THE QUEST FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL IN ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
THE QUEST FOR CULTURAL SURVIVAL IN ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

Summary/Abstract: In Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare highlights the cultures of the East and the West. The play reveals the quest for cultural survival between the East and the West as a major factor that stirs cultural complexities. The unrighteous representation of the Eastern culture shows the complex nature of multiculturalism the canonical writers strove to represent in their writings. This study seeks to substantiate the challenges that confront cultural expressions in the multicultural atmosphere Shakespeare highlights in Antony and Cleopatra, as well as how the minority culture shapes this context of cultural plurality. Similarly, a comparative analysis of Cultural Studies, cultural history, cultural identity, cultural ‘contents,’ and the literary work Antony and Cleopatra will be the subject matter in this study. Moreover, the goal of this study is to examine how Shakespeare promotes Western culture through the adoringly and adorningly illustrated West with a blemished and contemptuous portrayal of the East in his play. Comparatively, we examine how Shakespeare evinces the triumvirs as the powerful three (Antony, Caesar and Lepidus) and, on the other hand, how he associates Cleopatra with the East.

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