Style
Antony and Cleopatra
by William Shakespeare

Antony and Cleopatra: Style 1 key example

New! Understand every line of Antony and Cleopatra.
Read our modern English translation.
Act 3, Scene 10
Explanation and Analysis:

Stylistically, Antony and Cleopatra differs in some ways from Shakespeare's other historical plays: scenes shift quite rapidly between settings that are very far apart in geographical distance, a fact critiqued by Ben Johnson and other contemporaries of Shakespeare. While the play utilizes blank verse, a form of unrhymed iambic pentameter commonly used in written dramas during this time period, Antony and Cleopatra is less conventional in its use of this traditional style, featuring more complex poetic and prosaic lines interspersed with more typical verse.