Editing Antony and Cleopatra (section)

==== Literary devices used to convey the differences between Rome and Egypt ====

In ''Antony and Cleopatra'', Shakespeare uses several literary techniques to convey a deeper meaning about the differences between Rome and Egypt. One example of this is his schema of the container as suggested by critic Donald Freeman in his article, "The rack dislimns." In his article, Freeman suggests that the container is representative of the body and the overall theme of the play that "knowing is seeing."<ref name="Freeman" /> In literary terms a schema refers to a plan throughout the work, which means that Shakespeare had a set path for unveiling the meaning of the "container" to the audience within the play. An example of the body in reference to the container can be seen in the following passage:

<blockquote><poem>
Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure ...
His captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gypsy's lust. (1.1.1–2, 6–10)
</poem></blockquote>

The lack of tolerance exerted by the hard-edged Roman military code allots to a general's dalliance is metaphorised as a container, a measuring cup that cannot hold the liquid of Antony's grand passion.<ref name="Freeman" /> Later we also see Antony's heart-container swells again because it "o'erflows the measure." For Antony, the container of the Rome-world is confining and a "measure", while the container of the Egypt-world is liberating, an ample domain where he can explore.<ref name="Freeman" /> The contrast between the two is expressed in two of the play's famous speeches:

<blockquote><poem>
Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space!
Kingdoms are clay!
(1.1.34–36)
</poem></blockquote>

For Rome to "melt is for it to lose its defining shape, the boundary that contains its civic and military codes."<ref name="Freeman" /> This schema is important in understanding Antony's grand failure because the Roman container can no longer outline or define him—even to himself. Conversely we come to understand Cleopatra in that the container of her mortality can no longer restrain her. Unlike Antony whose container melts, she gains a sublimity being released into the air.<ref name="Freeman" />

In her article "Roman World, Egyptian Earth", critic Mary Thomas Crane introduces another symbol throughout the play: The [[classical element#Classical elements in Greece|four elements]]. In general, characters associated with Egypt perceive their world composed of the Aristotelian elements, which are earth, wind, fire and water. For [[Aristotle]] these physical elements were the centre of the universe and appropriately Cleopatra heralds her coming death when she proclaims, "I am fire and air; my other elements/I give to baser life", (5.2.289–290).<ref name="Crane" /> Romans, on the other hand, seem to have left behind that system, replacing it with a subjectivity separated from and overlooking the natural world and imagining itself as able to control it. These differing systems of thought and perception result in very different versions of nation and empire. Shakespeare's relatively positive representation of Egypt has sometimes been read as nostalgia for an heroic past. Because the [[Aristotle#Physics|Aristotelian elements]] were a declining theory in Shakespeare's time, it can also be read as nostalgia for a waning theory of the material world, the pre-seventeenth-century cosmos of elements and [[Humorism|humours]] that rendered subject and world deeply interconnected and saturated with meaning.<ref name="Crane" /> Thus this reflects the difference between the Egyptians who are interconnected with the elemental earth and the Romans in their dominating the hard-surfaced, impervious world.

Critics also suggest that the political attitudes of the main characters are an [[allegory]] for the political atmosphere of Shakespeare's time. According to Paul Lawrence Rose in his article "The Politics of ''Antony and Cleopatra''", the views expressed in the play of "national solidarity, social order and strong rule"<ref name="Politics" /> were familiar after the [[Absolute monarchy|absolute monarchies]] of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] and [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] and the political disaster involving [[Mary Queen of Scots]]. Essentially the political themes throughout the play are reflective of the different models of rule during Shakespeare's time. The political attitudes of Antony, Caesar, and Cleopatra are all basic archetypes for the conflicting sixteenth-century views of kingship.<ref name="Politics" /> Caesar is representative of the ideal king, who brings about the [[Pax Romana]] similar to the political peace established under [[Tudor dynasty|the Tudors]]. His cold demeanour is representative of what the sixteenth century thought to be a side-effect of political genius.<ref name="Politics" /> Conversely, Antony's focus is on valour and [[chivalry]], and Antony views the political power of victory as a by-product of both. Cleopatra's power has been described as "naked, hereditary, and despotic",<ref name="Politics" /> and it is argued that she is reminiscent of [[Mary I of England|Mary Tudor's]] reign—implying it is not coincidence that she brings about the "doom of Egypt." This is in part due to an emotional comparison in their rule. Cleopatra, who was emotionally invested in Antony, brought about the downfall of Egypt in her commitment to love, whereas Mary Tudor's emotional attachment to [[Catholicism]] fates her rule. The political implications within the play reflect on Shakespeare's England in its message that Impact is not a match for Reason.<ref name="Politics" />