Reading Order
Antony and Cleopatra Reading Order
Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606–1607) by William Shakespeare is the most extravagant of Shakespeare's tragedies — a play on the largest possible canvas, moving between Rome and Egypt, about the contest between Roman duty and Egyptian pleasure, between the political and the erotic. Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world after Julius Caesar's assassination, is besotted with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt; his colleague Octavius Caesar presses him to return to his duties. Antony marries Octavia for political reasons but cannot stay away from Cleopatra; Octavius eventually defeats him at sea and on land. Antony kills himself believing Cleopatra is dead; Cleopatra, learning of Antony's death, kills herself with an asp rather than be taken to Rome as Octavius's trophy. The play is characterized by its use of hyperbole — everything in Egypt is excessive, grandiose, overflowing — in contrast to Rome's austere political language. Enobarbus's famous speech describing Cleopatra ('The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, / Burned on the water') is the most magnificent piece of descriptive prose-poem in Shakespeare. The play has been called Shakespeare's most mature and difficult work — its moral framework is deliberately uncertain, refusing to let the audience choose easily between Roman order and Egyptian excess, between political realism and romantic transcendence.
Where to start
Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606–1607) — the Arden Third Series (ed. John Wilders) is the standard text; any good complete Shakespeare will work. Best reading order: read Julius Caesar first (Antony appears as a character), then Antony and Cleopatra; the comparison between young Antony in Julius Caesar and the middle-aged Antony destroyed by love makes the second play richer.
Complete Antony and Cleopatra Book List
- 1Buy
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare (Arden Third Series, ed. John Wilders)·1995·The definitive modern scholarly edition — Wilders' Arden text is the standard text for serious study with comprehensive notes - 2Buy
Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare·1599·The companion play — reading Julius Caesar first gives context for who Mark Antony is when he enters Antony and Cleopatra; the young Antony of Julius Caesar becomes the middle-aged Antony destroyed by love, and the comparison enriches both plays - 3Buy
All for Love
John Dryden·1678·Dryden's Restoration retelling of the Antony and Cleopatra story — where Shakespeare focuses on the political sweep, Dryden concentrates the action on a single day and makes the choice between love and duty more starkly emotional; the most important later literary engagement with the same story - 4Buy
The Alexandria Quartet
Lawrence Durrell·1957·The four-novel sequence set in Alexandria that inhabits the same Egypt as Cleopatra — Durrell's multi-perspective account of a group of lovers in 1930s and 40s Alexandria draws on the same vision of Egypt as the place where sexuality and politics are inseparable - 5Buy
Cleopatra: A Life
Stacy Schiff·2010·The modern biography that gives Cleopatra back her intelligence and political agency — Schiff's account restores the historical Cleopatra behind Shakespeare's creation; essential context for how much Shakespeare invented and what he found - 6Buy
The Egyptian
Mika Waltari·1945·The Finnish historical novel set in ancient Egypt — Waltari's Sinuhe inhabits the same world of Egyptian politics and sensuality that Shakespeare depicts; a different angle on the Egypt that Cleopatra rules
Antony and Cleopatra — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare about?
Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606–1607) tells the story of Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world after Julius Caesar's assassination, and his passion for Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Antony's colleague Octavius Caesar presses him to return to his political duties; Antony marries Octavia but cannot stay with her. Octavius defeats Antony at sea and on land. Antony kills himself believing Cleopatra has already died; Cleopatra kills herself with an asp rather than be taken to Rome as Octavius's trophy. The play is notable for its enormous scope (moving between Rome and Egypt), its deliberate refusal to choose between Roman duty and Egyptian pleasure, and Enobarbus's famous description of Cleopatra's barge ('like a burnished throne, Burned on the water').
How does Antony and Cleopatra relate to Julius Caesar?
Antony and Cleopatra is the sequel to Julius Caesar in the Shakespeare canon — Mark Antony appears as a character in both plays. In Julius Caesar, Antony is a relatively young man who uses his funeral oration to avenge Caesar's murder and drive the conspirators from Rome; he is sharp, politically brilliant, and unemotional. In Antony and Cleopatra, written about eight years later in the narrative chronology, Antony is middle-aged, politically compromised by his passion for Cleopatra, and destroyed by the same political skills he once commanded. Reading the two plays together reveals Shakespeare's portrait of a man's trajectory from political genius to political ruin.
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