A03 Flashcards
Describe How Caesar Mirrors Jacobean/Elizabethan Attitudes
Cleopatra as a powerful, sexually autonomous woman would have been fascinating and threatening to audiences.
Therefore, Caesar acts as a mouthpiece for dominant patriarchal and imperial ideologies of the Jacobean period, presenting Cleopatra not as a political equal, but as a disruptive, feminised force threatening Roman - and by extension Jacobean - order.
Describe How the Political Struggles in Antony and Cleopatra Mirror the Political Anxieties in Shakespeare’s Time
Shakespeare was writing during a time of political uncertainty - James I had just taken the throne. Antony’s fall mirrors anxiety about leadership, loyalty and stability of states.
Additionally, power struggles mirror real issues of succession and political legitimacy.
Describe How Egypt and Rome Being Separated By the Mediterranean Sea is a Metaphor for the Conflict Between Antony and Cleopatra
Rome and Egypt are physically separated by the Mediterranean sea but symbolically it represents the emotional, cultural and political gulf between them
The sea symbolises unpredictability and shifting - such as Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship. The sea is also a metaphor for connection and collapse as it mirrors the ability for empire to connect people but the fragility and danger of empire (Rising imperial power is Shakespeare’s England)
