The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra (Annotated‪)‬

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was most likely performed first in about 1607 at Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre by the King's Men.  Its first known appearance in print was in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Sicilian revolt to Cleopatra's suicide during the Final War of the Roman Republic. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumviri of the Second Triumvirate and the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus Caesar. The tragedy is set in Rome and Egypt, characterised by swift, panoramic shifts in geographical locations and in registers, alternating between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and the more pragmatic, austere Rome.


This edition has been formatted for your reader, with an active table of contents.  This version is also annotated, with additional information about the play and William Shakespeare, such as an overview, characters, plot, sources, date and text, performance history, biographical and bibliographical information.