William Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra and Samuel Johnson's exploration of Shakespeare's techniques and his truth within the theater in "The Comedies of William Shakespeare" they both address the topic of the representation of reality. The play itself follows the destructive nature of the relationship between the Roman general Antony and the Egyptian empress Cleopatra, which ultimately led to the tragic suicide, marking the play within the tragic genre. However, Shakespeare's historical appreciation allows for a full reflection of reality itself, with a multitude of theatrical references to historical texts and events within his work, giving it a "Roman" historical genre, as much as it is a tragedy. Johnson's assessment of Shakespeare's verisimilitude in character creation and the inherent complexities that mirror both contemporary society and the society of his respective era. The exploration of universal themes of love, power and loyalty through successful "authorial dialogue" [1] also allows for the full replication of authenticity, and the examination of Shakespeare outlines a new perspective on moral realism. [2]Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Johnson's critical appreciation begins with an exploration of Shakespeare's ability to accurately reflect a sense of reality beyond all the capabilities of the modern writer. [3] He argues that "[Shakespeare's characters] are the genuine offspring of common humanity." [4] foregrounding Shakespeare's capacity and skills of characterization – in particular, in the protagonists Antony and Cleopatra, and their arrogance, which ultimately leads to their mutual suicide. Johnson does not specifically refer to this play in this excerpt, perhaps arguing that Shakespeare's theatrical talent runs throughout his collection of plays. Despite women supposedly having no social purpose and being subject to historical sexism during the time period of writing his plays, Shakespeare always creates prominent female characters and a sense of equality with man and women, rarely seen in theater before and after him. From Lady Macbeth's eventual corruption of Macbeth through hunger for power, to Cleopatra being the catalyst for Antony's abandonment of his Roman Empire. All for love forged unintentionally by the financial exploitation of the Roman Empire on the overflowing riches of Egypt led by an empress, whose beauty manipulates powerful leaders such as Antony and Julius Caesar. It could be argued that Shakespeare was fully aware of female influence and purpose that was systematically ignored by society. This is demonstrated when Cleopatra advises Antony to fight at sea, despite having little chance of success, highlighting her unprecedented influence on Antony, emotionally and physically: she can control him without hesitation. However, they both have a passion that goes beyond lust, an unconditional love that is universal to all. While Antony's passion is both his drive and the arrogance that leads to his hamartia, Cleopatra's passion induces more sympathy from the audience, as she is truly in love with Antony. The general is unfaithful to his wife Fulvia and destroys the relationship with Caesar, returning to Cleopatra after marrying Octavia for political peace, although Cleopatra simply waits while "[her] Antony is absent". [5] Subsequently, Johnson's recognition of the truth of Shakespeare's character and exemplification of a passion that is not hyperbolized and isentirely obtainable by anyone who seeks it. He is also aware of the growing influence of women in the male sphere, making Shakespeare a social commentator: capable of reflecting a reality that is not documented or even acknowledged during his period. However, regarding reality, Young foregrounds that "literature is so consumed by the ideological concerns of the critic's perceptions of current reality." [6]Which means that Johnson's critical understanding of Shakespeare's work is entirely subjective to his values ​​and beliefs. Young raises the importance of reality as a difficult concept to define and, ultimately, the difficulty of being able to label Shakespeare's work as representative of reality, as Johnson does. Regardless of whether criticisms of Shakespeare's works are difficult to define as true, its merit to the historical text and facts cannot be ignored. One of the most influential is Plutarch's "The Lives of Plutarch." Shakespeare refers directly to Cleopatra's divine beauty, intelligence, and wit as there are parallels in Plutarch's description of the empress and Shakespeare's description of her. In the play the fictional character Enorbarbus, who serves as the chorus in Greek tragedy, describes Cleopatra as "Breaking the sails, and so fragrant that the winds were lovesick of her"; the oars were of silver'[7], mirroring the exact description in the 'Lives of Plutarch' depicted as 'purple sails spread, while silver oars beat time to the music of flutes, fifes and harps.'[8 ] The imagery used in Shakespeare's play depicts Cleopatra as a goddess, whose beauty is intoxicating and corrosive around her, but seems to represent love and passion. In juxtaposition, the Cleopatra depicted in "The Lives of Plutarch" is a puppeteer for Antony, who can transform Antony into a disloyal, promiscuous and immoral general ready to give up his empire for love. [9] Using the technique of reinvention, rather than direct plagiarism,[10] Shakespeare produces a character with whom one can empathize, through his compassion. Importantly, one can argue about the meaning of the years of the opera's history condensed into three months of theater - as a spectator, their decisions of multiple wars, Enorbarbus' abandonment of Antony, the last chance for political peace of Caesar and the anchor of their empire: they all seem impulsive and do not reflect the infamous army general, whose intelligence and an eye for war earned him that role. Instead, all the characters are depicted as reckless and all lack presence and authority in their actions. In particular, Johnson states that "But love is only one passion among many and has no great influence on the sum of life." passion and love: leave little or no agent that can influence their rationality. The meaning that passions are present in all our lives are reflected in the judgments of the characters can be empathized and understood by any audience, simply because Antony and Cleopatra are simply two people in love. Of course, one is a general of the Roman Empire, the other is an empress of the country, but that unconditional love transcends into all lives: regardless of class, demographic background, or beliefs. This summarizes Shakespeare's reflections on reality and understanding of society more than Johnson can achieve, as he takes a biased approach due to his perhaps overwhelming admiration for Shakespeare. In this regard, "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Wolf, in which she begins to talk about androgynous writing and Shakespeare's ability to write in both genders. Mutual understanding of bothit allows the creation of excellent works that are also representative of reality. [12]Ultimately, Shakespeare's discussion of universal themes in this play allows for a greater reflection of realism for viewers. The main motifs are love and loyalty, which interact and react with each other to create the basis of the plot. Clearly, Antony and Cleopatra's love is poisonous, with many transformations of character and reversals of attitudes and opinions. For example, Cleopatra plays with Antony "if you find him sad, tell him that I am dancing; if you are cheerful, report that I have suddenly fallen ill: quickly, and come back."[13] Probably, this reflects a simple argument and meanness that exists within any relationship. Shakespeare uses humor in this scene to highlight the childishness of Cleopatra's reaction towards her husband. Johnson expands on this idea by stating that Shakespeare mirrors a reality by “reading human feelings into human language; from scenes with a hermit we can estimate the transactions of the world.' [14] To paraphrase, Shakespeare is making human feeling, the exploration of loyalty and love more accessible and available to his audience. Johnson explains that even a hermit can achieve this, using the fusion of the tragic and Roman genres. To criticise, David Hillman points out that Cleopatra opens with 'If it were truly love, tell me how much' perhaps asking 'is this love?' If not, then what is it?" Cleopatra asks rather controversially what the definition of love is, but there is still an element of reliance and dependence on love. [15] Nonetheless, Johnson still maintains the idea of reality and representation beyond other canonical writings, and the statement that 'Shakespeare has no heroes' [16] means that there are no characters hyperbolized for dramatic effect - Henrik Ibsen also takes a similar approach 'there are no villains, only complex characters' [17] which strongly reflects a reality beyond realism. As a society, the population cannot simply be classified into "good" and "bad" just as in comedy they can empathize with certain actions, good and bad,. not because they fit one label or another – but simply because he can find a part of himself manifested in the characters on the scene. The argument remains that the character's actions are subject to them, whether they have an empire, or whether they rule a country. Despite this, the search for unconditional love will always be present in our existence, and seeing our flaws on stage may be the only way we can fully understand ourselves and society – perhaps to ask ourselves: does society need to change ? This is the most successful part of Shakespeare's realism, as we can only achieve 'verstein' through literature and art. Johnson's critical appreciation of Shakespeare's works allows for a fuller understanding of the techniques Shakespeare uses in creating reality. One of the most successful and effective is Shakespeare's use of the historical text "The Lives of Plutarch" in the creation of his characters. Although Johnson does not acknowledge this, he raises two important aspects in Shakespeare's work. Its ability to reflect reality in a way that other writers are unable to through character creation and exploration of universal themes that audiences can relate to and empathize with, perhaps marking it as "epic" theater or didactic through its reflection of women in society. Johnson remains overly complimentary about Shakespeare's work, raising the question, "how significant are his criticisms?" Much of it. however, it hardly does more than express approval or disapproval.'[18] Le. 1954.