Antony and Cleopatra (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) Read online

  47. Charles Lewsen, London Times, 16 August 1972.

  48. Don Chapman, Oxford Mail, 16 August 1972.

  49. Shakespeare Survey 26 (1972), p. 141.

  50. Spectator, 19 August 1972.

  51. London Times, 16 August 1972.

  52. Guardian, 16 August 1972.

  53. Birmingham Post, 11 October 1978.

  54. Ray Seaton, Express & Star, 11 October 1978.

  55. B. A. Young, Financial Times, 12 October 1978.

  56. Oxford Mail, 11 October 1978.

  57. Guardian, 11 October 1978.

  58. Guardian, 11 October 1978.

  59. London Times, 15 October 1982.

  60. Shakespeare Survey 37 (1984), p. 173.

  61. Shakespeare Survey 46 (1994), p. 183.

  62. Financial Times, 7 November 1992.

  63. London Times, 7 November 1992.

  64. Daily Telegraph, 9 November 1992.

  65. Guardian, 9 November 1992.

  66. Robert Smallwood, Shakespeare Survey 53 (2000), p. 247.

  67. Financial Times, 25 June 1999.

  68. Evening Standard, 24 June 1999.

  69. Paul Taylor, Independent, 26 June 1999.

  70. Ibid.

  71. Times Literary Supplement, 6 August 1999.

  72. Glasgow Herald, 30 June 1999.

  73. Guardian, 25 June 1999.

  74. Shakespeare Survey 56 (2003), p. 282.

  75. Independent, 25 April 2002.

  76. Daily Telegraph, 25 April 2002.

  77. London Sunday Times, 28 April 2002.

  78. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 25 April 2002.

  79. London Times, 25 April 2002.

  80. Guardian, 25 April 2002.

  81. Daily Telegraph, 25 April 2002.

  82. Independent, 29 April 2002.

  83. Observer, 23 April 2006.

  84. Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 20 April 2006.

  85. Daily Express, 21 April 2006.

  86. London Times, 21 April 2006.

  87. Evening Standard, 20 April 2006.

  88. Evening Standard, 20 April 2006.

  89. Daily Telegraph, 20 April 2006.

  90. Mail on Sunday, 23 April 2006.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND

  PICTURE CREDITS

  Preparation of "Antony and Cleopatra in Performance" was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded a term's research leave that enabled Jonathan Bate to work on "The Director's Cut."

  Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with reproduction fees and picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest).

  Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company's official archives. It is open to the public free of charge.

  For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.

  His Majesty's Theatre, directed by Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1906). Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  Directed by Glen Byam Shaw (1953). Angus McBean (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  Directed by Trevor Nunn (1972). Reg Wilson (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  Directed by Peter Brook (1978). Reg Wilson (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  Directed by John Caird (1992). Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  Directed by Steven Pimlott (1999). Donald Cooper (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  Directed by Braham Murray (2005). (c) Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk

  Directed by Gregory Doran (2006). Pascal Molliere (c) Royal Shakespeare Company

  Directed by Adrian Noble (1982). Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse (c) Charcoalblue

  THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD

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  Joyce Carol Oates

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  Gore Vidal

  Copyright (c) 2007, 2009 by The Royal Shakespeare Company All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of

  The Random House Publishing Group, a division of

  Random House, Inc., New York.

  "Royal Shakespeare Company," "RSC," and the RSC logo are trademarks or

  registered trademarks of The Royal Shakespeare Company.

  The version of Antony and Cleopatra and the corresponding footnotes

  that appear in this volume were originally published in William Shakespeare

  Complete Works, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, published

  in 2007 by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House

  Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

  eISBN: 978-1-58836834-8

  www.modernlibrary.com

  v3.0

  1 dotage folly/infatuation/senility

  general's i.e. Antony's

  2 measure prescribed limit

  goodly fine

  3 files and musters rows of assembled troops

  4 plated armored

  Mars Roman god of war

  bend direct

  5 office service, duty

  6 tawny brown-skinned

  front forehead, face (plays on the sense of "front line of troops") 8 reneges renounces, abandons

  temper moderation, restraint/resilience (used of swords' hardness) 10 gipsy's Gypsies were believed to come from Egypt; "gipsy" was also a term for a deceitful woman or whore Flourish trumpet fanfare announcing the approach or departure of an important person Train retinue, followers

  Eunuchs castrated males, often employed in Oriental courts 12 triple ... world Mark Antony was one of three triumvirs who ruled the lands conquered by Rome 13 strumpet loose woman or whore

  14 tell relate (in his reply, Antony responds to the sense of "count") 15 beggary ... reckoned if love can be calculated, it's worthless 16 bourn boundary, limit

  17 Then ... earth i.e. his love's infinitely greater than the known world 19 Grates me! How annoying!

  The sum give me the gist

  20 them i.e. the news

  21 Fulvia Antony's wife

  perchance perhaps

  22 scarce-bearded Caesar Octavius Caesar, another of the triumvirs and great-nephew of Julius Caesar; he was twenty-three, twenty years younger than Antony 23 mandate command

  24 Take in conquer, occupy

  enfranchise liberate

  26 How what

  27 Perchance? ... like Perhaps? No, almost certainly

  28 dismission dismissal, order to leave

  30 process summons (legal term)

  33 homager vassal, one who acknowledges the duty of loyalty and obligation else so or else

  34 scolds quarrels noisily/chastises with violent language 35 Tiber Rome's chief river

  36 ranged ordere
d (with connotations of buildings set out in a line or troops drawn up in ranks) 37 dungy made up of or abounding in dung

  39 mutual intimate (especially in sexual sense)

  40 twain pair

  bind oblige, constrain with legal authority

  41 On ... punishment a phrase used in official statutes; Antony makes a public proclamation of their love weet know

  42 peerless matchless

  44 and not if he did not

  45 seem pretend to be

  47 stirred inspired/sexually aroused

  49 confound waste, ruin

  conference conversation

  50 stretch pass/be extended

  51 sport entertainment (with connotations of sexual pleasure) 53 Fie exclamation of disgust or reproach

  wrangling noisily contentious

  54 Whom everything becomes whom all things suit, who is beautified by all moods chide scold, reprimand

  57 No i.e. I shall hear no

  59 qualities characteristics, dispositions

  61 with by

  prized so slight valued so little

  62 when ... Antony i.e. he fails to live up to his great reputation 63 property special personal quality

  64 still always

  65 full deeply

  66 approves proves right

  68 Rest you happy remain fortunate, go well

  Soothsayer one who foretells the future

  2 absolute perfect

  4 charge decorate, festoon

  horns with garlands cuckolds (men with unfaithful wives) were fancifully supposed to grow horns on their foreheads; to festoon them with garlands suggests Charmian's husband will be a champion cuckold 11 banquet a dessert course of sweetmeats, fruit and wine 16 fairer more fortunate/beautiful/plump/spotless, pale 18 paint use cosmetics

  20 prescience foreknowledge

  22 beloving loving

  23 liver the organ regarded as the seat of the passions 25 Good now well then, come on

  26 forenoon morning

  27 Herod of Jewry King of Judaea who ordered the slaughter of all male infants in an attempt to kill the young Jesus Christ; he appears as the villain in numerous morality plays 28 homage acknowledge allegiance to

  31 figs usually euphemistic for the vagina; possible phallic connotations here 32 proved experienced

  34 belike perhaps/probably

  have no names be illegitimate

  35 wenches girls

  must shall

  38 Out exclamation of impatience or irritation

  forgive ... witch absolve you of the charge of witchcraft (because his predictions are worthless) 39 are privy to know of, are familiar with

  44 drunk to bed to go to bed drunk

  45 presages foretells

  47 Nilus presageth famine Charmian is being ironic; the fertility of the River Nile's flood ensured good harvests 48 wild flighty/mischievous/lustful

  49 oily palm moist palms were thought to indicate sensuality fruitful prognostication sign of fertility

  50 scratch mine ear itching ears proverbially signify an enjoyment of hearing novelties workaday humdrum, ordinary

  54 I have said there is no more to be said

  58 Not ... nose implies that his penis would be a better place for an extra inch (though the nose itself often had phallic connotations) 61 go walk/have sex/carry a child

  Isis Egyptian goddess of the moon and fertility

  63 fifty-fold fifty times over

  64 cuckold man with an unfaithful wife

  65 matter ... weight something of greater importance/(lover with a) bigger penis/the weight of a lover's body during sex/the weight of a child during pregnancy 67 loose-wived with an unfaithful wife

  68 foul ugly

  knave fellow

  69 uncuckolded with a faithful wife

  keep decorum behave appropriately/observe what is proper to character and rank 73 they'd ... do't they would stop at nothing even if it meant making themselves whores 81 A Roman thought a serious thought, imbued with Roman notions of virtue and honor 85 We the royal plural

  86 field battlefield

  89 time's state circumstances at the time

  90 jointing their force uniting their forces

  91 better issue greater success

  92 encounter battle

  drave them drove them (out of Italy)

  97 Who ... flattered I will listen to a truth-teller as if he were a flatterer, even if he tells of death 99 Labienus rebel Roman general who defected to the Parthians after the defeat of Brutus and Cassius at the battle of Philippi 100 stiff formidable, grave

  Parthian Asiatic people whose army were challenging Roman expansion in the Middle East 101 Extended seized upon (legal term)

  Euphrates one of the two main rivers of Mesopotamia (Iraq)

  103 Lydia ancient country of Asia Minor

  Ionia ancient region of Anatolia (Turkey)

  104 wouldst wanted, meant to

  106 home directly, bluntly

  mince ... tongue do not moderate public opinion

  108 Rail ... phrase scold me in the way that Fulvia would 111 quick lively

  still inactive

  our ... earing being told of our misdeeds improves us as plowing (earing) does land 114 Sicyon ancient city situated in the northern Peloponnese, southern Greece how what is

  117 stays ... will awaits your command

  120 What who

  125 Importeth it concerns

  126 Forbear me leave me alone

  128 What ... again we often wish to have again what we've thrown away in contempt 130 By revolution low'ring decreasing over the course of time (as the wheel of fortune turns) 132 could would willingly

  133 enchanting bewitching, with the power to cast spells 135 idleness indolence/folly

  139 mortal fatal, deadly

  suffer permit/undergo/experience pain at

  142 die plays on the sense of "orgasm"

  145 noise rumor

  146 upon ... moment over a much less important matter (moment quibbles on the sense of "orgasm") 147 mettle spirit, vitality/sexual vigor

  148 celerity swiftness

  149 cunning perhaps a buried resonance of "cunt/con"

  151 part plays on the sense of "sexual part, vagina"

  153 almanacs calendars containing astrological and meteorological forecasts 154 Jove supreme Roman god who controlled the rain; the reference may recall Jove's seduction of Danae when he took the form of a shower of gold 155 Would I wish

  156 piece of work masterpiece/whore

  157 withal with

  158 your travel i.e. reputation as a traveler (puns on "travail," i.e. "work/sexual labor") 166 shows ... earth shows men that the gods are the earth's tailors (replacing worn-out wives with new ones as tailors make new clothes out of old ones); tailors were proverbially lecherous therein in this respect

  167 members plays on the sense of "penises"

  169 cut shock, blow/vagina

  case plays on the sense of "vagina"

  170 crowned plays on the idea of the encircling vagina consolation puns on "con" (vagina)

  smock woman's undergarment, hence woman in her sexual capacity 171 petticoat woman's skirt or undergarment, hence woman in her sexual capacity 175 business plays on the sense of "copulation"

  broached Enobarbus widens the sense of the word from "started" to incorporate the sexual sense of "pricked, penetrated"

  177 abode staying

  178 light frivolous/indecent, lewd

  180 expedience speed/expedition requiring haste

  181 leave to part permission to depart

  alone only

  182 touches motives

  184 contriving working or scheming on Antony's behalf 185 Petition ... home urge us to come home

  Sextus Pompeius younger son of Pompey the Great, the defeated rival of Octavius Caesar's great-uncle Julius Caesar 186 given ... to challenged, defied

  187 slippery fickle, unreliable

  189 throw bestow

&nb
sp; 190 Pompey the Great i.e. the title of Sextus Pompeius' father dignities titles, honors

  191 high great/dignified/proud

  192 blood and life vigor and spirit

  stands up For shows himself to be/claims to be

  193 main greatest, leading

  quality abilities/party, supporters

  going on continuing, being maintained

  194 The ... danger may endanger the very frame of the world (or perhaps "... the borders of the Roman empire") courser's large horse used in battle

  195 courser's ... poison refers to the belief that a horse hair placed in stagnant water would turn into a snake, a phenomenon caused by microscopic fauna attaching themselves to the hair and causing it to move 198 remove departure

  196 Say ... hence tell those who serve me that I wish to depart quickly 2 did ... since have not seen him recently

  4 I ... you i.e. do not say I sent you

  sad serious/sorrowful

  8 hold follow, adopt

  9 like same

  11 give him way let him have his own way

  cross thwart, obstruct

  13 Tempt provoke/test

  forbear (you would) desist

  16 sullen serious/melancholy

  17 breathing voice, speech

  19 thus long so long (before I die)

  the ... it my constitution won't survive the strain

  22 stand ... me i.e. give me air

  24 eye look in your eye

  25 the married woman i.e. Fulvia

  36 false unfaithful

  Riotous madness unrestrained, wanton folly (on my part)

  37 mouth-made i.e. insincere, not from the heart 38 in swearing even as they are being sworn

  40 colour pretext

  41 sued staying begged to stay

  43 our my (Cleopatra uses the royal plural as she reminds Antony of his former praises of her) 44 brows bent arched eyebrows

  none our parts not one of my features (was)

  45 a ... heaven a child of heaven/inherently divine

  48 How now exclamation of reproach

  49 inches height/manly strength (with phallic connotations) 50 heart courage, resolution

  Egypt Cleopatra/the country

  54 in use as (financial) security/in trust (legal term)/for your use (with connotations of sexual employment) 55 civil swords swords drawn in civil war

  56 port city gate/harbor

  57 Equality ... faction having an equal division of power in the state (between Octavius Caesar and Lepidus) produces factional squabbles over small details 58 hated ... love those who were hated, having grown strong, are now loved 60 apace rapidly

  62 Upon ... state under the present government

  63 purge cleanse, purify itself (medical term referring to the use of emetics or laxatives) 64 particular personal concern

  65 safe make safe

  71 garboils brawls, disturbances

  best best of all (or possibly, referring to Fulvia, "when showed herself to be at her best") 74 sacred vials lachrymatory bottles; small vessels placed in Roman graves and thought to have contained mourners' tears 77 know learn