Antony and Cleopatra (Modern Library Classics)

Worth price

A excellebt Shakespeare addition

In the history of femme fatales, Cleopatra is still the queen -- she wasn't pretty, but she had charm, wit and power.And she's the center of Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," a play that follows the tragic affair between Cleopatra and her second high-profile Roman lover. The tragedy is undermined by the fact that Cleopatra and Antony aren't very likable people, but the story does have an empire-ending grandeur.Mark Antony has been neglecting his duties as a Roman soldier ever since he fell in love with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. But eventually Octavian calls him back to Rome, and Antony is even pressured into marrying Octavia's sister -- which unsurprisingly throws a wrench into his relationship with Cleopatra. She's only soothed by the assurances that Octavia is ugly.In the meantime, tensions between the Romans and the increasingly Egyptophilic Antony are getting worse, until finally they break into full-out war -- despite the prophecy that Antony will lose if he fights Octavian. And the tempestuous love between Cleopatra and Antony takes a terrible turn as Egypt is about to fall..."Antony and Cleopatra" is sort of a sequel to "Julius Caesar," and it's also half epic romance and half tragedy. On one hand, it's all about the passionate, stormy love affair between Antony and Cleopatra; on the other, it's also about the final crash of an empire that had endured for thousands of years, and its last monarch.Shakespeare manages to fill the story with a sense of epic grandeur, and his writing really gets across that these conflicts and people are deeply important. Aside from the famous "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale/her infinite variety" speech, there's a lot of powerful writing in here, particularly the climactic scene between Cleopatra and her maidservants.The biggest drawback of the play is... well, Antony and Cleopatra are pretty nasty people. Antony is no longer the heroic Roman soldier of "Julius Caesar," and Cleopatra throws bratty tantrums and spreads false rumors to keep her boyfriend in love with her. They're a little like A-list celebrities -- they're weirdly fascinating, but you wouldn't want them as friends."Antony and Cleopatra" is a grand, engaging epic about how a love affair helped bring down the last remnants of an empire, and its nasty characters don't stop it from being fascinating.

Unlike so many e-books, even ones by respectable publishing houses, this edition of Antony and Cleopatra is well-realized in e-book form. It's not a mere scan of the printed version of the play.First and foremost, the formatting of the text of the play is as you would see it in a conventional bound text. If you've looked at other e-book versions of this or other plays, you'll know that this isn't at all the norm, rather the reverse. The adherence to the usual norms of formatting dialogue in a play make it much easier to read.The text of this play is also helpfully and heavily footnoted and, again unlike so many e-books, the footnotes are easily accessible and usable. On my iPhone, admittedly a poor choice as a reader, they are in ever so tiny print - not so hard to make the type larger, just a bit of a nuisance. Haven't opened the play up on my iPad where it would probably be just fine.All of the foregoing features sound somewhat trivial but make a huge difference between reading something that feels like the electronic version of a pile of stapled photocopies and the electronic version of a real text.Also, coupled with the well-realized formatting and accessible footnotes is a great deal of excellent analysis and discussion of the play.All in all this edition, especially given its bargain basement price of $1.99, is a clear winner and highly recommended.

If you are looking for a good Kindle edition of Shakespeare, buy the Modern Library versions edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. It includes hyperlinks with a table of contents and glossary. It also has the intro, list of characters, key facts, textual notes, and scene-by-scene analysis that are in the print version. It does not have line numbers, but the links to the glossary reduce the need for them.

I am a great Shakespeare fan, especially of the history plays, but this has to be his most dreary play. However, no problems with the seller, the delivery or the condition of the book - all great.

Decent copy with a standard introduction. Not too sturdy.

Printing mistake

Great book. But when I received it, it was dirty. However I am happy with the purchase.

Long notes from this Arden edition will help students to have a better understanding of the text.