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Antony and Cleopatra : A Mythological Perspective
Author(s) -
MacKenzie Clayton G.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0730.1990.tb01970.x
Subject(s) - mythology , cleopatra , parallels , perspective (graphical) , literature , order (exchange) , ideal (ethics) , art , philosophy , history , epistemology , visual arts , mechanical engineering , finance , engineering , economics
Several critics have sought to interpret Antony and Cleopatra as a mythological mirror of certain classical myth motifs and characters. The present paper argues that identifications with Hercules, Omphale, Juno, Venus and Mars, and with stories pertaining to them, are nuanced but not substantiated consistently in the play. In fact, Shakespeare presents us with mythological parallels that are deliberately undermined in order to delineate a movement away from a dour Roman perspective of the world and towards a fresh and vibrant world view. The new mythology emerges as a tenuous ideal, founded upon half truths and the imagination, but admirable in its celebration of a human bond of love independent of conventional Roman mythologies.