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Antony and Cleopatra: Language and Writing
Contributor(s): Vaughan, Virginia Mason (Author), Callaghan, Dympna (Editor)
ISBN: 1472504992     ISBN-13: 9781472504999
Publisher: Arden Shakespeare
OUR PRICE:   $24.26  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: November 2015
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Shakespeare
- Study Aids | Study & Test-taking Skills
Dewey: 822.330
Series: Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing
Physical Information: 0.5" H x 5" W x 7.7" (0.45 lbs) 184 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Reading Antony and Cleopatra is particularly challenging because of Shakespeare's masterful embodiment of Rome and Egypt's contrasting worlds in language, structure, and characterization.
Instead of seeing the interaction of Roman and Egyptian perspectives in Antony and Cleopatra as a type of double image of reality that changes as one moves from one location to another, students often find themselves compelled to pick sides. The more romantic opt for Cleopatra as the most sympathetic character, while the pragmatists dismiss her lifestyle as self-indulgent. The central challenge in reading this play, in other words, is to resist the compulsion to take sides and, instead, to adopt a 'both-and' point of view rather than an 'either-or' choice. The play's central binary - Rome vs. Egypt - is deeply embedded in its language and structure, yet the play consistently complicates our view of either side. The book encourages students to think outside the binary box, to understand, and to celebrate, Shakespeare's exploitation of the multivalent nature of language.

As well as helping students to analyse the intricacy of Shakespeare's language in Antony and Cleopatra, each chapter's 'Writing matters' section enables students to develop their own writing strategies in coursework and examinations.

Contributor Bio(s): Callaghan, Dympna: - Dympna Callaghan is Dean's Professor in the Humanities at Syracuse University and works on early modern English Literature. She has held fellowships at the Newberry, Folger, and Huntington Libraries, has been a British Academy Visiting Professor and is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. She is an active member of the interdisciplinary Syracuse University Medieval-Renaissance group of faculty and graduate students. Her books include editions of Shakespeare's The Duchess of Malfi, The Taming of the Shrew and Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as Shakespeare Without Women, Woman and Gender in Renaissance Tragedy, and Impact of Feminism in English Renaissance Studies.