Cleopatra as Eroticized Other

In Antony and Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen is more often than not portrayed as an exotic siren -- her entire person is based on the facts of her being black and a woman.

She is usually described through the eyes of the Romans, who view her as inherently foreign. In the famous barge scene, for example, the Roman speaking is supposedly describing Cleopatra's personal allure, but the bulk of the lines are devoted to her exotic surroundings rather than to the queen herself.

Her sexuality is described in almost reverent terms, for even "the holy priests/bless her when she is riggish" (2.2.244-245).

While Cleopatra is being portrayed in this one-dimensional method by the characters within the play, the play itself seems to question this construct exactly because it is a construct -- Cleopatra is built up by the Romans observing her and has little say in her own reputation. Shakespeare does this by taking this eroticized queen and reminding audiences over and again that she is being portrayed by a boy actor. He does this in the scene where Cleopatra brags of how she "put [her] tires and mantles on [Antony] whilst/[she] wore his sword Phillipan" (2.5.22-23). This blatant gender reversal reminds audiences that this erotic queen exists entirely in their minds, and needs no basis in reality.

This especially shows through when Cleopatra rails against the thought of seeing "some squeaking Cleopatra boy [her] greatness i' th' posture of a whore" -- not only reminding English audiences what/who they are watching, but turning the tables and making England seem strange and perverse while England is marking her as such.


Carolyn Wang