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Examine the ways in which Shakespeare presents the tension between personal and political ideals, goals and desires in Antony and Cleopatra.
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Examine the ways in which Shakespeare presents the tension between personal and political ideals, goals and desires in Antony and Cleopatra. Throughout the play Antony and Cleopatra, the characters make decisions and carry out actions that standardly should be influenced by the political situation. However, it is often apparent that the decisions are made to favour the characterÕs personal life. Ways in which Shakespeare presents these issues include portraying the opinions of other characters and inserting contrasting scenes and events to heighten the audienceÕs response. Antony is probably the strongest example of prioritisation of emotion over politics, despite being a major political character, reinforcing the suggestion of wrongful precedence of actions driven by emotion throughout the play. The first and possibly best case of this is Antony neglecting his duties to Rome by staying in Egypt and ignoring messengers sent to him by Rome. Shakespeare presents this as an important issue through...
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