SOURCE: Sjöberg, Alf. “The Secondary Role: The Vision of Master and Servant in Antony and Cleopatra.” In Shakespeare and Scandinavia: A Collection of Nordic Studies, edited by Gunnar Sorelius, pp. 31-43. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 2002.

In the following essay, Sjöberg discusses Antony and Cleopatra as a drama of transformation derived from opposition and strife.

LEPIDUS.

But small to greater matters must give way. 

ENOBARBUS.

Not if the small come first. 

(2.2.11-12)

Few dramas have a more solid reputation for spectacularity than Antony and Cleopatra and few plays inspire the same expectations of extensive scenery, swarming crowds and magnificent battle scenes. And this is how the play has been staged, not least in Swedish theaters.

Yet there are, in fact, few dramas that resist this kind of treatment more radically than this. Right from the start it is understood that the drama moves in a...