William Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra Essay -- Shakespeare Antony

William Shakespe ares Antony and CleopatraHeaven help the American-born boy with a talent for ballet Camille Paglia The exquisite and proper women and the strong and strapping men are no equalise for Shakespeares haze of characters muddled together in Antony and Cleopatra. As always Shakespeare delivers a luminary cast of individuals that deviate from the socially accepted gender roles. As the audience works its way finished the fierce genesis to the catastrophic resolution, it is made much than apparent that lines are being crossed all over societys conformist board of gender specific expectations. The character that was most amplified in this mount was the stunning Cleopatra. Less care a lady and more like a warrior, the audience was witness to this Egyptian queen beginning her cameo with a barrage of games she endles pat threw Antonys way in a sly attempt to win his affections. Nay, pray you seek no color for your going, exclusively bid farewell and go (1. 3.33-34). Cleopatra occasionally showed signs of her female side with bouts of the play however the majority of her presence was swarming with an aura of resiliency and strength. other characters even mentioned her with such traits in mind for example, Caesar proclaimed Lepidus is not more manlike than Cleopatra (1.3.5-6). Her strength was defined most in her beauty she makes hungry where most she satisfies for vildest things become themselves in her (2.2.236-237). However, it was also present in her behavior. Cleopatra was a meek woman by no means. She stood up for the things she believed in. When upset, she presented her shrewish side. Hence, tremendous Villian, or Ill spurn thine eyes like balls before me Ill unhair thy head,... ...e 6, Enobarbus and Menas vocally agreed upon the lying and seduction methods of the female population. In operate 3, Scene 12, Caesar prattled on about the inherently weaker side of women. In nearly cases it was even considered an insu lt that the men might be compared to women. For shame, transform us not to women (4.2.35). In Antony and Cleopatra, the important point one must make love is not the battles present both in love and war, but the toenail that is continuously slide across the line which Shakespeare always felt abandoned to cross. There were no prototypical male or female protagonists in Shakespeares world. It is a factor that should always be acknowledged when stewing over this brilliant playwrights work. Boundaries were meant to be crossed, and Shakespeare made his touch just as apparent in the sloshing of gender roles in Antony and Cleopatra.