CRITICISM

Archer, John Michael. “Antiquity and Degeneration in Antony and Cleopatra.” In Race, Ethnicity, and Power in the Renaissance, edited by Joyce Green MacDonald, pp. 145-64. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1997.

Examines Antony and Cleopatra and its treatment of race and sexuality in order to identify Renaissance racial and sexual constructions. The text is examined in light of historical, geographical, and travel writings that became available within the century following the publication of the play.

Cantor, Paul A. “The Politics of Empire.” In Shakespeare's Rome: Republic and Empire, pp. 127-54. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1976.

Studies the relationship between the themes of love and politics in the play, observing that Antony and Cleopatra discover an imperial form of love that corresponds to the imperial type of politics prevalent in the play.

Cook, Carol. “The Fatal Cleopatra.” In Shakespearean Tragedy and Gender, edited by Shirley Nelson Garner and Madelon Sprengnether, pp. 241-67. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Studies the role Cleopatra plays as a figure threatening the Roman goal of unification and dominion. In particular, Cook demonstrates the way in which the language of the play underscores Cleopatra's subversive role.

Coppedge, Walter R. “The Joy of the Worm: Dying in Antony and Cleopatra.” Renaissance Papers (1988): 41-50.

Analyzes whether there are spiritual dimensions to the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra.

Jorgensen, Paul A. “Antony and Cleopatra: This Dotage of Our General's.” In William Shakespeare: The Tragedies, pp. 110-25. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1985.

Offers an overview of the play's plot, themes, and characters, maintaining that the play is first and foremost a story of Antony's humiliation and downfall.

MacDonald, Joyce Green. “Sex, Race, and Empire in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.” Literature and History 5, No. 1 (Spring 1996): 60-77.

Discusses the Renaissance view of an African Cleopatra, and attempts to separate race from gender in order to contrast readings of the play in which Cleopatra's orientalism is associated with femininity.

Rose, Mark, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Antony and Cleopatra: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1977, 138 p.

Includes essays that focus on background analyses, including discussions of the style of the Roman plays, the place of the play in Shakespeare's development, and the play's heroic context. Also includes critical interpretations of the play and its themes, and various critical assessments.

Thomas, Vivian. “Realities and Imaginings in Antony and Cleopatra.” In Shakespeare's Roman Worlds, pp. 93-153. London: Routledge, 1989.

Compares Shakespeare's portrayal of Antony, Cleopatra, and Caesar with the historical basis for the play and its characters as found in Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans.

Yachnin, Paul. “Shakespeare's Politics of Loyalty: Sovereignty and Subjectivity in Antony and Cleopatra.” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 33, No. 2 (Spring 1993): 343-63.

Takes a new historicist approach in analyzing what the play reveals about Jacobean political culture.