Antony and Cleopatra: The Wider Scene

This essay covers different ways of reading 'Antony and Cleopatra' that may prove useful to Italian secondary school teachers. These critical perspectives, organized as six different sections, move from the assessment of the lack of adaptations of the tragedy in 19th century children’s literature. Such absence was curiously compensated by the educational focus on the study of Roman history and especially the momentous political transition from republic to empire. Such historical potential, thus acknowledged, can branch out into the study of art history, where portraits of the two lovers bound, since Roman times. Many artists have portrayed Antony and Cleopatra: such iconic wealth provides teachers with an ulterior tool, inasmuch as the Queen of Egypt may foster a specific focus on identity and gender. Yet such strong and lasting poetical fascination also invites teachers to assess the wider scene, and to consider the erotic charm of this woman as part of the European fascination for the Orient. The seductive powers attributed to Cleopatra point to the category of Orientalism expounded by Edward Said. With 'Antony and Cleopatra', Shakespeare provided an early construction of the cultural clash between Rome and Egypt, the West and the East, and of the different values each culture came to endorse, according to the records of our civilization.