Berek, Peter. "Doing and Undoing: The Value of Action in Antony and Cleopatra." Shakespeare Quarterly 32, No. 3 (Autumn 1981): 295-304.

Argues that Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavius Caesar, as well as minor characters in the play, have something in common despite their obvious differences—they all agree "that there are grim limits to the joys one can take in earthly achievements."

Bushman, Mary Ann. "Representing Cleopatra." In In Another Country: Feminist Perspectives on Renaissance Drama, edited by Dorothea Kehler and Susan Baker, pp. 36-49. Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1991.

Examines the rhetorical modes available to Cleopatra in the play, and contends that Cleopatra is one of the few characters in Shakespeare's plays to overcome the representation of the female as inferior and "[d]eprived of a voice."

Dusinberre, Juliet. "Squeaking Cleopatras: Gender and Performance in Antony and Cleopatra" In Shakespeare, Theory, and Performance, edited by James C. Bulman, pp. 46-67. London: Routledge, 1996.

Explores the relationship between the competing masculine and feminine constructions within the play, as well as the play's reception—among the audience and actors—as a text written for an exclusively male cast.

Hillman, Richard. "Antony, Hercules, and Cleopatra: 'the bidding of the gods' and 'the subtlest maze of all.'" Shakespeare Quarterly 38, No. 4 (Winter 1987): 442-51.

Studies the implications of the remark made in IV.iii that the god Hercules "whom Antony lov'd , / Now leaves him" (11.15-16), suggesting that the comment is significant, but not in the sense that it refers to any supernatural event.

Lewis, Cynthia. "'The World's Great Snare': Antony, Cleopatra, and Game." In Particular Saints: Shakespeare's Four Antonios, Their Contexts, and Their Plays, pp. 116-53. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.

Maintains that Antony's characterization relies to some degree on the traditions associated with Saint Antony of Egypt, and that by analyzing this relationship, the play's main issues—as well as Antony's apparently comic portrayal—are clarified.

Lindley, Arthur. "Enthroned in the Marketplace: The Camivalesque Antony and Cleopatra." In Hyperion and the Hobbyhorse: Studies in Camivalesque Subversion, pp. 137-56. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1996.

States that the concept of transaction is a primary element of carnival and that it, along with other camivalesque elements, pervade Antony and Cleopatra.

Simonds, Peggy Muñoz. "'To the Very Heart of Loss': Renaissance Iconography in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra." Shakespeare Studies XXII (1994): 220-76.

Pursues a Renaissance reading of the play through an "iconographic" approach, that is, by studying the contemporary, conventional meanings attached to the images and symbols Shakespeare refers to in the play.

Turner, John. Introduction to The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare, edited by John Turner, pp. 13-29. New York: Prentice Hall, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1995.

Discusses Shakespeare's source material for the play as well as its language, characterization, and thematic issues.

Waddington, Raymond B. "Antony and Cleopatra: 'What Venus did with Mars." Shakespeare Studies II (1966): 210-27.

Argues that the play is a romance that primarily evokes the myths of Mars and Venus and their cosmological affair, rather than the myths of Hercules and Isis.

Williamson, Marilyn. "The Political Context in Antony and Cleopatra." Shakespeare Quarterly XXI, No. 3 (Summer 1970): 241-51.

Suggests that the love story in the play, whether viewed in redemptive or condemning terms, has been overemphasized, and that Antony and Cleopatra should be studied as political rulers, not just lovers.

Wolf, William D. "'New Heaven, New Earth': The Escape from Mutability in Antony and Cleopatra" Shakespeare Quarterly 33, No. 3 (Autumn 1982): 328-35.

Contends that while the worlds of Rome and Egypt and the values they represent are often pitted against one another by critics, the two realms are alike in that "the only permanent fixture of either is change, the necessary adjunct of time."