Some Aspects of the Treatment of the Theme of Antony and Cleopatra in Tragedies of the Sixteenth Century

What is a protagonist?

“…Thus, Axelrad (1956), Raffi (1979), Ricci (1904) and Thouret (2009) have focused on the reinterpretation of the Sophonisbe story from the Roman and Greek historical sources across different national traditions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—French and Italian in the case of Ricci and Raffi; French, Italian and English in the case of Axelrad and Thouret. The same approach characterises Marilyn Williamson's monograph (1974) on Mark Antony and Cleopatra covering Italian, French and English material from the sixteenth century, while Mary Morrison's article (1974) focuses on the treatment of the love theme as well as the historical scenery. Emmanuel Buron is alone in having explored the contemporaneous political undertones in Montreux's La Sophonisbe and Cléopâtra (1595) in light of the French wars of religion (Buron, 2009, 16; 2020a).…”

Dryden'sAll for Loveand Jean Mairet'sLe Marc-Antoine ou la Cléopâtre: Parallels in a European Dramatic Tradition

“…21 And, although Senecan predecessors all absolve Cleopatra of betrayal, all are as reticent as their historical sources about motivation of Cleopatra's stratagem. 24 Mairet's original dramaturgy, supported by emphasis on Antoine's impetuousness and his inability to distinguish truth, thus provides a powerful link between characterisation and action. It is a link that Dryden does not fail to maintain.…”