Apparently she was not beautiful. Whatever. I think that Shakespeare knew what he was talking about. Shakespeare certainly described her as beautiful. Or so I believe. Well, the play leads the audience to think that she is, whether or not I can recall it explicitly saying so. I owe most of my knowledge of Roman and English history to Shakespeare's plays. Needless to say my sense of those histories is full of generalities, dramatic monologues and heart-wrenching death scenes. I don't think that is such a bad thing in the end. It certainly makes the beginning of the War of Roses so much more exciting when I can picture Prince Hal (future King Henry V) as Dan Donahue in a Union Jack coat with long bright red hair. I know you would agree if you had seen all the Shakespeare plays that I have. Although I have to admit that the last production I saw of Antony and Cleopatra was disappointing. The set was lovely, but Cleopatra was not beautiful nor was Antony dashing. In general, Cleopatra was overly needy while Antony was a big wuss. That is not the way I read the play.
5 comments:
You know who else is, apparently, not beautiful?
because bald people can't be beautiful? You fickle and judgemental public!
no, it's more because she was ugly to begin with. now she just looks like a strung out bald eagle.
I accept that reasoning.
But Cleopatra will stay beautiful until she comes up to me to tell me different. Let's face it, that shouldn't be happening anytime soon. Or hopefully ever. That could be scary.
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