Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra" begins and ends with a banquet. The play opens with the image of Anthony and Cleopatra arm in arm, talking about how much they love one another in the context of revelry and feasting in Egypt. The play ends with Cleopatra, alone with her handmaids, being consumed by an asp. "Will it eat me?" she asks the asp-seller in the final act. (5.2.263) It is a fitting end to a play that uses food as a metaphor throughout its dialogue as a measure of how excessive various characters are in love and in politics.
Cleopatra in particular uses food frequently to express her love for Anthony. She not only does this physically over the course of the play, using banquets and strong drink as a way of celebrating his return and whiling the hours away when he is in Rome. Everything is something to be consumed in…...
Indeed, they are both supporter of Communism and here we are already talking about the mature period of Communist in its fight against the Imperialists (certainly, these are the same imperialists that would have paid Rivera for painting Rockefeller Centre) and the meeting between the couple and Trotsky is defining for the late phase of their relationship.
Artistic practices and values
Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and Frida and Diego are extremely relevant for this category. First of all, Frida and Diego are members of the artistic community of Mexico and not only (and we are referring here to their presence in France during a time of artistic effervescence, as well as to their trip in the United States), this is the community that influences them and from where they draw their identity as artists. Additionally, it is their art that pulls them together each time the fall apart on any…...
mlaBibliography
1. Cleopatra VII - Ptolemaic Dynasty. On the Internet at retrieved on December 11, 2006http://www.pcf-p.com/a/m/rig/rig.html.Last
Cleopatra VII - Ptolemaic Dynasty. On the Internet at
Shakespeare used Music in his orks
illiam Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, is recognized all over the world as the greatest dramatist of all times. His plays have been performed more times than those of any other dramatist and have been translated in almost every major language. (Kastan) hile many aspects of Shakespeare's plays have been discussed and analyzed, it is perhaps not so widely known that music has also played an important role in many of his plays. In this paper we shall review the historical background of music in the Shakespearian era and discuss how and why music was used in Shakespeare's works. The type of music used by the playwright as well as some examples of music in specific plays shall also be described.
Historical Background of Music in the Shakespearian Era
The 16th century in which Shakespeare was born was a period when England was emerging as…...
mlaWorks Cited
Lackey, Stephanie. "Shakespeare and his Music." October 12, 1998. Vanderbilt University's MusL 242 Gateway Page. April 25, 2003. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Blair/Courses/MUSL242/f98/slackey.htm
Kastan, David Scott. "William Shakespeare." Article in Encyclopedia Encarta. CD-ROM Version, 2003
Music in the plays." The Internet Shakespeare Editions. March 1996 (Updated January 26, 2003). April 25, 2003. http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/stage/music.html
Music of the streets and fairs." The Internet Shakespeare Editions. March 1996 (Updated January 26, 2003). April 25, 2003. http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLTnoframes/literature/streets.html
Conventional literature would
come to see Cleopatra as an exploitive whore, responsible for the downfall
of virtuous men like the Ptolemies, Julius Caesar and, inevitably, Marc
Antony as well. So is this reported by historical accounts such as that by
Cassius Dio who reflected that "Indeed she so enchanted and enthralled not
only Antony but all others who counted for anything with him that she came
to entertain the hope that she would rule the Romans as well, and whenever
she took an oath, the most potent phrase she used were the words, 'So
surely as I shall one day give judgement [sic] on the Capitol.'" (Cassius
Dio, 39) The argument given here in defining her persona would be the
clear understanding of her imperialist intent, so to say that it had been
always an ambition for this ruler to extend the Egyptian influence to new
heights. The Roman perspective turns our attention to some correlation
between the two distinct personas which…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Ashmawy, A.K. (1995). Cleopatra: The Last Pharoah, B.C. 69-30. History
of Alexandria. Online at <http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/alexandria/History/cleo.html>Burstein, S.M. (2004). The Reign of Cleopatra. Greenwood Publishing
Group.
high degree of misinformation I had received from traditional teachings about the church and the beginning of Christianity. Moreover, I was struck by the notion that most other people in the Western world receive this same degree of intentional misinformation, so much so that I have even heard people defend the idea that knowledge of the historical church is irrelevant to modern Christianity. Reading through the class material, I was struck by how critical this historical information was to the understanding of the actual church. One critical piece of information is the idea of Jesus as the head of the church, despite him not establishing Christianity as a separate religion. Another critical idea was that prophets could play a continuing role in Christianity, when my traditional understanding had suggested that after Jesus there would be no more Jewish prophets. I also found myself wondering about the very obvious and…...
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