This paper examines several issues: first, Shakespeare’s involvement in the Orientalist system through his degrading depictions of, Cleopatra, as voluptuous, while he describes the Western gods, Caesar, and Octavia, as chaste. Second, a defense of the Egyptian queen as patriotic and calculating and desires the protection of Egypt as her main goal. Third, Shakespeare’s portrayal of Antony as a Roman leader who irredeemably slipped into the Orient and into Cleopatra’s temptation. Fourth, an in-depth analysis of Cleopatra’s real relationship with Antony. Did Cleopatra ever love Antony? Or did she use him as a shield to secure her country against the violent threats of Rome? The paper concludes with a reference to Cleopatra’s honorable death compared to Antony’s humiliating one, with a hint of Shakespeare’s significant role in the Orientalist system of domination. The theoretical approach is mainly postcolonial with some reliance on selected feminist voices that relate to the topic.
El-Shazli, S. (2022). Did Cleopatra ever Love Antony?: A Postcolonial Re-Reading of an Exhausted Text. SAHIFATUL-ALSUN, 38(38), 29-52. doi: 10.21608/salsu.2022.286370
MLA
Salwa El-Shazli. "Did Cleopatra ever Love Antony?: A Postcolonial Re-Reading of an Exhausted Text", SAHIFATUL-ALSUN, 38, 38, 2022, 29-52. doi: 10.21608/salsu.2022.286370
HARVARD
El-Shazli, S. (2022). 'Did Cleopatra ever Love Antony?: A Postcolonial Re-Reading of an Exhausted Text', SAHIFATUL-ALSUN, 38(38), pp. 29-52. doi: 10.21608/salsu.2022.286370
VANCOUVER
El-Shazli, S. Did Cleopatra ever Love Antony?: A Postcolonial Re-Reading of an Exhausted Text. SAHIFATUL-ALSUN, 2022; 38(38): 29-52. doi: 10.21608/salsu.2022.286370
)
مشاهدة على SCiNiTO