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Soliloquy
Key Examples in Caesar and Cleopatra
Style
Explanation and Analysis:
Stylistically, Caesar and Cleopatra is distinguished from its sources of inspiration—namely, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra—by the sheer number of stage directions. While stage directions do feature in Caesar and Cleopatra's Shakespearean predecessors, they are generally sparse and contain less direct communication of authorial tone. Shaw, on the other hand, takes care to describe not only set design and actor placement but also character motivations and various satirical elements. In drama, stage directions are one of the few tools authors have with which to establish tone. Shakespeare does not take full advantage of this, whereas Shaw does.
