Antony and Cleopatra E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Passerino Editore
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

"Antony and Cleopatra" is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was performed first circa 1607 at the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre by the King's Men. Its first appearance in print was in the Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Sicilian revolt to Cleopatra's suicide during the Final War of the Roman Republic. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate and the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The tragedy is mainly set in Rome and Egypt, and is characterized by swift shifts in geographical location and linguistic register as it alternates between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and a more pragmatic, austere Rome. William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

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ISBN: 9788893451000

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Table of contents

ACT I

​Scene I.

Scene II.

Scene III.

​Scene IV.

​Scene V.

ACT II

​Scene I.

Scene II.

​Scene III.

Scene IV.

Scene V.

​Scene VI.

​Scene VII.

ACT III

​Scene I.

Scene II.

Scene III.

​Scene IV.

​Scene V.

​Scene VI.

Scene VII.

Scene VIII.

Sscene IX.

​Scene X.

​Scene XI.

​Scene XII.

Scene XIII.

ACT IV

​Scene I.

Scene II.

​Scene III.

Scene IV.

​Scene V.

Scene VI.

​Scene VII.

​Scene VIII.

​Scene IX.

Scene X.

Scene XI.

Scene XII.

​Scene XIII.

​Scene XIV.

​Scene XV.

ACT V

Scene I.

Scene II.

THE TRAGEDY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

by

William Shakespeare

*

CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, triumvirs.

Sextus Pompeius (Pompey)

Domitius Enobarbus, Ventidius, Eros, Scarus, Dercetas, Demetrius, Philo, friends to Antony.

Mecaenas, Agrippa, Dolabella, Proculeius, Thyreus, Gallus, Menas, friends to Caesar.

Menecrates, Varrius, friends to Pompey.

Taurus, lieutenant-general to Caesar.

Canidius, lieutenant-general to Antony.

Silius, an officer in Ventidius's army.

Euphronius, an ambassador from Antony to Caesar.

Alexas, Seleucus, Diomedes, attendants on Cleopatra.

Mardian, a Eunuch.

A Soothsayer.

A Clown.

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.

Octavia, sister to Caesar and wife to Antony.

Charmian and Iras, attendants on Cleopatra.

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

Scene: In several parts of the Roman empire.

ACT I

​Scene I.

Alexandria. A room in Cleopatra’s palace.

Enter Demetrius and Philo

Philo

Nay, but this dotage of our general’s

O’erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,

That o’er the files and musters of the war

Have glow’d like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,

The office and devotion of their view

Upon a tawny front: his captain’s heart,

Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst

The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,

And is become the bellows and the fan

To cool a gipsy’s lust.

Flourish. Enter Antony, Cleopatra, her Ladies, the Train, with Eunuchs fanning her

Look, where they come:

Take but good note, and you shall see in him.

The triple pillar of the world transform’d

Into a strumpet’s fool: behold and see.

Cleopatra

If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

Mark Antony

There’s beggary in the love that can be reckon’d.

Cleopatra

I’ll set a bourn how far to be beloved.

Mark Antony

Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

Enter an Attendant

Attendant

News, my good lord, from Rome.

Mark Antony

Grates me: the sum.

Cleopatra

Nay, hear them, Antony:

Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knows

If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent

His powerful mandate to you, ‘Do this, or this;

Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that;

Perform ’t, or else we damn thee.’

Mark Antony

How, my love!

Cleopatra

Perchance! nay, and most like:

You must not stay here longer, your dismission

Is come from Caesar; therefore hear it, Antony.

Where’s Fulvia’s process? Caesar’s I would say? both?

Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt’s queen,

Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine

Is Caesar’s homager: else so thy cheek pays shame

When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers!

Mark Antony

Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch

Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.

Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike

Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life

Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair

Embracing

And such a twain can do’t, in which I bind,

On pain of punishment, the world to weet

We stand up peerless.

Cleopatra

Excellent falsehood!

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?

I’ll seem the fool I am not; Antony

Will be himself.

Mark Antony

But stirr’d by Cleopatra.

Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,

Let’s not confound the time with conference harsh:

There’s not a minute of our lives should stretch

Without some pleasure now. What sport tonight?

Cleopatra

Hear the ambassadors.

Mark Antony

Fie, wrangling queen!

Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,

To weep; whose every passion fully strives

To make itself, in thee, fair and admired!

No messenger, but thine; and all alone

To-night we’ll wander through the streets and note

The qualities of people. Come, my queen;

Last night you did desire it: speak not to us.

Exeunt Mark Antony and Cleopatra with their train

Demetrius

Is Caesar with Antonius prized so slight?

Philo

Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony,

He comes too short of that great property

Which still should go with Antony.

Demetrius

I am full sorry

That he approves the common liar, who

Thus speaks of him at Rome: but I will hope

Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy!

Exeunt

Scene II.

​The same. Another room.

Enter Charmian, Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer

Charmian

Lord Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any thing Alexas, almost most absolute Alexas, where’s the soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? O, that I knew this husband, which, you say, must charge his horns with garlands!

Alexas

Soothsayer!

Soothsayer

Your will?