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Classical Tradition and Reception Theory

The Decline & Fallof the Jazz Age
Shakespeare’s Roman Plays in
Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned

The classical traditon is the generally accepted view or influence of the Greco-Romans andtheir culture. For instance, the pleasure-seeking Mark Antony (83-30 BC) was hopelessly inlove with the conniving Cleopatra (69-30 BC) who wanted to usurp Roman dominion,
according to the propaganda that Octavian (63 BC-AD 14) spun in Rome.
Classical reception theory analyzes ancient references in works that may or may not followthe tradition. For example, modern historians now believe that Mark Antony and Cleopatra
joined military forces primarily to achieve mutual geopolitical goals in the east and notnecessarily because they were romantically attracted to each other or attempting tochallenge Octavian in the west.
Like most artists who appropriate ancient culture, F. Scott Fitzgerald (FSF [1896-1940]) dealt
with both tradition and reception theory, whenever either one suited him.

Literature Review
Ricciardi (1999) only mentions in passing that the protagonists of The Beautiful and Damned (B&D [1922])resemble Mark Antony and Cleopatra (29).
Cochoy (2005) opens her article about the setting of B&D with an epigraph from William Shakespeare (WS [15641616])’s Antony and Cleopatra (A&C [c. 1607]), but the play is never mentioned again!
An endnote in the Cambridge Edition (2008) of B&D points out a loose quotation from WS’s Julius Caesar (JC [c.
1599]), but does not analyze it:“let loose the carefully starved dogs of war”

(B&D 256)“let slip the dogs of war”

(JC 3.1.273)

Royon (2021) studied the classical tradition in This Side of Paradise (1920), The Great Gatsby (GG, 1925), and Tender
Is the Night (1934), but not B&D, which (ironically) is probably the most classicized of Fitzgerald’s four completednovels.
Blazek et al. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned: New Critical Essays (2022) contains very little mentionof any classical or Shakespearean allusions in the novel itself.

Late Republican Roman Background58-51 BC

Caesar, with his distant relative Mark Antony as one of his most able generals,conquered Gaul.

49-45 BC

Caesar, again with much help from Mark Antony, wins the civil wars.

44 BC

Caesar was assassinated, but had named his grandnephew Octavian as his heir.

43-32 BCMark Antony in the East, Octavian in the West, and Lepidus in Africa createdthe Second Triumvirate.
Octavian crticized Mark Antony and Cleopatra’s decadent lifestyle inAlexandria.

31 BC

Octavian won the battle of Actium.

30 BC

Mark Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.

The Education of F. Scott Fitzgerald (FSF)
In his early youth, FSF loved listening to stories from his father
about the Civil War (1861-65).
At the age of 6 he was already quoting the opening line ofAntony’s eulogy from JC!
He enjoyed reading historical novels.
At the age of 10, he tried to write a history of the United States!!
His only A in high school was in Ancient History!!!
He studied (the Greco-Latin) Classics and English literature atPrinceton University.

Early 20th Cen. American Background
The U.S. entered WWI (1914-18) in 1917.
The American economy boomed after the end of the war.
Prohibition was introduced in 1919.
The Roaring Twenties is famous for its (relatively) loose morals, including drinking(nevertheless) and more liberated, especially sexually, women known as flappers.
This hedonistic decade, a.k.a. the Jazz Age, came to an abrupt end in 1929 with thecrash of the stock market, ushering in the Great Depression until the start of WWII
(1939-45).
Both Roman and American narratives begin with war, which leads todecadence, and end in tragedy.

Egypt became a Roman province.

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The Theme of Decadence in the WestIn his Works & Days, the Greek poet Hesiod (fl. c. 700 BC) descibes the successive decline of the ages:
Gold > Silver > Bronze > Heroes > Iron.
The Roman republican historian Sallust (c. 86-35 BC) blames the conquest of Rome’s greatest rival,
Carthage, in 146 BC and the riches that were thus introduced to Italy as the beginning of decline via
decadence as evinced in his own time by the civil wars.
But the Roman imperial historian Tacitus (c. AD 57-c. 118) laments how imperial Rome (27 BC-c. AD118) is a shadow of its former republican self (509-27 BC)!
Yet, the English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-94) begins his famous History of the Decline and Fallof the Roman Empire from the end of the reigns of the five “good” emperors (96-180)!!
In 1981 the French historian Pierre Chaunu (1923-2009) wrote “la décadence, c’est Rome” (165).
In 2019 the British classicist Jerry Toner wrote that the Romans invented the concept of decadence(15).

Mark Antony & Cleopatra in the First Films
1

Cleopatra’s Tomb

1899

2

Antony and Cleopatra

1908

3

Cleopatra’s Lover, or A Night of Enchantment

4

Cleopatra

1910

Cleopatra

1912

6

Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra

1913

7

Antony and Cleopatra

1914

8Cléopâtre

1914

9Dranem amoureux de Cléopâtre10Cleopatra

1917

11Die Schlange der Kleopatra

1917

12Cleopatsy

1918

13Cleopatra

1920

14Cleopatra, die Herrin des Nils

1921

15

Le perle di Cleopatra

1922

worldwide average of 2 movies about
Antony and Cleopatra every 3 years

Archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb ofTutankhamun in November 1922.
E. M. Forster published Alexandria: A History & Guide inDecember 1922.

Plot Summary of B&D

In the meantime, he meets and marries the beautiful but opportunistic Gloria Gilbert.
Together they party until Adam walks unexpectedly into one of their debauched festivities
and so disinherits his grandson.
After Adam’s death, Anthony Patch fights the disinheritance.

1916

During the years of litigation Anthony Patch and Gloria’s downward spiral quickens.
By a stroke of luck, Anthony Patch wins back his inheritance but only after a nervous
breakdown has rendered him an invalid.

FSF’s LibraryMark Antony
Octavius (Octavian) Caesar
Marcus Lepidus+ FSF+ FSF/Edmund Wilson+ George Jean Nathan= Anthony Patch= Richard Caramel= Maury Noble

Cato the Elder+ Anthony Comstock= Adam J. Patch

CleopatraIrasCharmian

B&D was published in March 1922.

Anthony Patch is whiling away his time until he inherits his grandfather’s estate.

Main Characterization+ Julius Caesar

Victorians and Edwardians had been very interested in ancient
Egypt.

The protagonist Anthony Patch’s parents are dead and his grandfather Adam Patch is a
morally-strict multi-millionaire.

1909

5Egyptomania+ Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald = Gloria Gibert= Muriel Kane= Rachael Jerryl

Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives. Translated with historical and criticalnotes by John and William Longhorne. James Crissy, 1830.
Plut. Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Vols. 1,5, 7, 8, 9. Translated by Thomas North. 1579. Dent, 1898.
[missing vol. 6]
Shakespeare, William. The Dramatic Works of William
Shakespeare.
T. Nelson, 1910.
[spine title: The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare]22024/6/13

Example of a Plutarchan allusionthat does not appear in WS

WS’s Appropriation of North’s Plut.
North’s Antony:(1009F-1010A)

One of the soldiers, seeing her, angrily said unto
her: ”Is that well done, Charmian?” “Very well,”said she again, “and meet for a princess descended
from the race of so many noble kings.”

Shakespeare:
I Guard:(A&C 5.2.319-21)
Charmian:

What work is here, Charmian? Is thiswell done?
It is well done, and fitting for aprincess
Descended of so many royal kings.

Example of a Shakespearean allusionthat does not appear in Plut.
Anthony Patch > Richard:“my beardless boy”

(B&D 26)

Mark Antony > Octavius: “the scarce-bearded Caesar”(A&C 1.1.22)“the young man”
(3.11.61)“the boy Caesar”(3.13.17)
FSF is using both Plut. (history) and WS (literature).

“His [Anthony Patch’s] nose was too sharp”(B&D 16)“[Mark] Antony had […] an aquiline nose”(Plut. Ant. IV.1)

Allusions to (Shakespearean) Theatre
Two sections written in playscript format:
Book One

Chapter I

Anthony PatchBook Two

Chapter III

The Broken Lute

Shakespeare mentioned three times by name

A Flash-Back in Paradise (B&D 30-32)(B&D 220-31)(B&D 69, 188, 263).

Anthony Patch and Gloria wanting Adam’s death, and getting it when the latter interrupts their houseparty (B&D 220-47) =Macbeth(McMullen 64).
One subheading is entitled “The Winter of Discontent” (B&D 247) from Richard III 1.1.1
Marriage “can’t, shan’t be the setting – it’s going to be the performance, the live, lovely, glamorous
performance, and the world shall be the scenery” (B&D 127).
=“The whole world’s a stage”“‘Two weeks later the whole performance over again’”

As You Like It 2.7.139(B&D 179).

“Within another year Anthony Patch and Gloria had become like players who had lost their costumes,
lacking the pride to continue on the note of tragedy”(B&D 334).

JC and The Death of Adam Patch
Caesar’s will makes Octavian heir (thus snubbing Mark Antony)and donates money to Roman citiziens.
Adam’s will makes his secretary Edward Shuttleworth heir (thussnubbing Anthony Patch) and donates money to charities.
Both wills introduce plot twists which lead to conflicts, militaryand legal.

A&C and Anthony Patch & Gloria
In the classical tradition, including Shakespeare, Mark Antony andCleopatra often organized lavish feasts with much alcohol in
Egypt, neglecting their duties.
Anthony Patch and Gloria often throw house parties with muchalcohol in Marietta, Connecticut, and are unemployed.
Both couples are clearly irresponsible and decadent.

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Mark Antony & Anthony Patch
There are many Italian references, especially to (ancient) Rome.

Conclusions
FSF loved (ancient) history; e.g., Plut.

“‘You look like [Mark] Anthony,’ [Gloria] assured [Anthony Patch] seriously – he thought she had
scarcely seen him – ‘rather majestic,’ she continued, ‘and solemn’” (B&D 54).

FSF loved (British) literature; e.g., WS.

Both men are decadent (alcoholics) and neglect their duties.

FSF wanted to enter the Western canon, as WS did via Plut.

They are disillusioned with their countries.

While WS used Plut. to present doomed love of epic proportions, FSF used both to criticize/satirize the Jazz Age.

They are in love with a femme fatale.
They are tragic figures of sorts:
Octavian weeps at the news of Mark Antony’s suicide (A&C 5.1.27-8);
Anthony Patch wins the case, but has ruined his health, thus creating an ambiguous ending, such as insome of WS’s so-called problem plays.
A problem play, roughly speaking, is a tragicomedy; and Schanzer has labelled JC and A&C as such.

FSF wanted to demonstrate his cultural capital by using classical allusions.

FSF wanted to create a problem novel, like a Shakespearean problem play, in which a reprobate has won millions ofdollars. (FSF himself was a successful alcoholic.)
FSF’s motivation for doing so is to create a very realistic portrait of contemporary capitalistic America, wheremillionaires are degenerates of ancient Roman proportions.
FSF felt that the American republic was falling like the Roman one did.
Many 21st cen. Americans feel similarly; e.g., MAGA.
With this theme of moral degenerartion still present and as strong as ever, B&D is probably more relevant today
than even FSF’s widely-acclaimed masterpiece GG, and so it deserves more attention.

Bibliography
Blazek, William, et al., eds. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned: New Critical Essays. Louisiana State UP, 2022.
Chaunu, Pierre. Histoire et décadence. Perrin, 1981.
Cochoy, Nathalie. “New York as a ‘Passing Stranger’ in The Beautiful and Damned.” F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 4, 2005, pp. 65-83.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott [Key]. The Beautiful and Damned. 1922. Edited by James L W. West III, Cambridge UP, 2008. Cambridge Edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire: Edited by David Womersley. Penguin Classics, 1995. Reprinted with a new Chronology & minor revisions 2005. 3 vols.
Hesiod. Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia. Ed. and trans. by Glenn W. Most, Harvard UP, 2006. Loeb Classical Library.
Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives. Translated with historical and critical notes by John and William Longhorne, James Crissy, 1830.
Ricciardi, Caterina. “F. Scott Fitzgerald and Rome.” RSA Journal, vol. 10, 1999, pp. 29-47.
Royon, Tessa. The Classical Tradition in Modern American Fiction. Edinburgh UP, 2021.
Sallust. Sallust. Trans. by J. C. Rolfe, Harvard UP, 1921. Loeb Classical Library.
Schanzer, Ernest. The Problem Plays of Shakespeare: A Study of Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure, Antony and Cleopatra. 1963. Routledge, 2008. Routledge Library Editions: Shakespeare.
Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Updated ed., edited by David Bevington, Cambridge UP, 2005. New Cambridge Shakespeare.
---. As You Like It. 3rd ed., edited by Michael Hattaway, Cambridge UP, 2021. New Cambridge Shakespeare.
---. Julius Caesar. 3rd ed., edited by Marvin Spevack, revised and with a new introduction by Jeremy Lopez, Cambridge UP, 2017. New Cambridge Shakespeare.
---. Macbeth. Updated ed., edited by A. R. Braunmuller, Cambridge UP, 2008. New Cambridge Shakespeare.
---. King Richard III. Updated ed., edited by Janis Lull, Cambridge UP, 2009. New Cambridge Shakespeare.
Tacitus. Annals. Histories. Translated by John Jackson and Clifford H. Moore, Harvard UP, 1925-37. Loeb Classical Library. 4 vols.
Toner, Jerry. “Decadence in Ancient Rome.” Decadence and Literature, edited by Jane Desmarais and David Weir. Cambridge UP, 2019, pp. 15-29.

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