Antony and Cleopatra

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Cleopatra John William Waterhouse (1888)

Antony and Cleopatra (English. Antony and Cleopatra ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare . It is about the love and tragic fate of the Roman general Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra . The play belonging to the so-called "Roman dramas" was probably completed by Shakespeare around 1606/1607 and can be seen as a continuation of Julius Caesar . It takes place in Rome, Egypt, Greece and North Africa and covers the historical narrative time of about 10 years, from Antony's marriage to Octavia in 40 BC. Until the suicide of the lovers in 30 BC. Shakespeare's main source is Plutarch's parallel biographies in the English translation by Sir Thomas North from 1579. With 3000 lines and over 40 scenes, the extensive and complex work was known to the theater audience for a long time only in the form of abbreviated adaptations. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that there were simultaneous performances in England and Germany. It is seldom played to this day, but has been filmed several times. Since Coleridge's exuberant judgment , critics have been particularly enthusiastic about the figure of Cleopatra. In the 20th century, the play is the subject of investigations into Shakespeare's portrayal of gender difference, colonial rule and the beginnings of the British Empire.

action

During the time of the second triumvirate , the triumvir Marcus Antonius falls in love with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra . In Egypt he learns that the armies of his wife Fulvia and his brother Lucius have been defeated by Octavian and that his wife is dead. In Rome, Octavian complained to the third triumvir Lepidus that Antonius had given up his statesmanlike duties. After Antony's return, however, he and Octavian decide to go together against Pompey (d. J.) . Their bond is said to be strengthened by the marriage of Antonius to Octavian's sister Octavia.

An Egyptian fortune teller prophesies Antonius that he will rush back to Egypt and should stay away from Octavian, whose happiness will rise higher ("Thy daemon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, [...] / Is all afraid to govern thee near him" [II.3.17 and 27]). Cleopatra, who found out about Antony's marriage in Egypt, beats the messenger in an outburst, but then tells him to go to Octavia and tell her about her. Pompey makes peace with the three triumvirs and arranges a sumptuous dinner for them on his ship. He rejects his friend Menas' suggestion to kill the three drunken triumvirs now. When the returned messenger gives Cleopatra an unfavorable description of Octavia, this time he receives money from the Egyptian queen.

Oktavian and Lepidus defeated Pompey, then Oktavian arrested Lepidus. In Rome Octavian stirs up a mood against Antony, to whom Cleopatra has given rule over large parts of the east; Octavian reveals to his sister that Antony has reconnected with Cleopatra. Contrary to the advice of his general to use the superior land forces, Antonius chooses the decision at sea, where Octavian's troops are stronger; Cleopatra wants to help Antonius with her ships. In the sea battle, Antony's ships initially got the upper hand; When Cleopatra and her ship flee, Antony follows her and Octavian wins. Antonius now challenges Octavian to fight man against man, which he just laughs at.

The next day Antonius' friend Enobarbus changes to Octavian's camp, but then feels guilty ("I am alone the villain of the earth" IV.6.30) and prefers to die. Antony has raised his remaining army and is victorious on land, so Octavian's Admiral Agrippa orders the retreat. So Octavian is looking for the sea decision again. Antonius has to watch how the Egyptian ships switch to Octavian's side. After Antony had violently reproached Cleopatra for this, she let him know that she had killed herself, her last words were “Antony, most noble Antony!” (IV.15.30), to which the latter responded after the words “The long day's task is done, / And we must sleep. ”(IV.15.35f) falls into his own sword. The dying Antonius learns that Cleopatra is still alive and orders that his body be carried to her. The two kiss one last time and Antonius dies. Since Octavian plans to bring Cleopatra to Rome for his triumph, she has a basket of poisonous snakes brought to her; she presses a snake to her chest, another to her arm and dies.

Dating and text history

First folio edition by Antony and Cleopatra

The exact date of creation of the work can no longer be determined with certainty. The majority of Shakespeare researchers today assume that this play was probably written or completed in 1606/1607 immediately after Macbeth . In May 1608 an entry was made in the Stationers' Register ; the only surviving early print version appeared in 1623 in the first folio edition by Edward Blount and Isaac Jaggard. This print version is the sole authoritative text basis for today's editions; some Shakespeare editors suggest that the artwork for the folio edition may have been a copy of Shakespeare's handwritten manuscript.

The printed edition announced in 1608 by the entry of the bookseller and publisher Edward Blount (also known as Edward Blunt) has not survived and probably never appeared. It is possible that this entry was just a so-called blocking entry , with which the printing rights were to be secured and possible pirated copies to be prevented.

In this entry by Edw. Blunt in the Stationers' Register via A booke Called. Anthony. & Cleopatra , which at the same time as a second entry by Edw. Blount on The booke of Pericles Prynce of Tire , Shakespeare is not specifically named as the author; However, it is very unlikely that Blunt wrote the printing rights for two not by Shakespeare at the same time, but was able to secure identical works in the title with his plays. Therefore, it is generally assumed in Shakespeare research that the entry of Anthony and Cleopatra refers to the drama that was created in Shakespeare's authorship and thus with great certainty as a so-called terminus ante quem documents the latest possible point in time of its creation. However, some Shakespeare scholars believe that this play may have been completed much earlier. In particular, individual intertextual allusions or references to the work of Shakespeare in Samuel Daniel's revised version of his drama Cleopatra (1594) from 1607 speak for such an assumption .

It is possible that the drama was performed at court at Christmas 1606 or Christmas 1607.

Literary templates and cultural references

As the main source for his drama, Shakespeare used the material from Plutarch's parallel biographies, which he was familiar with from the translation into English by Sir Thomas North ( Parallel Lives of the Greek and the Romans , 1579). In turn, North's translation was based on the French version by Jacques Amyot from 1559. Shakespeare adopts both the plot and the basic grouping of figures from North's original.

Although he also adopts longer passages verbatim or in slightly modified form in some places, Shakespeare dramatizes Plutarch's narrative original version, in which the biography of Antonius is the longest of the parallel biographies and is extremely broad, by strictly concentrating on the relationship between the two Main characters and omission or abbreviation of aspects irrelevant in this regard. Shakespeare, for example, limits Plutarch's extensive report on the campaigns of Mark Antony to a brief concurrent allusion; Shakespeare includes other significant historical events, which Plutarch presents in detail, mainly in the form of abbreviated messenger reports as a background plot in his drama. In this way the impression of a wealth of historical events is preserved; For Shakespeare's tragedy, however, the historical context of the transition from the Roman Republic to the Empire primarily provides the backdrop for the tragic fall of the lovers. To this end, Shakespeare reduces the moments of world history in his drama and deliberately shifts the historical dimensions that are handed down in Plutarch's original.

The moral accentuations that Plutarch makes in his story of Antony, which fluctuates between disapproval and rather reluctant admiration, are removed by Shakespeare or at least made unambiguous. For example, the cruel or cynical character traits of this figure emphasized by Plutarch are pushed into the background in Shakespeare; instead, Shakespeare paints the image of a Herculean or Dionysian figure even in the presentation of his dissolute way of life or his drinking party .

With regard to Cleopatra, Shakespeare, on the other hand, adopts the abusive feminine moments laid out in Plutarch's source and exaggerates the mysterious fascination of this female figure, for example in the exaggerated transformation of the death scene from the original into an apotheosis of lovers or love with a transfiguration of the Death.

Likewise, the dramatic set of scenes with a rapid succession of over forty scenes, the precise expression of the numerous individualized characters of the play and the Egyptian and Roman coloring as well as the specific linguistic-imaginative expression of the work with a multitude of winged words from Shakespeare are designed independently.

Foregoing arrangements of the substance are also found in Cinzio (around 1542), Étienne Jodelle (1552) and Robert Garnier ( Marc Antoine , 1578) and in the English adaptation of Garnier's version under the title Anthony (1592) by the Countess ( Countess ) Pembroke , sister of the famous poet and playwright Sir Philip Sidney . In addition to Antonius , the poet and lyric poet Samuel Daniel , who was close to the Pembroke artist circle, wrote his tragedy Cleopatra in 1594 , which he dedicated to Countess Pembroke. It can be assumed with relatively great certainty that Shakespeare knew at least some of these previous versions of the material and that he was familiar with the contemporary tradition of depicting Cleopatra.

While Cleopatra and Antonius as historical figures had previously been viewed negatively as the embodiment of excessive sensory passion or even lust and destroyer of the Roman Empire from antiquity to the Renaissance, Geoffrey Chaucer first painted a more positive picture in the opening section of his epic poem The Legend of Good Women Cleopatra as a «love martyr». The classic Renaissance tragedy , in which the fate of the royal couple was one of the most popular themes, contributed to a positive change in the traditional Cleopatra image by subordinating moral and ethical condemnation to the pathos of lovers.

In addition to these literary or dramatic models, Shakespeare makes use of mythological archetypes in the design of the two main characters in his drama, partly implicitly and partly explicitly . Antonius is compared several times with the Roman god of war Mars (1.1.4; 2.2.6; 2.5.117) and Cleopatra with Venus , the goddess of love, beauty and erotic desire (2.2.210). The mythical world of ideas associated with these two deities, as it had been handed down by Homer and Lucretius, among others , had been well known in England since the time of the Renaissance.

Reception history and work criticism

While in today's Shakespeare criticism Antonius and Cleopatra are almost unanimously counted among the greatest dramas in Shakespeare, very little is known about the reception by the contemporary audience following the creation of the work, so that various Shakespeare researchers and editors assume on this background that that the work was initially not one of Shakespeare's most popular works. Despite the recognizable influence on the dramatic or literary work of Samuel Daniel and Barnabe Rich , which can be interpreted as evidence of a certain effectiveness of Shakespeare's tragedy, the work fell into oblivion for a long time after Shakespeare's death.

After the end of the restoration period, a relatively free, rather sparse and dramatic plot with around two thirds of the adaptation of the Shakespeare original in the neoclassical style by John Dryden under the title All for Love, or the World Well Lost (1678) was staged brought. This adaptation of Dryden with its restriction of the number of scenes and plots to a uniform drama structure and limitation of the setting and the time of the action to Alexandria and the last day in the life of the lovers was for a long time considered one of the exemplary Shakespeare adaptations, although it clearly suited the public taste of the 17th century Century.

The original Shakespeare version with its abundance of plot elements or scenes and characters, on the other hand, was viewed by critics for around three hundred years as difficult to understand and problematic, regardless of the repeatedly praised artistry and originality of the linguistic design of the work. For example, in 1710 the writer, critic and playwright Charles Gildon criticized the fragmentary and fragile structure of the sequence of scenes ("full of scenes strangely broken") and the renowned poet and critic Samuel Johnson similarly criticized the jagged, artistically awkward or poorly careful plot structure of the Shakespeare's original version ("produced without any art of connection or care to disposition").

In 1759, the famous actor David Garrick took on the leading role in four performances in a largely adapted and greatly shortened adaptation of the original play by the well-known Shakespeare scholar Edward Capell . He was succeeded by the equally well-known actor John Philip Kemble in 1813 in a stage version of the play that attempted to confuse Dryden's version with the original Shakespeare text in a rather unsatisfactory way. Another attempt to revive the work successfully in 1833 by casting the role of Antonius with the recognized actor William Charles Macready failed .

Despite the admiration of the linguistic beauty and imaginative power of the work in the epoch of English Romanticism, for example by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge , who declared Antony and Cleopatra to be Shakespeare's "most wonderful play" ("Shakespeare 'most wonderful play"), the work disappeared from the Theater schedules. Neither the romantic enthusiasm for the lyrical qualities of the work nor the attempt at an opulent, somewhat faithful staging of the work in 1849 or the praise of the famous Victorian writer and critic Algernon Charles Swinburne for the play in 1880 were able to ensure that this tragedy had a permanent fix Took place in the repertoire of theaters.

Only significant advances in the development of stage technology and a later change in the staging style with a return to the non-stop performance practice of Elizabethan theater and the associated solution to the problem of frequent changes of scene led to a turning point in the reception and stage history of the work at the beginning of the 20th century a.

Around the turn of the century, successful largely faithful versions and productions by Edward Frederic Benson and Herbert Beerbohm Tree were played, and in 1922 a significant modern interpretation of the play by the actor and director Robert Atkins (1886–1972) was brought to the stage.

In the further course of the 20th century, the interest of critics and interpreters in Antonius and Cleopatra grew , although the play is still difficult to play in the theater world due to its length, the large number of scenes and the progression of the plot, which is often only conveyed by messenger reports is estimated.

More recent performances show a tendency towards a stronger display of the oriental atmosphere of the work, whereby at the same time, in contrast to the past opulent and extremely decorative staging practice, more minimalist-oriented performances are predominant today, as they were for the first time in the productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of Trevor Nunn and in the 1978 production of Peter Brook in Stratford. However, the theater and film director Peter Hall resisted this trend with his lavish production in 1987 at the National Theater in London. The performance of the work under the direction of Adrian Noble in the London Pit Theater in 1981 with Helen Mirren in the role of Cleopatra is one of the recognized productions of this time . A re-performance by Helen Mirren in the female lead and directed by Sean Mathias at the National Theater in 1998 was opposed by critics as disastrous panned .

According to the German Shakespeare researcher Ulrich Suerbaum , the fact that Antony and Cleopatra is on the regular repertoire of numerous stages in English-language theater is primarily due to the fact that this work is one of the few Shakespeare plays that are both male and female also contain a female "parade role" and in which the main female role is almost equal to the male role. Not least for this reason, according to Suerbaum, this drama offered numerous well-known actor couples such as Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (1951) or Michael Redgrave and Peggy Ashcroft (1953) as well as Timothy Dalton and Vanessa Redgrave or Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo (2018) the opportunity to unite Brilliant appearance.

In the German-speaking theater, the performances did not take place until the middle of the 19th century: the work was first performed in a German translation in Dresden in 1852 and in Vienna in 1854. Another monumental staging of the work in Vienna by the Austrian director and artistic director Franz von Dingelstedt showed the theatrical effectiveness of the play. Since, however, in contrast to the other works of Shakespeare, the number of poetically appropriate or theatrical translations is limited in this drama, Antonius and Cleopatra does not have the same weight in the repertoire of the German theaters as the other great tragedies of Shakespeare, albeit individual performances such as those below directed by Saladin Schmitt in 1939 at the Schauspielhaus Bochum were quite successful.

Samuel Barber set the tragedy to music as an opera, the premiere took place in 1966 at the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera in New York.

swell

  • "Description of the life of Antonius von Plutarch", in: Frank Günther (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antonius and Cleopatra. Bilingual edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-12756-2 , pp. 335–351.
  • Plutarch : "Until death do them part.", In: Günther Jürgensmeier (Ed.): Shakespeare and his world. Galiani Berlin, 2016. ISBN 978-3-86971-118-8 , pp. 633–641.
  • "Herodotus - Description of Egypt", in: Ania Loomba (Ed.): William Shakespeare. Antony and Cleopatra. Norton Critical Editions. WW Norton & Company, New York 2011, p. 125.
  • "Plutarch - Life of Antony", in: Ania Loomba (Ed.): William Shakespeare. Antony and Cleopatra. Norton Critical Editions. WW Norton & Company, New York 2011, pp. 126-141.
  • "Virgil - Cleopatra and Dido", in: Ania Loomba (Ed.): William Shakespeare. Antony and Cleopatra. Norton Critical Editions. WW Norton & Company, New York 2011, pp. 142-145.
  • "Geoffrey Chaucer - The Legend of Good Women.", In: Ania Loomba (Ed.): William Shakespeare. Antony and Cleopatra. Norton Critical Editions. WW Norton & Company, New York 2011, pp. 146f.

Text output

English
  • "The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra", in: Charlton Hinman, Peter WM Blayney (Ed.): The Norton Facsimile. The First Folio of Shakespeare. Based on the Folios in the Folger Library Collection. 2nd edition, WW Norton, New York 1996, ISBN 0-393-03985-4 , pp. 848-876 (facsimile count), pp. 340-368 (folio count).
  • Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen (Eds.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra . The RSC Shakespeare. MacMillan, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-230-57618-6
  • Anthony Bevington (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-61287-6
  • Ania Loomba (Ed.): William Shakespeare. Antony and Cleopatra. Norton Critical Editions. WW Norton & Company, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-393-93077-1
  • Michael Neill (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1994. ISBN 978-0-19-953578-1
  • John Wilders (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7
German
  • Wolf Graf Baudissin : "The Tragedy of Anthony and Cleopatra" - "Antonius and Cleopatra", in: Achim Apell (Ed.): William Shakespeare. Complete Works. English German. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-86150-838-0 , Vol. II, pp. 2513-2605.
  • Dimiter Daphinoff (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. English-German study edition. Stauffenburg, Tübingen 1995, ISBN 978-3-86057-542-0 .
  • Frank Günther (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antonius and Cleopatra. Bilingual edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-12756-2

literature

Lexicons

  • Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (Eds.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , pp. 227-231.
  • Frank Ernest Halliday: A Shakespeare Companion 1550-1950. Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., London 1952, pp. 27f.
  • Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius and Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare manual. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , pp. 508-515.

Introductions

Monographs

Edition comments

  • Frank Günther : “From the translation workshop. A very strange tragedy or how do we bring the moon into the room? "; in: Frank Günther (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antonius and Cleopatra. Bilingual edition. dtv, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-12756-2 , pp. 287-306.
  • Bernhard Klein: "The infinite diversity of the world: Antony and Cleopatra "; in: Frank Günther (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antonius and Cleopatra. Bilingual edition. dtv, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-423-12756-2 , 352–373.

Web links

Commons : Antony and Cleopatra  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995, ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction p. 1 and p. 70 f. See also Ina Schabert (Ed.): Shakespeare Handbook. Kröner, 5th rev. Edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 508. See also Ulrich Suerbaum : Der Shakespeare-Führer. Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, ISBN 3-15-017663-8 , 3rd rev. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 387, and Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 227. On the assumption that the 1623 folio edition may have been based on a copy of an autograph manuscript by Shakespeare, see e.g. Jonathan Bate , Eric Rasmussen (Eds.): William Shakespeare Complete Works. The RSC Shakespeare , Macmillan Publishers 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-20095-1 , The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra , pp. 2161 f.
  2. ↑ See in more detail John Wilders (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 71 f. See also Ulrich Suerbaum : The Shakespeare Guide. Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, ISBN 3-15-017663-8 , 3rd rev. Edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 387, and Jonathan Bate , Eric Rasmussen (Eds.): William Shakespeare Complete Works. The RSC Shakespeare , Macmillan Publishers 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-20095-1 , The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra , p. 2161.
  3. ↑ See on this assumption Jonathan Bate , Eric Rasmussen (Ed.): William Shakespeare Complete Works. The RSC Shakespeare , Macmillan Publishers 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-20095-1 , The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra , pp. 2161 f. See also Anthony Davies, "Antony and Cleopatra," in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (eds.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare, on the assumption of earlier performances before 1608 . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 230.
  4. ↑ See Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbuch. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 509 f. and 512 f. See also John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 59f. See also Jonathan Bate , Eric Rasmussen (Eds.): William Shakespeare Complete Works. The RSC Shakespeare , Macmillan Publishers 2008, ISBN 978-0-230-20095-1 , The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra , pp. 2159 f.
  5. ↑ See John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 56 ff. And 60f. See also Ulrich Suerbaum : The Shakespeare Guide. Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, 3rd, through. and bibliogr. additional edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 387 f. and Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius and Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbook. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 509 f.
  6. ↑ See Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbuch. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 509. See also John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 56 ff. And 60 ff. See also the introduction by Jonathan Bate in: William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The RSC Shakespeare, ed. by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, Macmillan Publishers , London 2009, ISBN 978-0-230-57618-6 , Introduction, p. 6 f.
  7. ↑ See Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbuch. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 508 f. See also John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 62ff.
  8. ↑ See John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 64 ff. Cf. also the introduction by Jonathan Bate in: William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The RSC Shakespeare, ed. by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, Macmillan Publishers , London 2009, ISBN 978-0-230-57618-6 , Introduction, p. 8 ff.
  9. ↑ Cf. Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 230. See also Ulrich Suerbaum : Der Shakespeare-Führer. Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, 3rd, through. and bibliogr. additional edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 388 ff. and Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbuch. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514.
  10. ↑ Cf. Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 230. See also Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Manual. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. additional edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514, as well as John Wilders (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 13 f.
  11. ↑ Cf. Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 230. The statements by Gildon and Johnson cited are taken from this source. See also Ulrich Suerbaum : Der Shakespeare-Führer on the centuries-long criticism of the lack of drama unity and the divergent number of plot elements and characters . Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, 3rd, through. and bibliogr. additional edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 388 ff. as well as Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbuch. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514.
  12. ↑ Cf. Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius and Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbook. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. erg. edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514. See also John Wilders (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 14-19. See also Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (Ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , pp. 230 f.
  13. ↑ See Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius und Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbuch. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514. Cf. also Anthony Davies: "Antony and Cleopatra", in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 230. See also John Wilders (Ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 14-19.
  14. ↑ Cf. Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius and Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbook. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. erg. edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514. See also ohn Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 22 f. and Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (Eds.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 18.
  15. ↑ Cf. Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius and Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbook. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. additional edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514. See also Ulrich Suerbaum : Der Shakespeare-Führer. Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, 3rd, through. and bibliogr. added edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 394, as well as Anthony Davies: “Antony and Cleopatra”, in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 231. See also John Wilders (ed.): William Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. The Arden Shakespeare. Third Series. Routledge, London 1995. ISBN 978-1-904271-01-7 , Introduction, pp. 19-26.
  16. ↑ See Ulrich Suerbaum: The Shakespeare Guide. Reclam, Ditzingen 2006, 3rd, through. and bibliogr. supplemented edition 2015, ISBN 978-3-15-020395-8 , p. 394. See also Anthony Davies on these performances: “Antony and Cleopatra”, in: Michael Dobson , Stanley Wells (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, 2nd edition 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-870873-5 , p. 231.
  17. ↑ Cf. Werner von Koppenfels : "Antony and Cleopatra (Antonius and Cleopatra)", in: Ina Schabert : Shakespeare Handbook. Kröner, 3rd, through and bibliogr. supplementary edition, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-38605-2 , p. 514.