Paralelos entre as sociedades Romana e Egípcia e como isso afeta a forma como Cleopatra é vista na peça de Shakespeare

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Vasconcelos 1 
Luciana Vasconcelos da Costa 
José Carlos Marques Volcato 
English Literatures IV 
21 May 2010 
 
is seen in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare which presents as 
its main theme the contrasts between Antony and Cleopatra - its main characters -, male and 
female power, and, also, between Egyptian and Roman society. The play was written based 
on a patriarchal society where women could not have the power to rule an empire and the 
gender issue is something that comprehends the contrast between Roman and Egyptian 
society, and how women were presented in both. 
 In ancient Roman society, women should be protected by a man figure and usually 
this figure was their father or their husbands. These women just had the power to look after 
the children, to take care of the house and the slaves and mainly to appear in parties with 
their husbands. On the other hand, in ancient Egyptian society women were freer than roman 
women in the sense that the Egyptians believed that joy and happiness were the true meaning 
of life. The idea of this patriarchal influence that is presented in the play and makes the 
reader sees both societies distinctively is reinforced by Jyotsyna Singh, in the article called 
Renaissance Anti-theatricality, Anti-feminism, and Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra, 
saying that “the issues at sake in the Rome/Egypt opposition are (...) closely linked to the 
preservation of the patriarchal order in Renaissance England” (Singh 317). 
 It is also possible to see in the play examples of this two distinct societies through its 
characters and their speeches, such as Cleopatra who can be seen as an example of the 
Egyptian society and women; Antony, who was divided between Roman and Egyptian 
societies and because of this seen - by Roman society - as a weak men; Caesar as an example 
of the Roman society based on strength; and Octavia as an example of how women were seen 
in this Roman society. 
 In the play, Rome is shown as a masculine society and Egypt as a feminine one. As an 
example of Egypt as a feminine society, when the reader is presented to Cleopatra’s Egypt, 
the only men the reader sees are the Romans – who are there because of Antony -, the 
Parallels between Roman and Egyptian society and how this affect the way Cleopatra
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messengers and the Cleopatra’s eunuchs, as the reader can see when the only named eunuch 
appears in Act II, 
 
Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and ALEXAS 
CLEOPATRA Give me some music; music, moody food 
Of us that trade in love. 
ATTENDANTS The music, ho! 
Enter MARDIAN 
CLEOPATRA Let it alone; let's to billiards: come, Charmian. 
CHARMIAN My arm is sore; best play with Mardian. 
CLEOPATRA As well a woman with an eunuch play'd 
As with a woman. Come, you'll play with me, sir? 
MARDIAN As well as I can, madam. 
(II.v.1-7) 
 
In this quotation the reader sees a man serving Cleopatra with music and 
entertainment, just as the Egyptian society is presented to the reader as a feminine society. 
Also, this quote from the play can gives an example of joy and happiness - which were the 
true meaning of Egyptian society - when Cleopatra asks for music (Shakespeare 58). 
 Another example of a male figure in this Egyptian female society that is presented in 
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is the messenger, as the reader can see in Act II, scene 
V, 
 
Enter a Messenger 
MESSENGER Free, madam! no; I made no such report: 
He's bound unto Octavia. 
CLEOPATRA For what good turn? 
MESSENGER For the best turn i' the bed. 
CLEOPATRA I am pale, Charmian. 
MESSENGER Madam, he's married to Octavia. 
CLEOPATRA The most infectious pestilence upon thee! 
Strikes him down 
MESSENGER Good madam, patience. 
CLEOPATRA What say you? Hence, 
Strikes him again 
Horrible villain! or I'll spurn thine eyes 
Like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head: 
She hales him up and down 
(II.v.55-65) 
 
In the quotation presented above, the reader can see a messenger being mistreated by 
Cleopatra as a way to manipulate him, treating him as object. 
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 In contrast to the Egyptian society, the reader is presented to Rome as a masculine 
society based on strength, as the reader can see in Act II, scene I when Pompey discusses the 
military situation with Menecrates and Menas, saying that he feels confident of victory 
against the triumvirs not only because he controls the sea and is popular with the Roman 
people, but also because he believes that Antony, the greatest threat to his power, is still in 
Egypt (Shakespeare 46). Or, as Jyotsyna Singh says, the “Roman actions and speech promote 
a hierarchical view of political order and an essentialist conception of human identity” (Singh 
317). 
 Jyotsyna Singh also says that “implicit to the Roman ideology of exclusion is a fear of 
the loss of male identity through an attraction to the female” (Singh 317) and the reader can 
see examples of that in the fact that Romans could not believe in Cleopatra’s power and she 
was seen as a whore for the Roman society, and Antony was seen as a weak because he was 
under her power. The reader sees examples of this in Act III, scene VI when Maecenas says 
that Antony is submissive to Cleopatra and refer to her as a whore (Shakespeare 81) and in 
Act I, scene I when Philo calls Antony “a strumpet's fool” (I.i.12). 
 In this play the reader cannot see Cleopatra as a leader, s/he is presented to a woman 
who is guided by desire and who can devastate great generals and as Colleen O’Neil, in his 
article called Shakespeare’s Cleopatra: Sexual Conquerer – Did Sexual Passion Lead to the 
Downfall of Antony & Cleopatra?, says that “the powerful passion that the exotic queen 
kindles within Antony results not only in the disintegration of the Roman triumvirate, but 
also in the loss of his self-respect and his manhood” (O’Neil). Having in mind that Egyptian 
society was more concerned with joy and happiness, the reader can not only focus in her 
inability to rule an empire, but in her use of her sexual power, as it is expressed in Act III, 
scene X, when Antony – who used to be a great general - decides to follow Cleopatra in the 
middle of a battle in the sea (Shakespeare 86), and consequently, this fact reinforced the 
Roman’s idea that Antony became a fool, just as the reader can see in Act III, scene X when 
one of his soldiers scorned him (Shakespeare 86). 
 
List of References 
Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Edited by Cedric Watts. Hertfordshire: 
Wordsworth Edition, 2006. 
 
Singh, Jyotsyna. Renaissance Anti-theatricality, Anti-feminism, and Shakespeare’s ‘Antony 
and Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra: William Shakespeare. Edited by John Drakakis. 
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London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1994. 308-29. 
 
O’Neil, Colleen. “Shakespeare’s Cleopatra: Sexual Conquerer – Did Sexual Passion Lead to 
the Downfall of Antony & Cleopatra?”. Associated Content. Web. 10 May 2010. 
<http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/39201/shakespeares_cleopatra_sexual_conquerer.
html?singlepage=true&cat=38>. 
 
Thompson, James. “Women in ancient Egypt”. Web. 10 May 2010. 
<http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/women_in_ancient_egypt.htm>. 
 
n.p. "The Roman Empire". Web. 10 May. 2010. < http://www.roman-empire.net/society>.