Critical Interpretations (Edexcel A-Level English Literature): Revision Notes

Critical Interpretations

What are Critical Interpretations?

From the exam board: "As part of their study of their selected Shakespeare play, students should engage with different interpretations."

How should Critical Interpretations be used?

• Grasp the interpretation being presented regarding the literary text(s).
• Contrast the critic's viewpoint with your own reading of the text (or that of another critic or classmate). Note any similarities or differences.
• Agree with the critic's point and find further evidence in Shakespeare's text to support and expand it.
• Disagree with the critic's stance and identify evidence in Shakespeare's text that might bolster your counterargument.
• Adjust the critic's position by finding one aspect you can endorse and another that you wish to refine and clarify with evidence from the text.
• Choose specific quotations that either support or challenge your own interpretation of the text to enhance your discussion or literary essay.
• Make sure to reference critical quotations in your essay by using quotation marks and writing down the critic's last name!

Critical Interpretations with Analysis

David Scott Kastan - Shakespearean Tragedy

"The characters struggle unsuccessfully to reconstruct a coherent worldview from the ruins of the old."

(Page 7, Essay: Shakespearean Tragedy)

• Kastan suggests that characters in Shakespeare's tragedies face a world where previous understandings and structures have collapsed.
• This struggle is central to the tragic experience, emphasising the chaos and uncertainty that the characters must navigate.
• In Antony and Cleopatra, this manifests as the protagonists grapple with the shifting power dynamics and their own identities amidst political and personal upheaval.

Supporting Evidence

"Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space." (Act 1, Scene 1)

• Antony rejects the political world of Rome, choosing instead the personal world he shares with Cleopatra, highlighting his struggle to reconcile these conflicting worlds.

"The time of universal peace is near. Prove this a prosperous day, the three-nooked world Shall bear the olive freely." (Act 4, Scene 6)

• Antony's vision of a peaceful world contrasts sharply with the reality of ongoing conflict, showing the incoherence and fragmentation of his worldview.

Opposing Evidence

"I am dying, Egypt, dying; only I here importune death awhile, until Of many thousand kisses the poor last I lay upon thy lips." (Act 4, Scene 15)

• In his final moments, Antony finds a coherent resolution in his love for Cleopatra, suggesting a moment of clarity and unity rather than struggle.

A. D. Nuttall - The Pleasure of Tragedy

"In the tragic theatre suffering and death are perceived as matter for grief and fear, after which it seems that grief and fear become in their turn matter for enjoyment."

(Page 9, Essay: The Pleasure of Tragedy)

• Nuttall discusses the paradoxical pleasure derived from the emotional experiences of tragedy.
• This pleasure arises from the audience's engagement with the intense emotions of grief and fear, which are transformed into a form of aesthetic enjoyment.
• In Antony and Cleopatra, the audience experiences this transformation as they witness the grandeur and downfall of the titular characters.

Supporting Evidence

"My desolation does begin to make A better life." (Act 5, Scene 2)

• Cleopatra finds a form of noble resolution in her desolation, which can evoke a cathartic pleasure for the audience.

"Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me." (Act 5, Scene 2)

• Cleopatra's final act of suicide is depicted with a sense of dignity and transcendence, providing a bittersweet pleasure to the audience.

Opposing Evidence

"O, withered is the garland of the war, The soldier's pole is fallen." (Act 4, Scene 15)

• This lamentation over Antony's downfall emphasises the unrelenting grief and loss without the mitigating pleasure Nuttall describes.

A. C. Bradley - The Shakespearean Tragic Hero

"The story, next, leads up to, and includes, the death of the hero. On the one hand (whatever may be true of tragedy elsewhere), no play at the end of which the hero remains alive is, in the full Shakespearean sense, a tragedy."

(Page 11, Essay: The Shakespearean Tragic Hero)

• Bradley asserts that the death of the hero is a defining feature of Shakespearean tragedy.
• The hero's demise is necessary to complete the tragic arc and evoke the full emotional impact.
• In Antony and Cleopatra, the deaths of both protagonists fulfil this criterion, cementing the play's status as a tragedy.

Supporting Evidence

"I am dying, Egypt, dying." (Act 4, Scene 15)

• Antony's acknowledgement of his impending death aligns with Bradley's view of the inevitable demise of the tragic hero.
• "Come, thou mortal wretch, With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsical Of life at once untie." (Act 5, Scene 2)
• Cleopatra's suicide underscores the tragic culmination of her story, fulfilling the tragic arc described by Bradley.

Opposing Evidence

"His legs bestride the ocean: his reared arm Crested the world." (Act 5, Scene 2)

• Cleopatra's idealised vision of Antony suggests a form of posthumous glorification, which can be seen as transcending the typical tragic demise.

Maynard Mack - Tragedy and Madness

"Madness, when actually exhibited, was dramatically useful, as Kyd had shown. It was arresting in itself, and it allowed the combination in a single figure of tragic hero and buffoon, to whom could be accorded the licence of the allowed fool in speech and action."

(Page 13, Essay: Tragedy and Madness)

• Mack explores the role of madness in tragedy, noting its dramatic utility and the freedom it grants characters.
• Madness allows characters to express truths and emotions that might otherwise be censored or restrained.
• In Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra's erratic behaviour and Antony's moments of despair reflect this duality of tragic hero and buffoon.

Supporting Evidence

"O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!" (Act 1, Scene 5)

• Cleopatra's whimsical and erratic behaviour can be seen as a form of madness that reveals deeper truths about her love and despair.

"I have done my work ill, friends: O, make an end Of what I have begun." (Act 4, Scene 15)

• Antony's despair and call for death exhibit a tragic madness, blending heroism with vulnerability.

Opposing Evidence

"I am fire and air; the other elements I give to baser life." (Act 5, Scene 2)

• Cleopatra's final speech reflects a controlled and deliberate choice, countering the idea of her actions being purely mad or irrational.

Howard Jacobson - Antony's Suicide

"The excruciating indignities that attend his last hours are the price he pays for having made himself too much a man, too much a thing of emotion: for his followers an object of too piteous and reverential a love."

(Page 14, Essay: Antony's Suicide)

• Jacobson argues that Antony's difficult and humiliating death is a result of his excessive emotional nature.

• Antony's downfall is tied to his inability to balance his public duties with his private passions, making him an object of pity rather than respect.

• This interpretation emphasises the tragic consequences of Antony's deep emotional ties and the devotion he demands from those around him.

Supporting Evidence

"I have done my work ill, friends: O make an end Of what I have begun." (Act 4, Scene 15)

• Antony's acknowledgement of his botched suicide attempt highlights his failure and the pity he evokes.

"Let him that loves me, strike me dead." (Act 4, Scene 15)

• Antony's plea to his guards to end his life shows the extent of his emotional desperation and reliance on others.

Opposing Evidence

"I will be a bridegroom in my death, and run into't as to a lover's bed." (Act 4, Scene 14)

• Antony's declaration portrays his death as a noble, almost romantic act, challenging the view of it as purely pitiable.

Emrys Jones - Antony and Cleopatra: The Play's Structure

"The constant changes of location (Egypt, Rome, Misenum, Syria, Athens), the contrasting evaluations of Antony's behaviour, as well as the fluctuating play of mood within the individual personality, all work to encourage an ironical comparative response, not quite detachment (because the play kindles a keen interest), but not a profound attachment of feeling either."

(Page 16, Essay: Antony and Cleopatra: The Play's Structure)

• Jones suggests that the play's numerous short scenes and varied settings create a dynamic but detached narrative.
• This structure prevents deep emotional engagement from the audience, fostering a more ironic and critical perspective on the characters and their actions.
• The shifting scenes and moods highlight the complexity and volatility of human behaviour and relationships.

Supporting Evidence

"Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space." (Act 1, Scene 1)

• Antony's dramatic shift in priorities from Rome to Egypt exemplifies the fluctuating moods and settings that characterise the play.

"I'th'East my pleasure lies." (Act 2, Scene 3)

• Antony's changing loyalties and locations reflect the play's emphasis on volatility and discontinuity.

Opposing Evidence

"Eternity was in our lips and eyes." (Act 1, Scene 3)

• Cleopatra's statement emphasises a deep, timeless connection, suggesting that some aspects of the play do foster profound emotional engagement.

Tony Tanner - Time and Timelessness in Antony and Cleopatra

"For Rome, Egypt represents a great waste of time while the 'business' of history is going on... From the Egyptian perspective, history itself is a 'gap of time', and Cleopatra, though growing physically older ('wrinkled deep in time'), seems to linger in Eternity."

(Page 18, Essay: Time and Timelessness in Antony and Cleopatra)

• Tanner discusses the contrasting perceptions of time in Rome and Egypt within the play.
• Rome is depicted as driven by historical progress and duty, while Egypt represents a timeless realm of pleasure and sensuality.
• Cleopatra embodies this timelessness, existing outside the pressures of historical change and political obligation.

Supporting Evidence

"Sleep out this great gap of time." (Act 1, Scene 5)

• Cleopatra's desire to escape time highlights the Egyptian perspective of timelessness.

"The time of universal peace is near. Prove this a prosperous day, the three-nooked world Shall bear the olive freely." (Act 4, Scene 6)

• This vision of peace contrasts with the continual historical progress and conflict represented by Rome.

Opposing Evidence

"My salad days, When I was green in judgement: cold in blood, To say as I said then!" (Act 1, Scene 5)

• Cleopatra's reflexion on her past shows an awareness of time and its effects, countering the idea of her complete timelessness.