Pencil Cyber StudioThe English reading room
Antony and Cleopatra book cover

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare · English text · 26,427 words

The Roman triumvir Mark Antony is pulled between political duty and his relationship with Cleopatra. Their decisions affect the struggle for control of the Roman world, and the play moves between intimate encounters and large military events.

Start reading

Background

This tragedy adapts Plutarch’s account of the final years of Antony and Cleopatra. Its rapid changes of place and scale resist a single viewpoint, setting Roman public discipline beside Egypt’s theatrical energy and emotional intensity.

Reading notes

  • Notice which characters frame Antony and Cleopatra as admirable, dangerous, or both.
  • Follow how news travels between distant locations and changes political decisions.
  • Compare public images of power with the lovers’ private choices.

Version note

Text source: the Standard Ebooks EPUB edition identified on this page. This site extracted the English text and retained the source edition’s chapter order. Public-domain status must be checked for the territory where the text will be distributed.