The Importance of Wealth in Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest
Wealth and it’s relationship to poverty figures in heavily in two of the plays we have read thus far in class. In both Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest we are treated to characters and situations that deal with wealth and poverty. Specifically however, both plays have visions of an abundance of wealth that seems at times both corruptible and foolish. In Antony and Cleopatra we have their excessive behavior and flaunting, which proves to be a vice that grips them much to tightly. In The Tempest, characters stranded on a deserted island have their own unique versions of achieving that said abundance. Shakespeare treats the topic similarly in both plays, and uses it to expose the very nature of abundance.
For example, in Antony and Cleopatra we are treated to many scenes describing the level of excess the title characters are involved in. In Act 3, scene 6 Shakespeare writes,
Here’s the manner of’t:
I’th’ market-place, on a tribunal silver’d,
Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold
Were publicly enthron’d. At their feet sat
Caesarian, whom they call my father’s son,
And all the unlawful issue that their lust
Since then hath made between them. Unto her
He gave the stablishment of Egypt, made her
Of lower Syria, Cyprus,Lydia,
Absolute Queen (2-10).
With that passage, Shakespeare (through Caesar) is criticizing the lavishness and public showings of both Antony and Cleopatra. He seems to think it grotesque to have them sitting in front of everyone in “chairs of gold”.
Even earlier, Antony’s abundant behavior is made obvious. Shakespeare writes, “he fishes, drinks, and wastes/The lamps of night in ...
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... riches? His want of this abundance is like the others, made worse by the fact that he at first had no idea what it was. He had something better (although some would view him as poor), and now a glimpse of wealth has changed him.
In the end, by looking at these two plays, we can see that wealth can indeed be a corrupting force in Shakespeare’s world. Although wealth may not necessarily be just money. It can come in many forms; power, idleness, etc. And in today’s world where money-winning game shows are what pass for culture and entertainment, it seems all the more relevant.
Works Cited:
The Riverside Shakespeare: Second Edition Houghton Mifflin Company Boston/New York G. Blakemore Evans and J.J.M Tobin eds.
Shakespeare’s The Tempest: World’s Classics The Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford University Press New York/London. Ed. Stanley Wells
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...r Reference to The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra." Http://uzspace.uzulu.ac.za/. University of Zululand. Sept. 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
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Summary: In the essay, “Part-time Employment Undermines a Student’s Commitment to School” by Laurence Steinberg, it explains how studies show that teenagers that work while attending school are more likely to loose their commitment to school. Steinberg tells the effects on students when they work more than twenty hours a week. His theory was that students are more susceptible to losing their interest in school, while working. They may have to work in the evening time, which can interfere with homework, sleep and diet. Steinberg also elaborated on how these students that work receive money that can make school seem less desirable. Also because they do receive money, they can use their extra money to become associated with drugs and alcohol.
Shakespeare, William, Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. The Norton Shakespeare. Second ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.
William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra In the play Antony and Cleopatra, the character of Cleopatra is one of
Humanity's version of entertainment undeniably reflects a violent history rife with bloody quests for power. However, the stage has never seen a more villainous protagonist than in Shakespeare's Richard III. Our antihero, Richard of Gloucester, immediately engages the audience with a sweet soliloquy, his plot, filled with goals of betrayal and murder effectively forming a bond between himself and his listeners— a bond built on the illusion of truth. [Queen Elizabeth info] The illusion of truth is the goal of any successful performer, and Richard's ability to influence his listeners, both the audience and the characters in the play, demonstrates his power as a performer, which deteriorates once he is crowned king. His facade cracks and ultimately breaks down once he no longer has an audience to perform for, leaving Richard a victim of his own undoing.
Hieroglyphics were a very important part of communication in Ancient Egypt. They were the base of all writing and what we know from the past. The Rosetta Stone was helpful to discovering the language of hieroglyphics. It had the basics of hieroglyphs on it which helped discover what they meant. Scribes were what started hieroglyphics in the first place. They were the people who wrote hieroglyphics and started the language. Knowing how to read hieroglyphics and the language was how people found out what happened in Ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphics were the solution to many mysteries of Ancient Egypt.
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Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et. al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.
Arguably one of the most important discoveries made regarding the historical and cultural study of ancient Egypt is the translation of the writing form known as hieroglyphics. This language, lost for thousands of years, formed a tantalizing challenge to a young Jean François who committed his life to its translation. Scholars such as Sylvestre de Sacy had attempted to translate the Rosetta Stone before Champollion, but after painstaking and unfruitful work, they abandoned it (Giblin 32). Champollion’s breakthrough with hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone opened up new possibilities to study and understand ancient Egypt like never before, and modern Egyptology was born.
Act two of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar begins the detailed planning of Caesar’s assassination, which follows soon after in the third act. One particular passage of interest during this act is found in scene one. This particular passage deals with the conspirator’s justification of their motives for wanting to kill Caesar, as well as the fine-tuning of their machination. As is consistent throughout Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s verse here differs much from his usual, flowery, beautifully poetic, and complicated verse that can be found in plays as Macbeth. The verse in Caesar is simple. This change in Shakespeare’s style has been attributed to his desire to imitate Roman society in this work, as to give the audience or the reader some context through which to receive the play, and to accurately portray his Roman characters.
The Tempest. Arden Shakespeare, 1997. Print. Third Series Smith, Hallet Darius. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Tempest; A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1969.