Cleopatra: Complex Inscrutable, Indefinable Heroine

-

Shakespeare's Cleopatra embodies mystery. Shakespeare chose to keep her feminine mystique inexplicable. She is, in turn, vain, sensual, violent, cruel, bawdy, cowardly, beautiful, witty, vital, and intelligent, a strumpet, a gipsy, lass unparalleled, a triumphant lady, royal wench, a great fairy, a rare Egyptian. She is all these and more – a source of Perini fascination.

 She grows, starting as a courtesan-cum-enchantress. She presses her love through dramatizing (playacting) and dialogue. But inwardly she ultimately proves to be vulnerable. Her love for Antong intensifies into something more than sexual passion (her playacting in outwitting the astute Caesar).

H. Granville Barker, in Preface to Shakespeare second section, comments, “This is the Woman herself, quick, jealous, imperious, mischievous, malicious, flagrant, subtle; but delicate creature too, and the light, glib verse seems to set her on tiptoe”.

 Cleopatra is an enchanting sorceress. It is ambiguous if she really betrayed Antony at Actium. Does she love Antony? Shakespeare uses a retrospective, flashback method for the answer. The infinite variety precludes easy judgment. Plutarch disliked her, portraying her in unflattering light. Her violence towards the messenger indicates frustration and insecurity in love (Elizabeth temper?).

  Isis was represented as a cow where there is no physical fear Cleopatra shows courage. She can Egyptiamize even the high Roman fashion, transforming death into a sensuous pleasure. Shakespeare intensifies her in the final senses. Here poetry makes up for politics, lyricism files over materialism and love transcends power. The compassion and passion in her bridal outfit implies that she is one her way to facilitate her reunion with Antony in the Kingdom beyond death, in the realm of the blest, “Where souls do couch on flowers”. Cleopatra will remain Cleopatra. Shakespeare’s use of the word “bliss” (1/3/35-8) suggests the quasi-divine nature of their love which will blossom again in Elysium.

 Cleopatra is the female counterpart of Hamlet. She is Shakespeare’s greatest female character embodying the supremacy of imagination over reason, of spirituality over maternity.

Ardhendu De

Comments

Post a Comment

Drop any query, suggestion or comment here.

Recent Posts

Popular posts from this blog

Dr. Samuel Johnson's "Preface to Shakespeare": Points to Remember

-
Image
E ighteenth-century writer Samuel Johnson ((1709-1784) is one of the most significant figures in English literature. His fame is due in part to a widely read biography of him, written by his friend James Boswell and published in 1791. Although probably best known for compiling his celebrated dictionary, Johnson was an extremely prolific writer who worked in a variety of fields and forms. Chief Critical Approaches of Dr. Johnson are: Johnson tried teaching and later organized a school in Lichfield. His educational ventures were not successful, however, although one of his students, David Garrick, later famous as an actor, became a lifelong friend.
Read more

Dr. West’s New Method of Teaching English :Its Merits and Demerits

-
Image
                 D r. Michael Philip West (1888–1973) conducted an extensive research and experiments on the problems of teaching English as a foreign language in India at the time of British rule . Read More Teaching English The new method is the outcome of his research. It stood as a reaction against the Direct Method. Going into more details, when Dr. West came to visit rural Bengal students (1913- 19) en route teaching job at Teachers’ Training College  at Dhaka, West's conclusions about English learning issues in Bengal, India were as follows: 👉Students spent about 10 hours a week on English study with extremely poor results. 👉Only a minority reached the Matriculation class due to health or financial reasons. Read More  Teaching English 👉Even in the Matriculation class, students lacked real reading ability, speaking fluency, and writing proficiency in English. 👉A 1919 Calcutta University Commission survey revealed similar concerns, with most respondents favoring mor
Read more

Milton's Use of Epic Simile in "Paradise Lost", Book-I

-
Image
"Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpass'd; The next in majesty; in both the last: The force of Nature could no further go; To make a third she join'd the former two." John Dryden  (1631 - 1700) English poet, playwright, and literary critic, 1688. Referring to John Milton in relation to Homer and Virgil.   Epic simile is, in simple words, an elaborate comparison that travels beyond the point of comparison and gives a complete poetic picture of some scene or incident suggested to the mind of the poet. They are used for illustration and ornamentation. They add dignity to the style. Such long-tailed similes stand by itself illuminating and beautifying much more than the ordinary narrative.
Read more