All-round love- Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra- William Shakespeare

Okay I know, its been a few days since I last posted, I have been focusing on geography for the last few days... but this drama piece, as a friend of mine pointed out, is amazing, because it covers all types of love, really... also, I'm lucky enough to have studied this in class, so I know this story inside and out, really. Yay, me :-) 

Summary

Antony and Cleopatra is, without a doubt, a tragedy. It revolves around three protagonists, Antony and Cleopatra (duh) and Octavius Caesar. NOT JULIUS CAESAR. I made that mistake in the beginning and it just confused me. The story revolves around Antony, being a Roman and taking his role as leader of a third of the triumvirate too easily, while Caesar wants him to get off his bum and lead. Cleopatra is a carefree Egyptian who loves Antony and would do anything for him (except she chickened out of a battle and made Antony flee the battle too, leading to a series of events which made Antony kill himself... I told you its a tragedy), so what is left, really, is a drama watching the hot mess of two people trying to come out of impossible circumstances. Eventually, Cleopatra sticks a poisonous snake in her boobs and Antony kills himself instead of surrendering to Octavius Caesar. A tragedy. One which shows courage and love between these two characters. 

Theme and Analysis

The whole tone of the play is quite poetic, and decadent, almost stoic. The themes which I have picked out are: 

Exaggerated declarations of love: "CLEOPATRA 'If it be love indeed tell me how much.' ANTONY 'There's beggary in the love can be reckoned.' CLEOPATRA 'I'll set a bound how far to be beloved' ANTONY 'Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.'" This exchange sets the tone for the rest of the play. Cleopatra wants a love that can be demonstrated. 

Female Sexuality-  There is this power struggle between Caesar and Cleopatra. Caesar and his men almost condemn Antony for his weakness which makes him bow to the Egyptian queen, and blame his downfall on Cleopatra. When the Romans are not calling her a whore, they refer to her as an enchantress whose beauty is almost enchanting to men. Enobarbus says that she almost has the power to warp the minds and judgement of all men, even "holy priests" who "bless her" even when she acts like a whore. Its almost as if Cleopatra's sexuality is threatening the Romans. In a way, the women in the play (Cleopatra and Octavia) are saddled with both the responsibility for men's political alliances and the blame for their personal failures.

Important bits you can memorise

Betrayal in 'Antony and Cleopatra'- There is this never-ending battle with the characters of the story, where they have to choose to either be loyal to their ideals or to their circumstances. The loyalty of characters is constantly questioned by their quick betrayals of one another, and the question of whether loyalty is an enduring feeling is raised as a result. 

Quotes about this: "CLEOPATRA 'O, never was there queen/ So mightily betrayed! Yet at the first I saw the treason planted.' ANTONY 'Cleopatra-' CLEOPATRA 'Why should I think you can be mine, and true-/ Though you in swearing shake the throned gods-/ Who have been false to Fulvia? Riotous madness,/ To be entangled with those mouth-made vows,/ Which break themselves in swearing!'" Essentially, Cleopatra recognises that marriage is supposed to be a sacred act, yet Antony had disregarded his marriage to Fulvia to be with Cleopatra, and she worries that he would do to her what he did to Fulvia and betray her. I don't blame her... once a cheater always a cheater. 

Love in 'Antony and Cleopatra'- Even though the foundation of this theme is tragedy, love is still a central theme. Though love ultimately fails in the end (as the lovers cannot be together IRL, but they can in heaven), it is upheld and honoured by the lovers' suicidal loyalty to each other. 

Quotes about this: "CLEOPATRA 'If it be love indeed, tell me how much.' ANTONY 'There's beggary in the love that can be reckoned.' CLEOPATRA 'I'll set a born how far to be beloved' ANTONY 'Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new Earth.'" I talked about this quote previously, in the theme and analysis section, give it a read there. 

Overall Analysis

Thing about Antony and Cleopatra, is that there is a lot of phallic and yonic imagery. Swords feature prominently in the play as stand-ins for manhood, and they're often linked to the sexual self. There are a lot more inferences, read about them here. 

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Forbidden Love- Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet- William Shakespeare

The supposed greatest love story of all time. (Truth be told, I liked the movie version with Leo-bae) 

Summary

Though I am pretty sure no-one needs a summary about this love story, here is one anyway which may provide a sort of recap. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are 'star-cross'd' lovers destined to die, because it says so in the chorus. Romeo gets the hots for Juliet at a party that he was not invited to and they fell in live and got hitched a few days later. A few murders and arranged marriages and fake poisons later, Romeo stumbles upon a fake-dead Juliet, is overcome with grief, takes real poison, fake-dead Juliet wakes up to find real-dead Romeo had died for her so fake-dead Juliet becomes read-dead Juliet by stabbing herself. Pretty simple. Of course they are now dubbed as the greatest couple known to man. Please, my boyfriend got me a candle for my birthday a few years ago, how's that for a keeper?  

Theme and Analysis 

So there are, obviously loads of themes which come across from the story, here are a few: 

-Romantic love- Romeo and Juliet are the archetype lovers, Romeo is depicted as a Petrarchan lover, with the use of classical poetry, and imagery and wordplay. They often talk in sonnet, "Palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss", which signifies their love for each other. Juliet is described by Romeo using religious imagery, whereby her lips are a 'shrine'. They are obviously romantically involved, because they are willing to die for each 

-Familial love (kinda)- Juliet is a daddy's girl. "Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she" but then her parents are presented as unloving, uncaring and lacking any understanding for her. This is a form of dramatic irony, as Lady Capulet is overcome with guilt by the end of the play.

-Fraternal and Platonic love- There is a serious bromance between the male characters in the play, to the point of Romeo killing Tybalt for murdering his BFF, Mercrutio. 

Important bits you can memorise: 

Love in 'Romeo and Juliet'- The thing about love in this story, is that its almost forbidden. Everyone knows that if someone tells you not to push the big shiny red button, you're going to want to push the shiny red button, and that is what Romeo and Juliet is. They appear even more attractive to each other because they are forbidden fruit, it makes it more exciting, and they crave that love and excitement in their lives, which are controlled by their parents. It really makes you want to believe in true love, simply from the beautiful and passionate way that Shakespeare has written in.You could argue that it is puppy love that Romeo had for Rosaline before he met Juliet, and that she's simply a rebound.  

Quotes about this: "ROMEO: Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;/Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes:/Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:/What is it else? a madness most discreet,/A choking gall and a preserving sweet."  You need to remember that Romeo was a teenager at the time, so this is pretty impressive. He uses abstract language- love as 'smoke', 'fire' as a 'sea' as 'madness'. It shows that Romeo is actually in love with Juliet and his emotion is accurately expressed through his language and diction. 

Sex in 'Romeo and Juliet'-If you read my blog about Lady Chatterley's Lover, and how sex is a very apparent theme in the book, this one is dialled back about ten notches... but it's still there. In the novel, practically everything is about sex, everything is a dirty joke and violence is heavily eroticized, and it creates a very sexual atmosphere which may lead to the interpretation that the protagonists young love is just them wanting to get some... but I'm going to opt out and say that there is more to love than just sex- but feel free to interpret this one on your own.

Quotes about this: "The bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon" This is Mercrutio talking about something simple, the time of day, yet it has a sexual connotation about it, reflecting how most jokes usually are sexual, and nonchalant. Also, "JULIET 'Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die/ Take him and cut him out in little stars,/ And he will make the face of heaven so fine" So, here, there is a link with 'die' being slang for an orgasm... so when she dies.. she.. you know. Yep. Also when her father finds her dead, and talks of how she has been 'deflowered'. Yep. English. It is interesting though, how there is almost an irony as sex is supposed to result in the creation of life, not the death...Again, make your own conclusions to this

Transience in 'Romeo and Juliet'- Think about the story long enough, and you will realise that Romeo and thirteen-year-old Juliet fall in love at first sight, get hitched within 24 hours and die in each others arms a few days later. There is some correlation, that can be made between the fleeting nature of time and youth in the story. 

Quotes about this: "ROMEO 'Lady by yonder blessed moon I swear/That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-' JULIET' 'O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,/That monthly changes in her circled orb,/Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.' This is the part where I would go 'OHHHHH' because my girl, Juliet slayed. English banter, you guys... I live for it. 

Marriage in 'Romeo and Juliet'- In terms of context at the time this play was written, marriage for love is a pretty radical and dangerous choice- especially for rich kids, because they have influence in society (poorer folk could marry whoever, because they have nothing to lose). Romeo and Juliet pay the ultimate price for marrying for love... their death. However, they did almost resolve their parents battles...so it was worth it... right?

Quotes about this: "LADY CAPULET' Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme/I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,/How stands your disposition to be married?' JULIET 'It is an honour that I dream not of.'" This is around the beginning of the play, when we are introduced to what Juliet is like as a (bratty) teenager. Yet, she winds up marrying Romeo 24 hours later after the party- way to stick to your guns, Juliet. 

Tone and Analysis Overall

Shakespeare uses a lot of oxymoron in this play, which kinda help to get the point across. Juliet's cry in "My only love, sprung from my only hate"  is an example of the oxymoron that is used in the play. By using oxymoron and paradoxes in the play, Shakespeare manages to make the form match up with the content. 

Shakespeare writes in blank verse, which is essentially saying that he writes in unrhymed iambic pentameter. You should know the drill by now, of coming up with conclusions about why this is the case. Overall this is a play everyone should be quite familiar with it, and just for the banter, here is a link which I found pretty funny about the 'sex' in this story. Hope this helps calm some stress! 

Jealous Love- Othello

Othello- William Shakespeare

Summary:

The tale of the eponymous Othello, a black general who marries a white woman, and his subordinate officer Iago. Othello's marriage challenges the prejudices and conventions of Renaissance society, allowing Iago to spin a complicated web of lies and deceptions that corrupts Othello and leads to tragedy. (source: Sophie's Desk). It was published in 1602 (Elizabethan times).

Theme and Analysis: 

It is pretty clear that through Othello, there are many themes which are quite prevalent (below), but there are other factors which you can bring up when you talk about this book, such as imagery, allusions and hamartia. The imagery which is associated with jealousy suggests the destructive, terrifying and almost unnatural qualities of this emotion, "The green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on." - Iago uses dramatic irony, when pretending to warn Othello not to be a jealous man. Othello's hamartia (downfall) is his jealous nature. He becomes ruthless, and will not have a piece of mind until Desdemona is dead. Some themes which I picked up on were:

-Forbidden Love: The relationship between Othello and Desdemona is clandestine because of Othello's racial origins.

-Jealous Love: There is a parallel in the jealousy between Iago and Othello. It is interesting that Iago uses jealousy against Othello, yet jealousy is likely the source of Iagos' hatred in the first place. It is, ultimately, destructive.

Important bits you can memorise: 

Possibly the best summary of Othello 

Jealousy in 'Othello'-  In Othello, the hero succumbs to jealousy when Iago convinces him that Desdemona has been an unfaithful wife- in the end, Othello murders his wife, but then kills himself upon realising she was innocent. In Othello, jealousy takes many forms, from sexual suspicion to professional competition, but it is, in all cases, destructive. 
Quotes about this: "One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,/A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;/That never set a squadron in the field,/Nor the division of a battle knows/More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,Wherein the toged consuls can propose/As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practise,/Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:/And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof/At Rhodes, at Cyprus and on other grounds/Christian and heathen, must be be-lee'd and calm'd/By debitor and creditor: this counter-caster,He, in good time, must his lieutenant be" Okay this is a bit lengthy, I know, but all its about is Iago frustrated that Cassio is promoted to a greater position than Iago, so he's jealous, pick and choose which part of his monologue you'd like to use- but its all pretty interesting. 

Sex in 'Othello'- Remember, this play is written in the Elizabethan times, and the common 16th century anxieties about miscegenation (interracial sex and marriage) are examined; a black man marries a white woman, gets mad and accuses her of cheating- and thus strangles her in bed. In Othello, most male characters simply assume that the women are extremely promiscuous, which explains why all three women in the play are accused of infidelity. It makes sense, how easily Othello is swayed by Iago into believing that his wife has had an affair. Also, and though I wouldn't look too deep into this factor, there is a homoerotic theme which can go about between Othello and Iago, but if you are deeply curious, look here.
Quotes about this: IAGO "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is topping your white ewe." If you have read the rest of this, its pretty self explanatory.

Tone and Analysis Overall

The entire tone of Othello is dominated by Iago's voice. It is cynical. It is paranoid. He is the only one in the play who speaks to the audience and has bitter rants about Othello and Cassio, his casual dismissal of women as worthless prostitutes... even Othello begins to mirror Iago's tone in his own rants about jealousy and sexual impurity. Also, its worth mentioning that the play is written in iambic pentameter. Which means you can draw your conclusions about how 'free' or 'restricted' the speaker might be... you've done English, you can figure that part out... its a good read, but a bit complicated to follow along, unless you're really into Shakespeare-talks... hope this helps!