How does Shakespeare explore the relationship between man and woman in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’? Examine how both a Jacobean audience and a contemporary audience would respond to these relationships

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How does Shakespeare explore the relationship between

man and woman in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’? Examine how

both a Jacobean audience and a contemporary audience

would respond to these relationships

The interesting thing about the play ‘Antony and

Cleopatra’ is that it touches on issues that are as

relevant now as they were in Jacobean times.  The

issues of forbidden love, of honour and privilege, of

the right to give everything up for the one you love.  

Modern films pull in thousands of pounds at the box

office dealing with these subjects, many of which are

pathetically inferior to Shakespeare’s play.  They fail

to inject his passion, his intensity or his wit and yet

Shakespeare is much overlooked today.  

Keeping this in mind, I intend to examine how the

relationship between the two sexes is explored by

Shakespeare and how he makes the play vigorous and

enthralling by manipulating this relationship.  Also I

hope to discover how relevant ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ is

to the modern audience and how, if it is somewhat

shocking and ground-breaking in today’s society, must

it have been received in Jacobean times.

The basic relationship between man and woman in the

play is, of course, the affair of Antony and Cleopatra.  

This is rightly so, for none of the other dalliances

between the sexes are as varied and complex as theirs.  

In one relationship we see the content of a thousand

alliances, so many twists and turns and emotional

rollercoasters.  Shakespeare uses their relationship as

the crux of the play- he is saying that when everything

else is stripped away you have the love of these two

people.  I think here he is making a comment about love

and society.  Love makes thing happen, it can make, or

in Antony’s case, break a person.  The ripples of it’s

passion and intensity touch all those around it and no-

one is safe from it’s side effects.

Certainly we see right from the start that their love

is affecting others, as Demetrius and Philo inform us

how they feel about the relationship.

“(The triple pillar of the world) transform’d

Into a strumpet’s fool”

Philo is angry at how love is affecting Antony.  Once a

great and powerful leader, he is now easily persuaded

by Cleopatra into a life of luxury and pleasure.  His

friends feel he is wasted on this gipsy, this slut.  

They make opinionated remarks about Cleopatra- calling

her a ‘strumpet’ and describing her as a ‘tawny front’  

They

cannot grasp how one woman has so much power that she

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can completely transform a grown man.

The impression I got when I read the play was that it

was making a very clear statement about men and women

and the roles they play.  In Jacobean society women

were very much the underdogs- they needed to be pretty

or at least useful so that they might find a husband.  

Once they were married they were acceptable, they were

safe from gossip and tittle-tattle.  They were not

different people, they did not go to church any more

than they had done when they ...

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