 | Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, and the Nature of Fame Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, and the Nature of Fame is a characterological study, presenting new perspectives on Antony and Cleopatra, the most ambiguous of Shakespeare's plays. It offers fresh insights into Shakespeare's understanding of the attributes of fame, the process by which it occurs, and the significance of being famous--and into the origins and nature of the playwright's own imperishable fame. Inclusive and enlarging, the study considers a fresh method of dealing with the longstanding difficulties theater-goers and readers have had in responding to the characters of Shakespeare's plays, the seventeenth-century contexts of the play that the playwright both regarded and disregarded, and a close examination of the dramatis personae of Antony and Cleopatra as they struggle to achieve standards of measure that will redound to their fame. Wide-ranging in its concerns, this monograph promises to make an essential difference in the way scholars view characterizations, Shakespeare's understanding of fame, the eminence of the celebrated figures of the play, and the playwright's own reputation. Robert A. Logan is a University of Hartford emeritus professor of English and former chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages. His book Shakespeare's Marlowe won the 2009 Roma Gill Award. |
