Page:Antony and Cleopatra (1921) Yale.djvu/157

Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeare adds only one important personality to the drama, that of the cool and slightly cynical Enobarbus, who in Plutarch is little more than a name. To Cleopatra he gives that nobleness in sensuality and unwithering charm which has made the creature of his imagination far more real than the historical figure of the great queen. Antony gains also. The man himself, as Plutarch conceived of him, was nobler than his deeds. This Shakespeare realized, and without changing the story of his degradation, gives his hero words which reveal the generous emotion and noble mind of a hero. The play lives, however, chiefly because of the seductive splendor of Cleopatra, the most feminine and the most pagan of Shakespeare's women.

 

An entry in the Stationers' Register dated May 20, 1608, lists 'A booke Called. Antony and Cleopatra.' It is not certain that this is Shakespeare's play, but probabilities strongly favor such a conclusion. Internal evidence of versification, and the tone and temper of the story alike indicate that Antony and Cleopatra was written after Macbeth, but before Timon of Athens and Coriolanus, which, like the earlier Julius Cæsar, were also largely drawn from North's Plutarch. We may safely date the play in 1607–1608.

There is no evidence, however, that Antony and Cleopatra was printed at this time, nor is there any trustworthy contemporary reference to a performance. Our first real knowledge, and our sole text of Antony and Cleopatra, come from the First Folio 