The Masks of Anthony and Cleopatra

Mary Rosenberg

University of Delaware Press, 2006 - 605 pàgines

The Masks of Anthony and Cleopatra follows the pattern of Marvin Rosenberg's four earlier Masks books and offers a sensitive interpretation of the play based on extensive reading of both literary criticism and performance reviews.
In the middle of this play of clashing values and great conflicting personalities, the unhappy Octavia - sister of the ambitious Octavius Caesar and newly married to the heroic Mark Anthony - sums up the ambiguity of her divided world in her heart-wrenching lament:
Husband win, win brother, Prays and destroys the prayer; no midway 'Twixt these extremes at all.
In his analysis, Marvin Rosenberg sets out to steer a path between the "extremes" of Rome and Egypt and all they stand for: and to explore the relentless "to and back" confrontation of their different sets of values which leads ultimately to destruction.
What his study reveals is a world of endless oppositions and ambiguities. Reason (policy and expediency) is pitted against emotion (love and enduring relationship); the personal and private is balanced against the public and universal; the human is juxtaposed with the divine, the heroic set against the mundane and petty. Great complex characters oppose each other and are divided within themselves, both on the wide stage of the world and within their own personalities. The language is full of antithesis and oxymorons: and the most magnificent poetry is placed alongside the most simple and moving of expressions.

Continguts

• Act I Scene i: 41
• Anthony: 70
• Cleopatra: 80
• Act I Scene ii: 86
• Act I Scene iii: 104
• Octavius: 118
• Act I Scene iv: 123
• Act I Scene v: 133
• Act Two: 143
• Act II Scene i: 145
• Act II Scene ii: 151
• Act II Scene iii: 174
• Act II Scene iv: 180
• Act II Scene v: 181
• Act II Scene vi: 197
• Act II Scene vii: 207
• Act Three: 225
• Act III Scene i: 227
• Act III Scene ii: 231
• Act III Scene iii: 239
• Act III Scene iv: 246
• Act III Scene v: 251
• Act III Scene vi: 254
• Act III Scene vii: 262
• Act III Scenes viii ix and x: 272
• Act III Scene xi: 278
• Act III Scene xii: 288
• Act III Scene xiii: 293
• Act Four: 315
• Act IV Scene i: 317
• Act IV Scene ii: 320
• Act IV Scene iii: 326
• Act IV Scene iv: 329
• Act IV Scene v: 335
• Act IV Scene vi: 337
• Act IV Scene vii: 341
• Act IV Scene viii: 344
• Act IV Scene ix: 349
• Act IV Scenes x xi xii and xiii: 352
• Act IV Scene xiv: 362
• Act IV Scene xv: 379
• Act Five: 393
• Act V Scene i: 395
• Act V Scene ii: 403
• Is Anthony and Cleopatra a Tragedy?: 473
• Epilogue: 480
• A Note on the Historical Cleopatra 69 BC30 BC: 482
• Critical and Theatrical Bibliographies: 489
• Critical Bibliography: 491
• Theatrical Bibliography: 532
• Tributes from Marvin Rosenbergs Colleagues and Friends: 595
• Index: 597

Passatges populars

Pàgina 64 - I'll kneel down, And ask of thee forgiveness. So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues Talk of court news ; and we'll talk with them too, Who loses,- and who wins ; who's in, who's out ; And take...

Pàgina 62 - Of the rang'd empire fall ! Here is my space. Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike Feeds beast as man : the nobleness of life Is, to do thus; when such a mutual pair, And such a twain can do 't, in which I bind, On pain of punishment, the world to weet We stand up peerless.

Pàgina 24 - Our women are defective, and so sized, You'd think they were some of the guard disguised ; For to speak truth, men act, that are between Forty and fifty, wenches of fifteen ; With bone so large, and nerve so incompliant, When you call Desdemona, enter giant.

Sobre l'autor

Marvin Rosenberg joined the Berkeley faculty in 1949, teaching first journalism and then Theatre Arts. He retired officially in 1983, but when he died in February 2003 he was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies and still actively teaching and writing.

Informació bibliogràfica

• Títol: The Masks of Anthony and Cleopatra
• Autor: Mary Rosenberg
• Editor: Mary Rosenberg
• Edició: il·lustrada
• Editor: University of Delaware Press, 2006
• ISBN: 0874139244, 9780874139242
• Nre. de pàgines: 605 pàgines