Basic Program Autumn Weekend Study Retreat
October 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Basic Program
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
Just what is it about these historical lovers, each of whom threw away an empire, that has fascinated commentators in every discipline for more than two millennia? Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is the greatest work of art to have wrestled with these two characters’ complexity, but it is far from unique. As early as Virgil and Horace, Roman authors who had good reason to vilify Antony and Cleopatra made them surprisingly sympathetic instead. Even Plutarch, the great proclaimer of the traditional Roman value of “country-before-self,” betrays his admiration.
Join us as we examine Shakespeare’s epic play—34 speaking parts in 40 scenes of action ranging over three continents—not only as an artistic achievement in its own right, but as a window into the continual fascination with Rome, power, passion, politics, treachery, and the intricacies of human motivations.
