Virtus and Civitas in Antony and Cleopatra

Virtus and Civitas in Antony and Cleopatra


Virtus: Manliness in War
Civitas: Civil Society

Rome=Virtus Vs. Egypt=Civitas

The problem with Egypt (Cleopatra) for Caesar is it has too much Civitas.
The problem with Rome (Antony) there is too much Virtus.
When Anthony is caught between Rome and Egypt he has an unbalanced amount of both Virtus and Civitas.
The new Rome (Caesar) wants to balance the two.




Melanie Austin
Aaron Gorelik

Coriolanus as a Scapegoat (Pharmakos)

Caius Martius, later surnamed Coriolanus, can be interpreted as the pharmakos of Shakespeare’s play, Coriolanus. The play must conclude with a death in accordance with the genre of tragedy. Coriolanus’ death fulfills this requirement. However, unlike most of Shakespeare’s other tragedies, he stands as the only character who dies in the play. This places a great deal of importance on the seemingly “lonely” death of this tragic hero. As Professor Little has said many times in lecture, the characters are not the literal focus of the play, they are merely conduits of what the play is trying to communicate. The characters are essentially indentured to the plot. They are only as important as the purpose Shakespeare composes them to serve. The tragedy of Coriolanus is about a world of confusion, specifically the confusion of Rome. As the protagonist of the play, Coriolanus is caught in the middle of this Roman crisis. The city is stuck in the midst of a chaotic transition from a society based on virtus to a society based on civitas. Coriolanus embodies the masculine and violent qualities of virtus as a successfully Roman general. We are reminded of this frequently and the plebeians of Rome long to see his battle wounds as a proof of this masculinity. Coriolanus has no affiliation to the civil concept of civitas. His death in the end does not simply signify the death of his character, but rather the death of this virtus era in Rome which he represents. In order for Rome to move on, Coriolanus and the type of Rome he embodies has to die. With this interpretation, he is the official scapegoat of the play. He is a totally virtus character and there is no place for someone like him in a civitas state. In death, he takes the poisons (virtus) of his society with him and all appears to be solved. Rome wishes to make the transition from a barbaric culture to a civil culture. Coriolanus has to die for this transition to take place.

Chris Shelton
Aaron Gorelik
Section 1C

Food Riots and Nourishment from the “Spectacular” Theater

The food riots occurred as English nobles and gentries forced commoners to hand over their crops in order to prevent supposed food hoarding. Many of the commoners experienced starvation because they were unable to eat their own crops and food was heavily rationed. During the riots, Shakespeare supported the people, not the nobles. In fact, throughout several of his later plays, including Coriolanus, Shakespeare explores, develops, and questions the relationship between rioting/starvation and the developing, popular “spectacular” theater and culture. He also explores the connection between food and theater, both desired forms of pleasure and sustenance. Can theater truly satiate the people and be used as an effective source of nourishment?

This emerging “spectacular” culture emphasizes visual, in-your-face entertainment and a movement away from auditory theater and entertainment experiences. Coriolanus, for example, is constantly asked to show his wounds as a form of gory, real evidence. To hear about his blood, pain, and hurt is not enough and leaves the audience hungry for more; the visual, the concrete. This appetite for the visual grows and develops and the common people attempt to allow entertainment, special effects, and evidence of exciting battle to fill their food/nourishment voids. As seen in Coriolanus, spectacle distracts people from actual hunger and fuels hunger for more and more spectacle. Soon enough, spectacle becomes a form of food. Spectacle, visuals, and theater serve to nourish the people.

Rachel-Ann Levy
Amanda Waldo
Section 1A

The genre of romance

Shakespeare wrote four romances at the end of his career, of which “The Tempest” is one. The genre of romance can be classified as a “tragic comedy” because it is driven by the demands of tragedy but ends with a comic resolution. There is a sense of the tragic in the play, but it is resolved in a comedic, highly superficial fashion. In “The Tempest” we can see this resolution in the union of Miranda and Ferdinand, which reinforces the idea that the “best girl gets with the best boy” and their union also conveniently joins the states of Milan and Naples. The play ends with a celebration of community and regeneration. The romance also tends to deemphasize the interiority of its characters, instead casting them as representative types. For example, in “The Tempest” the names tend to reveal characterization, such as Miranda (“one of wonder”), Ariel (“air”), and Caliban (“cannibal”). Romance also requires a suspension of disbelief. For instance, it is common for characters that are presumed to be dead to come back to life. Romances flaunt their theatricality and leave no mystery, in the sense that all the things we expect to happen do occur. Romances often make free interplay between the real-world and the fantastical and are set in remote, legendary, or fantastical spaces.


Darlene Lin
Discussion 1F (5-5:50)

Masque Plays

Shakespeare incorporates the component of the masque play in Act 4 Scene 1. The reapers and the nymphs enter the stage and participate in a dance. The dance symbolizes the visual—rather than verbal—performance of the theater.

The masque play is a theatrical genre that involves elaborate dancing. It is also an ostentatious genre that involves artificial stagecraft. The masque involves two parts: anti-masque and masque. Playwright Ben Jonson (who published his plays in 1616) was most famous for this technique. In his “Masque of Blackness,” the Ethiopian women talk to the head of England and want to be white. They claim that the Italians, the Irish, and other countries lack the perfect whiteness that the English possess. Even the father encourages the Ethiopians to convert to white. This highlights racial conversion; however, only black women (not black men) can convert to white. The “Masque of Blackness” would last two hours, then the “Masque of Beauty” lasts another two hours. The white women in the court then come onstage and dance to show real beauty.

The masque plays use short, linguistic script and replace language with vision. Theater becomes a visual feast rather than attendees hearing the play. Thus, there’s a fear that the theater would become all masque-like. This poses the question: “What happens to Shakespeare without words?” Masque plays visually translate language.

Uyen Dinh
Dis. 1F (Aaron 5 - 5:50)

Theater of Cruelty

The theater of cruelty is a concept developed by Artaud. He believes that the audience needs to feel and believe the real pain of the actors. If the audience members feel the pain of the actors, then they will begin to think about the actors in real time. Artaud believes that the fiction should be used to get to the actor. The theater of cruelty is meant to push the boundaries of the theater and the actors. This is significant because Shakespeare regularly attempts to push the boundaries of the theater. The theater of cruelty is seen near the end of King Lear. Lear carries Cordelia’s dead body onto stage at the end of the play. This act of physically carrying the body on stage is not only exhausting for King Lear, but it is also exhausting for the actor playing King Lear. The actor has already performed the rigorous play, and his performance culminates in the burdensome task of carrying Cordelia’s body. The audience is then explicitly aware of the exhaustion of both King Lear and the actor playing King Lear. This action is also important because it emphasizes the quietness of King Lear’s death. King Lear essentially dies from exhaustion. The big death scene in the play happens quietly and almost imperceptibly.

Samantha Sears
ENGL 142B Dis1A

Nostalgia of Realpolitick

During a lecture on Antony and Cleopatra, Professor Little brought up the concept of “the nostalgia of realpolitick.” Loosely translated as “real politics,” realpolitick refers to the idea that politics can be manipulative and influential in a controlling way. "Nostalgia of realpolitick," then, refers to the idea that we can reflect on previous eras in order to influence modern political and social thought. For example, many people in America today reflect on the 1950s as an ideal time when everyone lived in the peaceful suburbs and had a beautiful house with a picket fence, a spouse and two kids, and a solid job. Because we reminisce about this ideal time period, we often try to recapture its essence in the current twenty-first century. We may say, “How come we don’t have a nice house with a picket fence these days? How come we don’t have solid jobs anymore? We should try to regain that excellence!” This obsession with striving to recapture a long gone era gives people false hope that we can go back to an era where everything worked well. In typical realpolitick fashion, politicians and people in power will capitalize on this nostalgia for previous eras in order to fuel their own political agendas. Thus, the technique of reminding the public of their nostalgia for the past can function as a strategic device for politicians.

Professor Little brought up this concept because he wanted to show how English citizens of the 1600s would often look back on ancient Rome with a sense of nostalgia because they viewed Rome as an ideal society. This nostalgia for Rome worked to affect modern 16th and 17th century policies and politics in England. Since it is difficult, virtually impossible in fact, to consider the present time an “ideal time,” Rome most likely was not considered to be an ideal society at the time of its existence, so this concept of Rome as “ideal” was probably fabricated by England in order to influence contemporary English political and social practices by making people want to strive to be like the ancient Romans. The “nostalgia of realpolitick,” then, can be seen as “faux” nostalgia, and more strategic than realistic.

Roberta Wolfson
Discussion 1B (Ian Hoch, Thursdays at 4)