Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

"Antony and Cleopatra is Shakespeare's most beautiful play, but Jan Blits' erudite edition and Introduction reveal that it could also be his wisest tragedy. This is a must-have for all those who would plumb the mysterious depths of Shakespeare's mind." -- Nalin Ranasinghe, Assumption College
"Like the Blits edition of Julius Caesar , this new edition of Antony and Cleopatra restores one of Shakespeare's Roman plays to its rightful place among serious works of political philosophy devoted to understanding Roman politics and the characters who inhabit it . The Preface and Introduction are extremely well written. The Preface situates this edition in opposition to certain conventions of modern Shakespeare scholarship that are generally unhelpful to readers approaching the play from the perspective of political philosophy. It moreover identifies places where other editions and editors mislead the reader and bury Shakespeare's political wisdom in the process. The Introduction explores the impact of political change on the arc of Roman history, with special attention to the conditions that fostered republican Rome and the erosion of such conditions under the empire. It also provides ample opportunity to connect the politics of the play to modern political problems. The footnotes are unusually helpful for scholars interested in Shakespeare's political thought. References to relevant classical authorities such as Cicero, Livy, Plutarch, Appian, and Dio help clear the way for a more serious confrontation with the play." -- Khalil Habib, Hillsdale College
"What if, instead of making Shakespeare's historical dramas into tortured analogues for our present moment, we considered them as earnest attempts to penetrate the issues of the past? That is the premise behind Jan H. Blits's new annotated editions of the Roman plays: Julius Caesar , out last year (2018); Antony and Cleopatra , which appeared this September (2019); and a forthcoming Coriolanus . Blits treats the trilogy not as a parable for 16th- or 21st-century politics, but as a searchingly philosophical depiction of the pagan world's anguished transformation into Christendom. "Blits sees in the Bard a serious scholar of antiquity grappling with the same question that haunted Edward Gibbon and Friedrich Nietzsche: how did the noble champions of Roman liberty succumb to the universalizing quietism which made both Augustus and Christ into plausible rulers of the world? "Blits therefore juxtaposes each play with primary texts from the Roman imperial period in notes at the bottom of each page. He frequently cites the 1st-century-A.D. essayist Plutarch, whom Shakespeare read carefully in Sir Thomas North's translation. Blits points out that even small details (e.g., the 'distinctive mincing diction' of the minor lackey Gaius Maecenas) are faithfully drawn from ancient accounts. Because these parallels between history and drama are so closely observed, the editions also reveal meaning and significance in moments when Shakespeare does depart from his source material. "Ironically, Blits's excellent reading of the play turns out to be deeply "relevant" after all. What happens when a ragtag rebel nation sprawls outward into a globalist superpower whose newfound dominance dilutes the fellow feeling of its citizens? What force is strong enough to unite the hearts of countrymen separated by geographical and ideological chasms? These are Shakespeare's real questions. They are also our own." Spencer Klavan, in The Claremont Review of Books , Fall 2019