Review (PDF) Antony And Cleopatra (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)
John Wilders - literary advisor to the BBC TV Shakespeare series - brings thorough scholarship and a practical understanding of performance needs to this new edition. Clarity, accessibility and rigour are the hallmarks of an edition which will provide invaluable guidance for all its readers. "This edition has a very helpful introduction and good clear text, as well as the exceptionally excellent and detailed notes." Dr Michael Herbert, St Andrews University 'Â…a useful treatment of a complex play' Barry Gaines, University of New Mexico, Shakespeare Quarterly
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare; 3rd edition (March 16, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1904271014
ISBN-13: 978-1904271017
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #172,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #119 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Shakespeare > Literary Criticism #303 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Shakespeare > Works #1149 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods
This is a play full of fascinating characters who are themselves full of pride, avarice, lust, and lies. Octavian, the youngest of the triumvirate with Lepidus and Antony, proves out why he is Caesar with a cold efficiency that makes all tyrants proud. Antony, Herculean character though he claims to be, plays the fool for Cleopatra, and Cleopatra plays the role of Cleopatra with smoke and mirrors. Her famous suicide is actually her triumph and apotheosis of the character she created.Poor Pompey refused to seize the reins of power through dishonorable murder, and yet receives the same from those he spared. And how many of the attendants to the principles themselves die in this play? We have poisonings, beatings, and death from shame.This edition is quite fine as we expect from Arden. The notes are extremely helpful to understand the locations and context of this play with its wide-ranging locales and dozens of scenes that fly from place to place. Of course, the notes that help with the language and text emendations are wonderfully done. The longer notes are put in the back.The first quarter of the book is an extended essay on various aspects of this play that ranges from its origin, performance issues and how they were handled over the centuries, and problems of the text. It is a wonderfully useful essay that added a lot to my enjoyment of reading the play.This is part of the third Arden series of the Shakespeare plays and is very readable and I enjoyed it a great deal.
The Arden Shakespeare are both scholarly and inviting to read. Antony and Cleopatra is an underappreciated and under-read play; it is "essential Shakespeare," among the great plays such as Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth and Othello.
This is a vastly underrated play. It is excellent and terribly complex; it features Shakespeare's take on this famous relationship, one of the first power couples. It plays off Plutarch's Lives, so having background with that is helpful. Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare's best female characters.
OK, it is fictional but who buys this & doesn't already know the plot?More strange review questions from to get here but the bookis excellent, commentary top-knotch and overall condition great. I justbought this so I wouldn't have to lug my RSC Shakespeare into bedeach nite!
Antony and Cleopatra (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) Antony and Cleopatra: Oxford School Shakespeare (Oxford School Shakespeare Series) Antony and Cleopatra (Folger Shakespeare Library) The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra (Signet Classics) Romeo And Juliet: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) Hamlet: The Texts of 1603 and 1623: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) Hamlet (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) Macbeth: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) King Henry IV Part 2: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) King Henry V (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) King Henry IV, Part 1 (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) (Pt. 1) Othello (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) Othello: Revised Edition (The Arden Shakespeare Third Series) King Lear (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) The Winter's Tale: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) The Merchant of Venice: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) Third Eye: Awakening Your Third Eye Chakra: Beginner's Guide (Third Eye, Third Eye Chakra, Third Eye Awakening, Chakras) Third Eye: Third Eye Activation Secrets (Third Eye Awakening, Pineal Gland, Third Eye Chakra, Open Third Eye) A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arden Shakespeare: Second Series) Shakespeare and the Victorians: Arden Critical Companions
