My Shakespeare: "Antony and Cleopatra"

Surprisingly, I completed studying "Antony and Cleopatra", my third Shakespeare play and a sequel to "Julius Caesar" that I had done just 2 weeks ago!✌️

As such, now I think the idea of "Play of the Month" (studying one play per month) is not too crazy really, and I will apply it as a simple goal to guide my self-learning journey of Shakespeare’s works going forward.

Unexpectedly, I started reading "Antony and Cleopatra" during my backpacking in Peng-Hu Islands last week. Normally I don't travel with a book in my pack because when traveling I am on the move, either cycling or walking, most of the time. Though I stop at times I'm usually absorbed to the surroundings that are new to me, so there's no time for my book.

Last week, however, super Typhoon Gaemi visited Taiwan and Peng-Hu, resulting in severe damages and forcing businesses to close for days. My planned stay in Peng-Hu was extended by 3 days due to port closure, so suddenly I had PLENTY of time to read.

Thanks to the abundance of this digital age, one can find in a few clicks classic works of world literature online, including Shakespeare plays, and so I did it. I first printed out the text of the entire play (84 pages for some 3800 lines) at the convenience store. 

Then, I located a free audiobook covering the complete play with a length over 3 hours. 

Finally. I found a new online study guide that provides both pay and free contents, with the latter good enough for me.

Thus, though Gaemi lingered around, locking people inside, I was all set and embarked on a virtual journey of Shakespearean literature, concurrently during my travel in Peng-Hu.

Having experienced two Shakespeare plays, I somehow found my way and was able to study in an effective manner my third play, which is about one third lengthier than the first two. On the other hand, I had been impressed with the story before, correctly or incorrectly, for it's so well known in western culture. With the film "Cleopatra" premiereing in 1962 staring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, it reached audiences around the world, including me then in my mid teens.

To be honest, while I was deeply impressed by Taylor's acting Cleopatra ( less so by Burton's Antony), then I was totally lost in the plot of the movie that covers the history and legends involving, among others, the Roman Republic, the ptolemaic Kingdom and the Pathian Empire. It had remained a puzzle to me until 2 years ago when I started studying world history, already a half of a century after I first knew Cleopatra by Taylor.

Having gone through the entire play of "Antony and Cleopatra", now I have quite clear understanding about the history back then, particularly about the "Hellenistic Period" following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Note that the developments of the Hellenistic Period coexisted with, but is somehow overshadowed by, that of the rising Roman Republic. 

Now I understand for the first time what "Diadochi" stands for, and how the Roman Republic transformed to the Roman Empire, with that decisive battle won by Octavian over the joint navy led by Antony and Cleopatra in Actium.

I am particularly fascinated by the feat of the young Cleopatra who, wrapped in a mattress and hidden in a sack carried by her servant Apollodorus, evading all guards along the way and managed to meet Julius Caesar in his camp. The two fell in love and later produced their child Caesarian. 

It's only years later, as part of the Second Triumvirate that was formed in the aftermath of Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Antony would rule a third of the Roman Republic and that's where his path crossed with Cleopatra's.

In the play, Antony was sitting outside a market nearby the Cydnus River where Cleopatra was cruising on her boat. Antony fell in love the instant he saw Cleopatra, and the rest is history.

History books don't depict it as detailed, or not as dramatic, as the play does, though, and that's why the play is always more fascinating: detailing Antony's indulgent love with Cleopatra, Antony's temporary awakening by the death of his wife Fulvia, the political marriage of Antony and Octavia, the elder sister of Octavian, and the inevitable return of Antony to the bosom of Cleopatra, to just name a few.

As I recalled how Antony was depicted in "Julius Caesar", where he calmly, wisely and successfully formed the Second Triumvirate and defeated the rebels led by Brutus and Cassius, the Antony depicted in "Antony and Cleopatra" looks like a totally different person to me. This probably showcases a great extent of "the power of love" that I have never experienced in person, or it is simply part of the always dramatic plotting of Shakespeare’s works. Or, probably it's both; who knows? 

Still, this virtual journey with "Antony and Cleopatra" is absolutely inspiring and rewarding for me. I look forward to my next journey with a Shakespeare play - probably a comedy this time.😊