literature Guide)
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Antony and Cleopatra (SparkNotes Literature Guide) - SparkNotes
Context
T
he most influential writer
in all of English literature, William Shakespeare was born in
1564
to a successful middle-class glove maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In
1582
he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around
1590
he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical acclaim quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theater. His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled
1558
–
1603
) and James I (ruled
1603–1625
), and he was a favorite of both monarchs. Indeed, James granted Shakespeare’s company the greatest possible compliment by bestowing upon its members the title of King’s Men. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to Stratford and died in
1616
at the age of fifty-two. At the time of Shakespeare’s death, literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed his works as timeless.
Shakespeare’s works were collected and printed in various editions in the century following his death, and by the early eighteenth century his reputation as the greatest poet ever to write in English was well established. The unprecedented admiration garnered by his works led to a fierce curiosity about Shakespeare’s life, but the dearth of biographical information has left many details of Shakespeare’s personal history shrouded in mystery. Some people have concluded from this fact and from Shakespeare’s modest education that Shakespeare’s plays were actually written by someone else—Francis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford are the two most popular -candidates—but the support for this claim is overwhelmingly circumstantial, and the theory is not taken seriously by many scholars.
In the absence of credible evidence to the contrary, Shakespeare must be viewed as the author of the thirty-seven plays and
154
sonnets that bear his name. The legacy of this body of work is immense. A number of Shakespeare’s plays seem to have transcended even the category of brilliance, becoming so influential as to affect profoundly the course of Western literature and culture ever after.
Scholars believe that Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra in
1606
, immediately after Macbeth, and it is one of the last great tragedies that Shakespeare produced. The most geographically sweeping of Shakespeare’s plays, Antony and Cleopatra’s setting is the entire Roman Empire, its backdrop the well-documented history of Octavius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Cleopatra. Shakespeare’s primary source for Antony and Cleopatra was the Life of Marcus Antonius contained in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, which was translated into English by Sir Thomas North in
1579
. North’s language was so rich that Shakespeare incorporated large, relatively unchanged excerpts of it into his text. The plot of the play also remains close to North’s history, although characters like Enobarbus and Cleopatra’s attendants are largely Shakespearean creations.
The action of the story takes place roughly two years after the events of Shakespeare’s earlier play about the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar. At the beginning of that tragedy, Caesar has triumphed over his rival Pompey the Great, the father of young Pompey in Antony and Cleopatra, and aspires to kingship. Caesar is then assassinated by Cassius and Brutus, who hope to preserve the Roman Republic. Instead, Cassius and Brutus are defeated by Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar, Julius’s nephew, who then join Marcus Aemilius Lepidus to create a three-man government, or triumvirate, over the empire.
Historically, the action of Antony and Cleopatra takes place over a ten-year span, whereas in the play the story is compressed to fit the needs of the stage. Antony is clearly much older than he was in Julius Caesar, and his political instincts seem to be waning. Octavius Caesar was only a minor character in the earlier play, but here he comes into his own as the man who will rise to become the first Roman emperor. Most of the political battles and machinations depicted are historically accurate, as is the romance of the title characters.
Plot Overview
M
ark Antony, one of the three rulers
of the Roman Empire, spends his time in Egypt, living a life of decadence and conducting an affair with the country’s beautiful queen, Cleopatra. When a message arrives informing him that his wife, Fulvia, is dead and that Pompey is raising an army to rebel against the triumvirate, Antony decides to return to Rome. In Antony’s absence, Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, his fellow triumvirs, worry about Pompey’s increasing strength. Caesar condemns Antony for neglecting his duties as a statesman and military officer in order to live a decadent life by Cleopatra’s side.
The news of his wife’s death and imminent battle pricks Antony’s sense of duty, and he feels compelled to return to Rome. Upon his arrival, he and Caesar quarrel, while Lepidus ineffectually tries to make peace. Realizing that an alliance is necessary to defeat Pompey, Antony and Caesar agree that Antony will marry Caesar’s sister, Octavia, who will solidify their loyalty to one another. Enobarbus, Antony’s closest friend, predicts to Caesar’s men that, despite the marriage, Antony will surely return to Cleopatra.
In Egypt, Cleopatra learns of Antony’s marriage and flies into a jealous rage. However, when a messenger delivers word that Octavia is plain and unimpressive, Cleopatra becomes confident that she will win Antony back. The triumvirs meet Pompey and settle their differences without going to battle. Pompey agrees to keep peace in exchange for rule over Sicily and Sardinia. That evening, the four men drink to celebrate their truce. One of Pompey’s soldiers discloses to him a plan to assassinate the triumvirs, thereby delivering world power into Pompey’s hands, but Pompey dismisses the scheme as an affront to his honor. Meanwhile, one of Antony’s -generals wins a victory over the kingdom of Parthia.
Antony and Octavia depart for Athens. Once they are gone, Caesar breaks his truce, wages war against Pompey, and defeats him. After using Lepidus’s army to secure a victory, he accuses Lepidus of treason, imprisons him, and confiscates his land and possessions. This news angers Antony, as do the rumors that Caesar has been speaking out against him in public. Octavia pleads with Antony to maintain a peaceful relationship with her brother. Should Antony