The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

“This edition of Antony and Cleopatra gives contemporary readers access to Shakespeare’s meaning as no other edition does. While other editors may provide basic information about the historical setting of the play, Jan Blits makes palpable the shape and feel of the world in which the action unfolds. His annotations citing classical authors reveal a world of possibility that would have been available to earlier generations, that Shakespeare would have taken for granted, and that is lost on readers today. His excellent Introduction frames the drama in terms of questions regarding the relative place of the public and private in the polity’s life, the claims of the universal and the national on the allegiance of citizens, and the meaning of nobility that will be highly provocative for anyone interested in Shakespeare as a political thinker.” –Joseph Alulis, North Park University