blazon

Philo's speech at the beginning of "Antony and Cleopatra" feminizes Antony because Philo employs a blazon or speech that praises body parts. Blazons typically are used to describe female body parts and are reserved for women only, so when Philo describes Antony's body parts he in essence says that Antony is becoming a woman and losing his manliness. When Philo speaks of Antony bursting andd speaks of him reneging all the tempers, the way in which Philo uses the blazon surfaces. Shakespeare writes, "This captain's heart, / Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst / the buckles on his breats, reneges all temper / And is become the bellows and the fan / to cool a gipsy's lust."(1.1.6-10) Mention of the heart and the breast underscores the notion that Philo employs the blazon. When Philo uses terms such as scufflses and reneges all the temper the notion that Antony looses his manliness becomes apparent.

Thomas Christian