Antony and Cleopatra in context
Subtitle: the politics of passion
By: Keith Linley
Publisher: Anthem Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781783083770
Subjects: Literature and society; Social role in literature; Kings and rulers in literature; Man-woman relationships in literature; Love in literature; Politics in literature
Description: "This engaging book provides in-depth discussion of the various influences that an audience in 1607 would have brought to interpreting 'Antony and Cleopatra'. How did people think about the world, about God, about sin, about kings, about civilized conduct? Learn about the social hierarchy, gender relationships, court corruption, class tensions, the literary profile of the time, the concept of tragedy - and all the subversions, transgressions, and oppositions that made the play an unsettling picture of a disintegrating world lost through passion and machination --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Prologue: the setting; title: The inherited past; title: The historical context; title: The Elizabethan world order: from divinity to dust; title: Sin, death and the Prince of Darkness; title: The seven cardinal virtues; title: Kingship; title: Patriarchy, family authority and gender relationships; title: Man in his place; title: Images of disorder: the religious context; title: The Jacobean present; title: The context of tragedy; title: "O'erflowing the measure": restraint and excess; title: Infinite variety: Isis or strumpet?; title: Rome vs Egypt: gendering the state; title: Literary context; title: Political context.