Antony and Cleopatra: Boundaries and Excess

Abstract

Reading the play in the light of the fundamental opposition between

measure (control, constraint) and excess (bounty), Tony Tanner focuses on

how Antony and Cleopatra constantly seeks to transcend the limitations of

language. The body is seen as the final boundary by the lovers who cannot

be contained, even by words, and who triumph as they move towards the

unbounded spaces of infinity.

Keywords: Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare’s Rome, Boundaries, Excess,

The limits of language, The body