Antony and Cleopatra (Vol. 47) | Philip J. Traci (essay date 1970)
Philip J. Traci (essay date 1970)
SOURCE: "The Dancer and the Dance: A Study of Characterization in the Play," in The Love Play of Antony and Cleopatra: A Critical Study of Shakespeare's Play, Mouton, 1970, pp. 23-61.
[In the following essay, Traci argues against many critics' overemphasis on characterization in Antony and Cleopatra and contends that it is the interaction between Antony and Cleopatra that forms the basis of the plot and which should be the main focus of study.]
Attention to Antony and Cleopatra as characters has usually passed for attention to Antony and Cleopatra as play. Whether or not the two have been considered gypsy and doting general, Venus and Mars, or Passion and Man, they have been viewed as if somehow the essence of their characters contained the essence of the play. Shakespeare's understanding of human nature has often been lauded,1 but the resulting view of the tragedies as character...
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