RELEASING THE POWER OF THE POSITIVE FEMININE ARCHETYPE 
IN THE PERFORMING ARTS

CASE IN POINT: SHAKESPEARE'S IMMORTAL QUEEN, CLEOPATRA AS ISIS 

by
JACLYN L. STEIN

A THESIS
Presented to the Independent Study Program 

and the Honors College of the University of Oregon 
in partial fulfillment of the requirements 

for the degree 
of Bachelor of Arts

March, 1990



APPROVED BY



An Abstract of the Thesis of
Jaclyn L. Stein for the degree of Bachelor of Arts
in the Department of 
Independent Study to be taken June 1990
Title: RELEASING THE POWER OF THE POSITIVE FEMININE 

ARCHETYPE IN THE PERFORMING ARTS; CASE IN POINT: 
SHAKESPEARE'S IMMORTAL QUEEN, CLEOPATRA AS ISIS 

Approved: ______________________________________  
Professor Gloria Johnson

This thesis gives evidence to support the idea that the 
character of Cleopatra (Queen of Egypt), as constructed by 
William Shakespeare for use in his play Antony and 
Cleopatra, was based on the Egyptian goddess Isis, as 
Shakespeare had available for his use several key documents 
which demonstrated that the historical Cleopatra was similar 
in character to this goddess.

The character of Cleopatra is one of the hardest 
dramatic roles for women to master. Using an archetypal 
identification technique will allow the process of 
constructing this character to be an easy one. Archetypal 
identification allows the actress to identify with the



iv 

goddess archetype(s) within herself in order to bring to 
life the reality of the character she is portraying. As all 
dramatic characters are permeated with archetypal 
blueprints, they can be brought to life in a realistic 
fashion for use on the stage by the actress's identification 
with the goddess archetypes that dwell within herself.

Cleopatra is a strong choice for presentation of this 
archetypal identification technique because her character is 
based primarily upon the goddess archetype Isis, thereby 
giving the actress a clearer picture of the goddess1 
characteristics than is normally present in most dramatic 
roles. However, this identification technique may be used 
throughout the entire range of the dramatic repertoire in 
some fashion, as well as in other performing and artistic 
mediums such as dance, painting and photography.

All artistic mediums carry the potential of bringing to 
life heroic and positive archetypal qualities. As artists 
manifest within themselves and through their work the 
positive feminine images of birth, rebirth, fruition and 
immortality, they and their surrounding society may see a 
new and meaningful transformation occur, reflecting this 
positive nature.



V

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank the Honors College faculty, staff and 
students for their assistance in the completion of this 
project. In particular, I would like to thank several 
people whose help was vital during the process: Tom 
Youderian, who taught me how to use the computer software 
program; Professor Henry Alley, who gave me his support and 
friendship while I was getting started; Professor Francine 
Cogan, who gave me her support and encouragement; and Dr. 
Richard Stevenson who provided me with many moments of 
saving grace.
I also wish to thank those who served as members on my 
thesis committee, Dr. Anne Laskaya, Dr. Heather Henderson, 
Dr. Francine Cogan, and Professor Gloria Johnson, for their 
patience, understanding, and willingness to stay with me 
while this project took shape and form throughout my 
changing life. My heartfelt thanks goes to Professor 
Johnson, whose encouragement, guidance and example along the 
way gave me strength to move ahead when darkness covered the 
path.



I dedicate this project 
to the memory of my father, 

Louis Ronald Stein, 
who gave me the gift of melody, 

and to my mother, 
Harlene Sharon Stein, 

who gave me the voice with which to sing.



vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION.................................... 1

II. THEORY: THE NATURE, POWER AND USE OF THE 
POSITIVE FEMININE ARCHETYPE.7

III. METHOD: IDENTIFICATION WITH THE ARCHETYPE......17

IV. APPLICATION: CLEOPATRA AS ISIS.................24

V. PROCESS: SCRIPT ANALYSIS.......................43

VI. CONCLUSION: THE POSITIVE FEMININE ARCHETYPE AT 
WORK IN THE PERFORMING ARTS.57

VII. APPENDIX I: ILLUSTRATIONS BY NEUMANN...........67

VIII. APPENDIX II: ILLUSTRATIONS BY AUTHOR............70

IX. APPENDIX III: THE HISTORICAL CLEOPATRA.........76

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................... 81



1

CHAPTER 1 
INTRODUCTION

In December, 1988, I began research for this thesis, 
interested in studying the nature of Elizabethan nobility as 
presented in four of Shakespeare’s queens. As an 
experienced actress, I welcomed the opportunity to delve 
into such topics as Renaissance history and literature, 
performance practice, women's issues of the era, and heroic 
archetypal character types in order to construct sound 
character analyses for these roles. My thought was to 
accompany my literary study with performances of monologues 
taken from each play, demonstrating how theory about 
performance practice can be translated into form.

Behind my keen interest to learn more about 
Shakespeare, I was fascinated by his portrayal of royal 
women who displayed dignity and strength in the face of 
challenging circumstances; the nature of nobility was the 
intriguing factor. My understanding of how to portray this 
one character trait on the stage, seemed to me to be the 
critical factor to my work, one which would carry the part 
if I could hone it. Since two of my chosen queens, Hermione 
and Cleopatra, had similarities, both in character and story 
line, to that of goddess archetypes (Demeter and Isis), I 
began research into goddess archetypes to see if I could 
discover ways to bring alive the inherent royal strength and 



2

nobility found in the goddess, and carry it over into my 
acting. What I found was a gold mine.

I discovered, particularly through the works of Dr. 
Jean Bolen (Goddesses in Everywoman), and Dr. Erich Neumann 
(The Great Mother, Amor and Psyche, and Art and the Creative 
Unconscious), that within every woman, and therefore every 
actress's psyche, there is the feminine archetype, composed 
of four major groupings or "mysteries," as defined by 
Neumann. Tapping into these mysteries allows a powerful 
force to surface from the subconscious, and release into a 
woman's life. I realized that by using archetypal 
identification techniques, spoken of in different ways by 
Bolen, Jung and Neumann, along with method acting 
techniques, I could tap into the goddess archetypal aspects 
residing in myself, thus enabling my acting presentation to 
be genuine and powerful.

As my research continued, three queens were eliminated: 
Hermione, (The Winter's Tale), Catherine (Henry VIII), and 
Imogen (Cymbeline), because I could not find adequate source 
material in the literature to prove that they could be 
played based on a goddess archetype. I decided to work 
solely with Cleopatra, because all the source material I 
found, which is based on the historical Cleopatra, presented 
her as a goddess figure and a royal figure. As well, 
Shakespeare's presentation of Cleopatra's character as 
containing good/evil personality traits indicated his 



3

understanding of her multi-faceted personality, and was a 
perfect example with which to work.

Discovering that the archetypal mysteries of Isis were 
birth, rebirth, fruition, and immortality, I became 
fascinated with how these qualities could be expressed 
personally and collectively, thereby sustaining their 
essences in our lives social. I researched the beginnings 
of theatre, sacred ritual and dance, myth, symbols, 
collective worship, and read all the Joseph Campbell I could 
find. I was captivated with how these powerful forces could 
be used artistically. Personal identification with 
mythologic images and characters such as heroes and 
villains, and historic material steeped in royal splendor, 
have all opened doors in consciousness, in times past, to 
what inherently abides inside ourselves. Speaking of the 
mythological archetype, Joseph Campbell states that there is 
"a wonderful reconstruction of the bolder, cleaner, more 
spacious and fully human life,” that comes from expressing 
the hero we carry within.1

1Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, (New 
York: The Bollingen Series XVII, Pantheon Books, 1949), p. 
8.

I have found that the archetypal mysteries of birth, 
rebirth, fruition and immortality found within the goddess 
Isis are tremendously powerful tools for the artist to use. 
As images, they evoke their own processes, and thereby may 
allow renewal of life processes when represented through 
artistic mediums. I was so interested in these mysteries, 



4

that I chose to work with them through another medium, that 
of art (see Appendix II), in order to visualize them, which 
in turn, has assisted in my understanding of how these 
mysteries affect my own acting processes while presenting 
Cleopatra.

I think that the idea of "process,'1 evoked by the 
feminine archetypal mysteries of birth, rebirth, fruition 
and immortality, as well as the heroic archetype warrants 
further exploration and development in our society as a 
whole, particularly through artistic and performing mediums. 
This is why I chose to work with this topic as the basis for 
my thesis. The natural function of mythology and archetypes 
seeks to integrate and carry forward new seeds for creative 
action in society, as Campbell states:

It has always been the prime function of mythology 
and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human 
spirit forward, in counteraction to those other 
constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back.2

2Ibid., p. 11.
3Michael Exeter, "As the Sun Shineth In His Strength," 

an extemporaneous talk given November 20, 1988, Loveland, 
Colorado.

Speaking of how the heroic archetype functions within us 
personally, and in society, Michael Exeter says:

People in our world long to be heroic. They long to 
be truly effective. The question is as to whether 
any individual will be willing to pass through the 
training that makes a hero or heroine and 
ultimately. . .the question arises as to how 
factually able we are to handle the force, the power 
that is natural to the true hero. This has to do 
with purification of the heart. There can be no 
focused mental activity. . .if the heart is 
incoherent.3



5

Life-oriented artistic forms which clothe a 
regenerative theme, and are created by like-minded artists, 
may serve to awaken society to a more creative approach to 
living as Campbell notes:

Only birth can conquer death. . .the birth. . .of 
something new. Within the soul, within the body 
social there must be. . .a continuous reoccurrence 
of birth. . .for it is by means of our own 
victories, if we are not regenerated, that the work 
of Nemesis (imitation) is wrought: doom breaks from 
the shell of our very virtue.

Ultimately, it is not a question of reshaping artistic forms 
or theatrical mediums, but of reshaping the minds and hearts 
of those artists who give creation its meaning, for it is 
here, within the internal mechanisms of our being, that the 
world we see external to ourselves, is artistically 
recreated.

In the final decade of the twentieth century, it 
appears that many of the artistic forms having been and 
being created have destructuve themes, such as isolation, 
death, despair. If artistic endeavors are to survive this 
self-destructive trend, and re-emerge with a more 
sustainable purpose, artists must be present who have a 
clear picture of the positive nature of life, and who are 
interested in representing this nature through artistic 
form, thereby influencing society along lines of positive 
force. Consequently, these artists will find that the 
positive feminine archetypal images can serve as a useful 
basis for artistic endeavors, impacting society as a whole

4Campbell, p. 16. 



6

with creative and recreative intent. Through their 
endeavors will come a wellspring of meaning, giving evidence 
of their interest to be aligned with the positive source of 
life.



7

CHAPTER 2
THEORY: THE NATURE, POWER AND USE OF THE

FEMININE ARCHETYPE

My work has proven empirically that the pattern of 
God exists in every man, and that this pattern has 
at its disposal the greatest of all his [man's] 
energies for transformation and transfiguration of 
his natural being. Not only the meaning of his 
life but his renewal and his institutions depend on 
his conscious relationship with this pattern.

—Carl G. Jung1

Once a powerful symbol and force within an old European 
matriarchal society (B.C.), the ’’Great Mother” feminine 
archetype was worshipped as the Great Goddess. Psychiatrist 
Jean Bolen explains in Goddesses In Everywoman:

The Great Goddess was worshipped as the feminine 
life force deeply connected to nature and fertility, 
responsible both for creating life, and for 
destroying life. The snake, the dove, the tree and 
the moon were her sacred symbols. . .she was 
considered immortal, changeless, and omnipotent. As 
a Godhead, she took lovers not to provide her 
children with a father, but for pleasure. 
Fatherhood had not yet been introduced into 
religious thought, and there were no male gods.

This society, however, was invaded and destroyed by "an 
infiltration of Seminomadic and horse-riding Indo-European" 
people from the distant north and east 

which resulted in the incorporation of the authority 
once attributed to the female godhead given over to 
a male godhead; the power of the goddesses was 
incorporated into the religion of the invaders.

At this point, the attributes once given to the Great 
Goddess were divided among many goddess archetypes and 
incorporated into differing cultures; as explained by Erich 



8

Neumann in Amor and Psyche, "The splitting up of the 
primordial archetype into separate goddesses leads to 
individual cults."4

As well as providing a brief historical perspective on 
the Great Goddess archetype, Bolen also classifies the 
female psyche into three Greek goddess archetypal groupings: 
the virgin goddesses containing Artemis, Athena and Hestia, 
the vulnerable goddesses Hera, Demeter and Persephone, and 
the transformative goddess Aphrodite. For the purposes of 
this thesis, I will be concerned only with the vulnerable 
goddess archetype, known in Egyptian mythology as Isis, with 
some reference to the Greek goddess Demeter.

The vulnerable goddesses Isis and Demeter are primarily 
responsible for the vegetation mysteries of birth, rebirth, 
fruition and immortality.5 These two goddesses embody the 
sexual needs of women, including bearing and releasing 
actions, and the idea of growth and development in the body 
of the earth. Newmann summarizes a vegetation goddess as 
"preserver of life. . .goddess of fertility, who is. . 
.concerned with the group, which she bids to be 'fruitful 
and multiply'."6 Discussing the difference of experience in 
the sexual encounter between men and women, Neumann goes on: 

What for the masculine is aggression, victory, rape, 
and the satisfaction of desire. . .is for the 
feminine destiny, transformation, and the 
profoundest mystery of life. . .To experience 
maidenhood, womanhood and nascent motherhood in one, 
and in this transformation to plumb the depths of 
her own existence: this is given only to the woman.



9

Bolen describes contemporary women who bear close 
resemblance to these archetypes as women who

represent the traditional roles of wife, mother, and 
daughter. They are the relationship-oriented 
goddess archetypes whose identities and well-being 
depend on having a significant relationship. . .They 
express womens' needs for affiliation and bonding. 
They are attuned to others and are vulnerable.
These three goddesses were raped, abducted, 
dominated, or humiliated by male gods. Each 
suffered in her characteristic way when an 
attachment was broken or dishonored, and showed. . 
.the potential for growth through suffering that is 
inherent in each of these goddess archetypes.

Bolen found in her research that it was possible to 
bring forward into consciousness the various attributes of 
goddess archetypes when working with her patients. Seeking 
to integrate various elements of the female psyche into a 
wholesome experience for her patients, she suggested that 
goddess roles could serve as powerful inner patterns or 
archetypes and could offer insights into what motivates, 
compels, frustrates or satisfies women:

When a woman senses that there is a mythic dimension 
to something she is undertaking, that knowledge 
touches and inspires deep creative centers in her. 
Myths evoke feeling and imagination, and touch on 
themes that are part of the human collective 
inheritance.9

Erich Neumann, a student of Carl Jung, psychologist, 
and the author of The Great Mother, spent many years 
developing the role that the feminine archetype plays in 
human consciousness. He states that in order for psychic 
wholeness to be developed in an individual, the 
consciousness of the individual needs to be allied with the 
contents of the unconscious. Striving for a synthesis 



10

between a dominantly patriarchal society and a suppressed 
matriarchal potential, Neumann developes in his book a 
description of the entire feminine spectrum, asserting that 
psychic wholeness in the individual "makes possible a 
fertile living community. . .sound individual basis for a 
sound community."10

Describing the feminine archetype with larger and more 
in-depth analysis than Bolen, Neumann brings forward the 
idea that deep-seated images or pictures of the feminine 
archetype reside within the subconsciousness of women. He 
agrees with his teacher, Carl Jung, who describes an 
archetype as 

a phenomenon transcending consciousness, eternally 
present, nonvisible and probably forming the 
structural dominants of the psyche. . . .The 
function of the image symbol in the psyche (produces) a compelling effect on consciousness."11

The process works in this way: a woman draws up the 
archetype from the subconscious, and this archetypal picture 
becomes visible to the consciousness through the mind's 
pictoral plane. Now conscious of the nature of the 
archetype, the woman can develop her personality within a 
larger understanding of the components contained therein. 
Inward images work in the feminine psyche at conscious and 
unconscious levels, and influence behavior patterns 
according to archetypal character traits. Awareness of 
archetypal character traits within oneself brings about 
instinctive changes in one's drive, passion, feeling, and 
tone of personality. The archetype works on all these 



11

levels, and serves as the unifying component in the 
development of personality.

Looking at the feminine component in a larger sense, 
Jung states that the central symbol of the feminine is 
"vessel" and that the experience of the body as a vessel is 
universally human and not limited to woman, though women 
primarily bring the "vessel” image and functional components 
to focus due to their child bearing capacity. Additionally, 
Neumann believes that the entire spectrum of feminine 
function—”the giving of life, nourishment, warmth, and 
protection”—"occupies so central a position in human 
symbolism and from the very beginning bears the character of 
'greatness.•"

Neumann describes the two basic aspects of the 
feminine, that of the positive, or "Good Mother," and the 
negative, or "Terrible Mother,” each with its corresponding 
goddesses archetypes who embody these traits. The positive 
side of the feminine contains the goddess archetypes Isis, 
Demeter, Mary, and the virgin goddesses Mary, Sophia, and 
Muse types. These archetypes carry positive mysteries such 
as the vegetation mysteries, fruit, birth, rebirth and 
immortality, and the Inspiration Mysteries of the virgin 
types: wisdom, vision, inspiration and ecstasy:

Bearing and releasing belong to the positive side of 
the elementary character: their typical symbol is 
the vegetation symbol in which the plant bursts out 
of the dark womb of the earth and sees ”the light of 
the world.” This release from the darkness to the 
light characterizes the way of life and also the way 
of consciousness. Both ways lead always and 



12

essentially from darkness to light. This is one of 
the reasons for the archetypal connection between 
growth symbolism and consciousness—while earth, 
night, darkness and unconscious belong together, in 
opposition to light and consciousness. In so far as 
the Feminine releases what is contained in it to 
life and light, it is the Great and Good Mother of all life.13

The negative of Terrible Mother contains such goddesses 
as Lilith, Circe and Astarte who bring to focus the 
Mysteries of drunkenness with attributes wuch as ecstasy, 
madness, impotence and stupor; and the goddesses Kali, 
Hecate and Gorgon who carry the death mysteries of 
dismemberment, death, extinction and sickness:

On the other hand, the Great Mother in her function 
of fixation and not releasing what aspires toward 
independence and freedom is dangerous. This 
situation constellates essential phases in the 
history of consciousness and its conflict with the 
Archetypal Feminine. To this context belongs a 
symbol that plays an important role in myth and 
fairy tale, namely captivity. This term implies 
that the individual who is no longer in the original 
and natural situation of childlike containment 
experiences the attitude of the Feminine as 
restricting and hostile. Moreover, the function of 
ensnaring implies an aggressive tendency, which, 
like the symbolism of captivity, belongs to the 
witch character of the negative mother. Net and 
noose, spider, and the octopus with its ensnaring 
arms are here the appropriate symbols. Victims of 
this constellation. . .become "strugglers."14

An important point in this discussion of feminine 
archetypes is that literary and dramatic characters which 
possess mythic or archetypal patterning often carry 
differing characteristics from those of the purely 
archetypal in order to serve the purposes of the dramatic 
action. Cleopatra is a perfect example: Neumann's analysis 
of Isis being purely good or "positive," differs from



13

Shakespeare's literary interpretation which portrays 
Cleopatra with both good and bad aspects together in one. 
Blending both positive and negative aspects together in the 
central character of an earthly queen gave Shakespeare the 
source he needed to compel the action of the text 
simultaneously up and downwards: Cleopatra reaches her 
ultimate immortal longing in the final moments of the play, 
but only at the expense of losing her lover Antony.

As well, it is important to note that the universal 
nature of the hero archetype has taken both masculine and 
feminine parts. Again, Cleopatra is a perfect example. 
Though she is a woman, her role parellels that of a male 
Renaissance hero: she is given the entire emphasis of the 
fifth act, and her role is based on a mythologic and heroic 
type—typical practice during the Renaissance. Her journey 
into her monument in the fifth act and subsequent death are 
usual descriptive events of the masculine hero. Joseph 
Campbell explains:

The standard path of the mythological adventure of 
the hero is a magnification of the formula 
represented in the rites of passage: separation— 
initiation—return. . .the hero ventures forth from 
the world of common day into a region of 
supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there 
encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero 
comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.15

Upon his return, the hero unlocks and releases the flow of 
"life into the body of the world."16

At some point in the hero's mythologic journey, he 
moves into a kind of womb state, a dark void wherein 



14

annihilation of the false or first self occurs. We may note 
Cleopatra's movement into her monument as representing this 
point in her journey:

[She] passes into a temple of sacred duty, placing 
[her] consciousness on the altar to be purified in 
the flame of immortal consciousness [of the] 
universal whole, to let what isn’t of truth of that universal truth be burned away.17

At the moment of the hero's entry into the temple, he 
undergoes a change, a metamorphosis; he passes into a 
deeper, darker realm of what appears to be a wilderness, but 
which in reality, is the initiation of a life renewing act 
of new consciousness being restored. Part of his new 
conscious power is the ability to impart the same universal 
power to others. In Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, 
symbols of the temple experience can also be found in 
Cleopatra's monument experience in Act V, and—in a larger 
sense—Alexandria, the capitol of Cleopatra's Egypt, which 
represents (in contrast to Rome):

[the] place of eternal peace, calling man back to 
rest among its olives from the heat and dust of 
battering days. . .[an] eternity respaced on 
earth.1®

The heroic journey may also be seen in terms of 
masculine and feminine ''mysteries" (a Greek term implying 
secret initiation into cult practice). Neumann describes 
the difference between the feminine and masculine mysteries:

The masculine mystery is bound up with the active 
heroic struggle of the ego and is based on the 
central insight that 'I and the father are one' 
(such as Christ). But the primordial feminine 
mysteries have a different structure. They are 
mysteries of birth and rebirth and appear 



15

predominantly in three forms: as birth of the logos, 
son of light (such as Mary and Jesus) ; as birth of 
the daughter, the new self (such as the Aphrodite 
and Psyche myth); and as birth of the dead in 
rebirth (such as the Osiris/Isis myth). 0

Thus, both masculine and feminine archetypal figures 
undergo dramatic transformations resulting in renewal or 
rebirth of life in some form which is then given to the 
world as a gift of salvation. Of note is that Shakespeare's 
portrayal of Cleopatra transcends the usual Elizabethan 
concept of woman, which was based on subservient attitudes 
to those of men. Shakespeare created a Cleopatra based on a 
goddess figure, instead of an Elizabethan noble woman. By 
reason of her goddess-like character traits, Shakespeare's 
Cleopatra creates the self she wills herself to be 
throughout the course of the play, thereby attaining a 
status equal to that of other male Shakespearian heroes.21



16

NOTES CHAPTER 2

1As Quoted by Michael Exeter, "The Master Pattern," an 
extemporaneous talk given June 25, 1989, 100 Mile House, 
B.C.,„Canada.2 •Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., Goddesses in Everywoman, 
(New York: Harper & Row, 1984), p. 20.

8Ibid.
4Erich Neumann, Amor and Psyche, The Psychic 

Development of the Feminine, A Commentary on the Tale by 
Apuleius. (New York: Bollingen Foundation, Inc., 1956), p. 
H6.

^Please see Appendix I, page 1.^Neumann, p. 113.
aIbid., p. 64.
°Bolen, p. 17.
iIbid., P. 6.
xuErich Neumann, The Great Mother, (New York: Pantheon 

Books, 1954), p. xiii.
^Ibid. , p. 5.
xzIbid., p. 43. (See Appendix I, page 2).
»W' p- 65-
^Campbell, p. 30.
i°Ibid., p. 40.
--^ibid. , p. 92.
18G. Wilson Knight, The Imperial Theme, (Great Britain: 

Methuen and Company, Ltd, 1951), p. 298.
19Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, ed. J. Gwyn Griffiths, 

(Great Britain: University of Wales Press, 1970), p. 43.
2^Neumann, Amor and Psyche, p. 149.
21Lucie Simpson, The Secondary Heroes of Shakespeare 

and Other Essays, (Great Britain: The Frederick Printing 
Co., Ltd., No date cited), p. 28.



17

CHAPTER 3
METHOD: IDENTIFICATION WITH THE ARCHETYPE

The inward work. . .consists in his turning the man 
he is, and the self he feels himself and 
perpetually finds himself to be, into the raw 
material. . .whose end is mastery. . . .Mastery 
proves its validity as a form of life only when it 
dwells in the boundless Truth, and sustained by it, 
becomes the art of the origin. The master no 
longer seeks, but finds.

—Eugen Herrigel1

Both Neumann and Bolen have been instrumental in 
reconstructing the nature of the feminine psyche using 
goddess archetypes within our twentieth-century western 
society—a society shaped by patriarchal dominance, yet 
awakening to the deep stirrings of women as they try to find 
what is of genuine value in and among themselves. Proven to 
be valuable in the healing arts, the goddess archetype 
identification technique, by reason of its powerful nature 
and characteristics, may also be of use in the dramatic arts 
to help actresses formulate a substantial character base in 
the dramatic roles they are given. For example, both the 
positive and negative aspects of the Great Mother may be 
used to develop complex roles other than Cleopatra, such as 
Lady Macbeth and Ophelia, which demand the reality of 
madness. Also, since many of Shakespeare's female roles 
represent royalty or higher class status, identifying with 
the power and station of a goddess archetype may allow an 



18

actress to experience an increased sense of majesty, command 
and presence on the stage.

Uta Hagen, in her training manual Respect For Acting, 
emphasizes the importance of the actor's developing a deep 
understanding of the natural expanse of her own abilities. 
"The more an actor develops a full sense of his own 
identity," Hagen says, the more his scope and capacity for 
identification with other characters than his own will be 
possible."'1 The same idea applies to the integration of a 
character or role. If a dramatic role is constructed in 
such a way as to incorporate goddess archetypes, their 
various attributes and/or selective characteristics, an 
actress selects those particular archetypal patterns within 
herself that will provide her with a pattern of expression 
genuine to herself and the role she is portraying. Bringing 
the goddesses that dwell within her to the role she is 
portraying, she is able to select and embody specific images 
at work in her psyche and express through them on the stage. 
The actress may then begin to develop a pattern of 
identification with these images or behavior traits (if she 
is aware they exist as traits within her personality) as the 
character. This technique is meant to provide an added 
basis for the actress's identification work—-simply to 
reinforce what is naturally present.

Archetypal identification technique works well with the 
"Method" acting style, as explained by Hagen in Respect For 
Acting. The actress is taught to construct the background 



19

of the character and work for identification with this 
background until she believes herself to be the character, 
in the given circumstances, with the character’s personality 
and the given relationships.3 Method acting training allows 
for a "presentational" acting style, wherein the actor 

attempts to reveal human behavior through the use of 
himself, through an understanding of himself, and 
consequently an understanding of the character he is 
portraying.

In presentational or internal acting, the actor experiences 
(and subsequently presents) a truthful moment-to-moment 
creation of life. Correct repetition of this method creates 
technical expertise.

Presentational actors (those who present what is true 
of themselves), then, serve to "enlighten the audience about 
the human experience."5 Experiences called for from the 
script must be searched for and found within the actor's own 
experiential repertoire, as Hagen explains:

The more I discover, the more I realize that I have 
endless sources in myself to put to use in the 
illumination of endless characters in dramatic 
literature; that I am compounded of endless human 
beings depending on the events moving in on me, my 
surrounding circumstance, relationships with a 
variety of people, what I want, and what's in my way 
at a given moment: all within the context of my 
unique identity.

Other role construction components that use 
identification techniques and that may include archetypal 
awareness are: substitution; emotional memory or recall; 
careful construction of the character; understanding of 
circumstances confronting the character; relationships to 



20

others in the play; age; objectives; obstacles to 
objectives; and actions.7

If the actress pursues her objectives clearly and 
strongly, and that is all that she does in any given moment 
of stage life, then it will "cost" the character something 
to be alive. This is because the obstacles to the 
character’s objectives will be brought to bear upon the 
character, either by an unforeseen circumstance, or by other 
characters' actions, and this is exactly what the playwright 
has written to have presented. The action needs to be 
immediate and vital; one, clear, exciting, motivational 
choice will work. As Stanislavsky has writen, "less is 
more."

Several noted theatre professionals have long advocated 
Method or identificational approaches to character analysis. 
Harley Granville-Barker, for example, states that 
Shakespeare did not aim at perfection but at "vitality, and 
achieved it intensely."8 From my previous Shakespeare 
training, I find that some of this vitality comes from the 
actor's identification with the character, but most of it 
comes from how the actor uses the language—her verbal 
command of the speech. Granville-Barker states, "The 
dialogue. . .is charged with an emotion which the speech 
releases, yet only releases fully when the speaker. . .is 

Q identified with the character."
Granville-Barker also makes reference to Shakespeare's 

innate understanding of the human dilemma, noting that



21

actors can identify with the reality of the drama he 
constructed for them. He states that the illusion of live 
stage performance is 11 lodged in the actors and characters 
alone,” and that his aim is to keep the actor, now 
identified with the character

in as close a relation to the spectators. . 
.expressing sway over them. . .(through) personal 
appeal, the intimacy set-up, the persuading them 
that what he has to say is his own concern and 
theirs.10

Granville-Barker thus has identified the effectiveness of
Method acting techniques long before they were incorporated 
into and defined as a "Method” style. He states that the 
actor should create his character out of his own person:

. . .the actor does not lose himself in the 
character he plays. On the contrary, he not only 
presents it under his own aspect, he lends it his 
own emotions too, and he must repass the thought of 
which it is built through the siene of his own mind. 
He dissects it and then reconstructs it in terms of 
his own personality. . . (He realizes himself) as the 
character.11

Other theatre professionals evince an understanding of the 
ease that may characterize an actor's experience while 
playing Shakespeare, such as Royal Shakespeare Academy 
actress Sheila Hancock, quoted during an informal 
discussion, in John Barton's book, Playing Shakespeare:

I found miraculously when I got on the stage and in 
front of an audience and had to communicate. . .that 
if I let it flow, just happen, it seemed the most 
natural thing in the world. . .and the language was 
so potent. I felt I had to make less effort than 
I'd ever had to make before.12

Another actor, Mike Gwilyn adds, "A character is not just
• 3what he says but how he says it.”l



22

Due to the many demands placed upon a Shakespearian 
actress, Method and archetypal identification techniques can 
assist the actress in bringing alive on stage a larger-than- 
life reality to her work, often necessary in a large outdoor 
or inhouse setting. Such demands include but are not 
limited to: accurate speech control and projection; poetic 
inflection; uncomfortable movements due to heavy costumes or 
stylistic behavior; mastery of the standard English stage 
dialects; word usages different from those of the twentieth 
century; poetic rhythm, meter and texture, and of course, 
bringing to life the complexity of character which remains 
the central focus of Shakespearian drama. The most 
difficult maneuvering, however, has to do with letting the 
moment-to-moment delivery be genuine in the actress's 
experience while achieving all of the above simultaneously. 
Archetypal identification eases this burden because the 
acting is more genuine, and the actress may spend more time 
preparing this other areas.

A genuine fluidity of expression stemming from an 
active internal life is the hallmark of an accomplished 
actress. Character construction using Method and archetypal 
identification techniques can help to create the reality of 
life inherent in dramatic text that theoretical commentary 
can only determine in potential.



23

NOTES CHAPTER 3

1 Eugen Herrigei, Zen In The Art of Archery, (New York: 
Random House, 1971), p. 50.2Uta Hagen, Respect For Acting, (New York: MacMillan 
Publishing Co., 1973), p. 24.3Ibid., p. 5.

^Ibid., p. 12.
5Ibid., p. 22. Please note there are differing 

opinions offered by scholars, such as Beckeman, as to the 
use of the terms "representational," and "presentational." 
For the purposes of this thesis, I am using Uta Hagen's 
definition.^Ibid., p. 25.

?Ibid., p. 152.
®Harley Granville-Barker, More Prefaces to Shakespeare, 

(Princeton: Princeton UP, 1974), p. 46.9Harley Granville-Barker, Prefaces to Shakespeare, vol. 
1, (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1947), p. 6.|°Ibid., p. 25.

•"Ibid. , p. 26.12John Barton, Playing Shakespeare, (New York: Methuen, 
1984). p. 13.

13Ibid., p. 15.



24

CHAPTER 4 
APPLICATION: CLEOPATRA AS ISIS

"I am Isis the goddess, lady of words of 
power, worker with words of power, mighty 
m utterance of speech. . .Come to me. . 
for my speech hath in it the power to 
protect, and it possesseth life. . . .And 
they drew nigh to me at my call, and they 
themselves wept at the greatness of my 
misery. . ."

—Egyptian Book of the Dead1

Three main written sources were available to 
Shakespeare when he created Cleopatra in Antony and 
Cleopatra, sources which give evidence to suggest that he 
created this character based on the goddess Isis, and 
endowed her with the Isis archetype, containing the 
vegetation mysteries of birth, rebirth, fruit (fruition) , 
and immortality. These sources describe the historical 
figure of Cleopatra as one who played out the role of an 
earthly queen, and by reason of the duties inherent in her 
title, necessarily personified the role and traits of Isis 
to her people. With artistic skill, Shakespeare took this 
historical information, and endowed Cleopatra with a 
personality of good and evil, blending her immortal 
"longings" with her mortal regality, thus achieving a 
perfect balance between earthly and divine natures. Her 
good/evil duality proves to be the essential characteristic 
Shakespeare uses to move the storyline in a simultaneously 
ascending/descending motion: by reason of Cleopatra's 
manipulative behavior, her relationship with Antony 



25

disintegrates and Antony mortally wounds himself. And, 
after Antony's death, Cleopatra quickly follows, achieving 
immortality with him (as is her belief) in heaven.
Cleopatra's personification of Isis in her death clearly 
demonstrates a resemblance to the Isis/Osiris myth in that 
she instigates Antony's and her own movement into a higher, 
heavenly realm by means of her regenerative powers.

The first source is Sir Thomas North's translation of
Plutarch's "Life of Marcus Antonius," contained in his Lives 
of the Noble Grecians and Romans, published in 1579. In 
this chapter, Plutarch portrays Cleopatra as a goddess and 
Marc Antony as a god:

She was laid under a pavillion of cloth of gold of 
tissue, appareled and attired like the goddess Venus 
commonly drawn in picture. . .and there went a rumor 
in the people's mouths that the goddess Venus was 
come to play with the god Bacchus for the general 
good of all Asia.

Enobarbus's description of Cleopatra to Agrippa in Act II,
Scene ii suggests Shakespeare's knowledge of this passage:

The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, 
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold; 
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that 
The winds were lovesick with them;
. . . .For her own person. . .she did lie 
In her pavillion, cloth-of-gold of tissue, 
0'erpicturing that Venus where we see 
The fancy outwork nature. . .(197. . .207)

Also in this source is a description of Cleopatra in 
her monument after the death of Antony which pictures her 
closely resembling a priestess of Isis:

When she saw Caesar come into her chamber she 
suddenly rose up naked in her smock, and fell down 
at his feet marvelously disfigured, both for that



26

she had plucked her hair from her head, as also for 
that she had martyred all her face with her nails*

Although in this scene Shakespeare does not portray 
Cleopatra with as much physical disfigurement as Plutarch 
suggests, she does kneel before Caesar, thereby appearing to 
disgrace her station (although her apparent disgrace is 
deceptive):

Dolabella. It is the Emperor, madam. 
Cleopatra kneels.

Caesar. Arise! You shall not kneel: 
I pray you rise; rise, Egypt.

Cleopatra. Sir, the gods
Will have it thus. My master and my lord I must obey.4

Caesar would think that Cleopatra's kneeling is due to her 
deep sorrow for the loss of Antony, inspiring humility 
before Caesar. Sharon Kelly Heyob explains women's 
ceremonial rites called "Isia" prevalent at the time of 
Cleopatra's reign wherein women in mourning lamented over 
the dead bodies of departed loved ones. Short of hair and 
dressed in white, women would process through the city 
streets with loud lamentations, calling upon Isis' name 
entreating her to bestow life upon the dead.^ In the 

performance of Anotony and Cleopatra, by the Royal 
Shakespeare Company at Stratford (which I viewed via video), 
the actress playing Cleopatra wore a simple white gown 
during Act V, and had her hair strewn about her shoulders.

The second source available to Shakespeare was another 
writing of Plutarch entitled Moralia.6 The last part of the 

book, "On Isis and Osiris," consists of eighty chapters 



27

devoted to the Osiris/Isis myth. Plutarch writes to a woman 
named "Clea” believed to have been a priestess of the cult 
of Isis, to whom the book is dedicated.Plutarch portrays 
the goddess Isis as being subservient to Osiris (when 
recounting the Egyptian myth), yet he attributes to Isis a 
large dimension, believing her to be the same goddess spoken 
of in other beliefs and religions, having different titles 
conferred upon her. Plutarch writes:

Isis and the gods related to her belong to all men 
and are known to them; even though they have not 
long since learned to call some of them by their 
Egyptian names, they have understood and honoured 
the power of each god from the beginning.

Griffiths points out that to the Greeks of the Hellenistic 
era (which directly preceded Plutarch's life), Isis was 
known as a Queen Mother, identified with most of the forces 
of nature, and equated at the same time with the "she of the 
many names," from other various places and countries.9 

Griffiths comments on Plutarch's understanding of Isis 
and her cult existent during Plutarch's lifetime:

[His understanding] included a pursuit of both of 
the intellectual aspect of truth culminating in a 
knowledge of God, and of the special gnosis of the 
supreme being attained through initiation [into the rites of the cult of Isis].10

To Plutarch, the Osirian mysteries were a means of achieving 
philosophical truth, and Isis is the repository of wisdom 
which makes this possible:

Often it [Isis' wisdom] has a magical, rather than a 
philosophical flavor. . . .Isis leads the initiate 
to gnosis (wisdom) of the Supreme Being. . . 
Blessings resulting from the knowledge are eternal 
life and immortality.11



28

Besides her magical power, Plutarch points out that 
Isis' power was of such magnitude that people and the 
natural elements could not help but follow after her will. 
Recounting a section of the Osiris/Isis myth wherein Isis 
finds the coffin containing the dead body of Osiris, 
Plutarch states of Isis:

The goddess then fell upon the coffin and gave such 
a loud wail that the younger of the King's sons 
died. . .when the river Phaedrus produced a somewhat 
rough wind towards dawn, in a fit of anger she dried 
up the stream. 2

Shakespeare closely follows Plutarch's description of Isis' 
volatile personality in his portrayal of Cleopatra from the 
first scene of the play to the last. He surrounds Cleopatra 
with characters who continually comment on her magical 
ability to transform people's wills to suit her own. 
Commenting on Antony's dotage over Cleopatra, Enobarbus 
states in Act I, Scene i, that Antony has been bewitched:

Enobarbus. His captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst 
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper 
And is become the bellows and the fan 
To cool a gypsy's lust. (5-9)

The word "gypsy," short for 'gyptians, signifies the 
Renaissance belief that the Egyptians held magical power, 
and were sorcerers, tricksters and lechers. The scene 
which follows reveals that Antony, the "triple pillar of the 
world," has been "transformed/Into a strumpet's fool," (13) 
shirking his duties as solider and captain of the Roman 
army; "Stirred by Cleopatra" he now seeks pleasure and 



29

sport in her court. In this scene, Antony comments on how 
everyone and everthing "becomes" Cleopatra:

Antony. Fie wrangling queen!
Whom everthing becomes—to chide, to laugh, 
To weep; whose every passion fully [absolutely] 

strives
To make itself, in thee, fair and admired.

(Act I, Scene i, 48-51) 
In Act I, Scene iii, we see one way Cleopatra commands 

others—through manipulation of events, and how she manages 
to maneuver her way into Antony's life without his knowing 
her true motivation. She commands Alexas to

Cleopatra. See where he is, who's with him, what he 
does:
I did not send you. If you find him sad, 
Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report 
That I am sudden sick. Quick, and return. (3-6)

Another character who comments on Cleopatra's magical power 
is Pompey, who states in Act II, Scene i, "Let witchcract 
join with beauty, lust with both." (22) And in the next 
scene, Enobarbus speaks the famous passage which best 
describes her charismatic personality, something from which 
Antony cannot separate:

Enobarbus.
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
Her infinite variety: other women cloy 
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry 
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things 
Become themselves in her, that the holy priests 
Bless her when she is riggish [wanton]. (241-246)

This second reference to how things and people "become" her 
is a pertinent point; the word occurs eleven times in the 
play, and strengthens the idea of the transforming power 
present in Cleopatra through poetic effect. Barbara Everett 



30

notes how Shakespeare1s use of poetic imagery transforms 
Plutarch's description of Cleopatra into a Cleopatra based 
on the Isis archetype:

. . .by small additions and alternations—the 
extraordinary power of Cleopatra. . .draws the 
people, the winds, and the water longingly after 
her.i4

Plutarch notes in "On Isis and Osiris" a pertinent 
reference to Isis being ruler over the waters of the earth. 
(Her picture on coins and reliefs of that era also depicts 
her steadying a wind-swollen sail.) Plutarch speaks for 
Isis:

I am mistress of rivers and winds and sea, I calm 
and swell the sea, I am mistress of shipping, I make the navigable unnavigable whenever I decide. . . 5

As well, Shakespeare makes several references in the text to 
Cleopatra's relationship to the Nile river and Nile delta 
region, endowing these with her dual good/evil— 
goddess/earthly personality. Antony's speech in Act I, 
Scene ii, contains several references to the nature of the 
Nile delta as characteristic of Cleopatra's dual nature, 
such as "Our slipper people," (187), and

Antony. Much is breeding,
Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life 
And not a serpent's poison.(194-196)

Also, Antony says in Act I, Scene iii/ "By the fire/That 
quickens Nilus' slime..." (69). Perhaps the most clear 
reference can be seen through Caesar's words in Act I, Scene 
iv, wherein he attributes a poetic image of instability to 



31

the shifting affairs of State, because Antony cannot break 
away from Cleopatra's hold:

Caesar. This common body,
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream, 
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide, 
To rot itself with motion.

Insinuating that his country is "rotting" connotes that 
the evil side of nature is controlling this situation, 
obviously pointing to Cleopatra, as she is the source of 
control over Antony. Calling her "Serpent of the Nile," 
(Act. I, Scene v. 25) Antony makes reference to Cleopatra as 
source of the Nile's destructive nature. And a final 
reference can be seen in Cleopatra's decision to fearfully 
turn back her sails to Alexandria, commanding the fateful 
ruin of Antony in their wake. This critical maneuver 
heightens the effect of the simultaneously 
ascending/descending motion of the play, for after this 
point the mortal relationship of these two characters 
spirals downward, even as their deaths bring eternal 
recognition and immortality.

Another characteristic trait found in both Isis and 
Shakespeare's Cleopatra is the ability to shape events and 
people's will through the power of speech and voice. 
Plutarch writes in Moralia:

Isis called out, and (sent) her voice to heaven, 
that the souls of the gods in the firmament might 
hear it. . . .Isis uttered a great shriek and the 
world was disturbed.

Lucie Simpson quotes Plutarch as saying that her voice 
like an instrument of many strings," making her will 

"was



32

irresistible. Examples to illustrate Shakespeare's 
understanding of this passage are numerous in the text, 
including the following: .19

In Act I, Scene iii, her desire is to make Antony stay, 
or if he is not to stay, make his life as miserable as her 
own at the thought of him leaving. She uses the news of 
Fulvia's death to advantage:

Cleopatra. O most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill 
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see, 
In Fulvia's death, how mine received shall be.

(62-65)
Cut my lace, Charmian come— 

But let it be: I am guickly ill, and well, 
So Antony loves. (72-74)
I prithee turn aside and weep for her;
Then bid adieu to me, and say the tears
Belong to Egypt, [etc.] (76-78)

Here, Cleopatra's melodramatic attempts at making Antony 
stay are to no avail, and only when he tells her he is 
leaving does she express genuine sorrow.

Cleopatra's power of anger comes through her voice in 
Act II, Scene v, when the messenger comes to inform her of
Antony's marriage to Octavia, Caesar's sister. Striking
down the messenger at the news she exclaims

Cleopatra, 
thee!

The most infectious pestilence upon 
Strikes him down.

Messenger. Good madam, patience.

Cleopatra.

Horrible villain! Or
Like balls before me:

What say you? 
Strikes him.

Hence, 
I'll spurn [kick] thine eyes 
I'll unhair thy head, 

She hails him up and down.



33

Thou shalt be whipped with wire and stewed in brine, 
Smarting in ling'ring pickle. (61-66)

Here, Cleopatra expresses pure anger, not needing to change 
her tone to trick anyone.

Demonstrating yet another facet to her vocal power, in 
Act V, Scene ii, Cleopatra meets Dolabella, Caesar's friend, 
and by speaking of the dead Antony with such sorrowful 
voice, she is able to evoke pity and personal feelings of 
loss from this Roman solider.20 Describing Antony as an 
Emperor of the heaven, and not of the earth as he once was, 
she catches Dolabella's attention by moving him at an 
emotional level. Though he tries to interrupt her three 
times, and denies her twice throughout the course of her 
speech, in the end he knows she has won:

Dolabella. Hear me, good madam.
Your loss is as yourself, great; and you bear it 
As answering to the weight. Would I might never 
O'ertake pursued success, but I do feel, 
By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites 
My very heart at root. (100-106)

Having turned his heart, Dolabella is easily convinced to 
tell Cleopatra of Caesar's humiliating plans for her.

Later in the scene Cleopatra meets Caesar face to face, 
and while she appears to him as his captive slave, she is 
really only interested in procuring rights of title and 
leadership for her children after she is gone, for she has 
no intention of becoming his Roman conquest. Cleopatra's 
voice in this scene should be permeated with "dripping" 
false humility which to Caesar should appear genuine, but to 
the rest of us, should appear cunningly convincing.



34

Cleopatra stays true to herself, which, in this instance 
means staying true to her ability to appear falsely before 
another:

Caesar. I’ll take my leave.
Cleopatra. And may, through all the world: ’tis 

yours, and we, 
Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall 
Hang in what place you please. (133-136)

Commanding her to "feed and sleep," (like an animal being 
readied for slaughter), Caesar leaves, believing he has won; 
however, Cleopatra’s next lines reveal her true loathing for 
the youthful Caesar:

Cleopatra. He words me, girls, he words me, that I 
should not
Be noble to myself! (191-192)

The third and final source available to Shakespeare at 
the time of his writing Antony and Cleopatra was the Golden 
Ass, Being the Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, believed to 
have been written in A.D. 170 (fifty years following 
Plutarch). This book, believed to be an autobiographical 
account of the life of Apuleius, tells the story of a man 
who meets the goddess Isis both in dream and reality, and 
gives many references to the Cult of Isis prevalent at the 
time. When Isis first appears to Lucius she says:

( I) am the mother of the universe, the mistress of 
all the elements, the first offspring of time, the 
highest of deities, the queen of the dead. . .1 who 
order by my will the stormy heights of heaven, the 
health-giving breezes of the sea, and the awful 
silences of those in the underworld. . .the 
Egyptians. . .give me my true name of Queen Isis.



35

This passage gives distinct reference to Egyptian mythology 
and the Isis’ archetypal mysteries of birth and immortality. 
In the following passage from the same source, the 
archetypal mystery of rebirth is recognized:

Considering that it was in her power both to damn 
and to save all persons. . .it was in her power by 
divine providence to make them as it were newborn.22

In the Isis/Osiris myth rebirth is represented through life- 
after-death, and only through mourning and lamentation 
(again, the power of her speech and voice) , can the dead be 
brought again to life. Heyob explains Isis’ role as 
mourner:

In the Pyramid Texts, the first role Isis plays is 
mourner for her brother-husband Osiris, together 
with her sister Nephtys. . . .Her chief duty was to 
lament his death and seek to revive him by 
meticulous care for his body. . .she relates her 
yearning for him, tells how she has sought him out 
on a~ 
her. 2

^ong journey, and pleads for his return to

In most hieroglyphic representations of the Osiris/Isis 
myth, we see both the goddesses Isis and Nephthys’ hands 
outstretched over the dead body of Osiris, as she evokes the 
eternal powers to bring back to life the dead body of 
Osiris. Shakespeare portrays Isis’ regenerative power 
through Cleopatra in Act IV, Scene xv, when the slain body 
of Antony is drawn upward towards Cleopatra with the 

following text:
Cleopatra. But come come, Antony—~
Help me, my women—we must draw thee up: 
Assist good friends. (29—31)

Cleopatra. Had I great Juno's power.
The strong-winged Mercury should fetch thee up



36

And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little, 
Wishers wee ever fools. 0, come, come, come.

They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra 
And welcome, welcome! Die when thou hast lived, 
Quicken [come to life] with kissing. Had my lips 

that power,
Thus would I wear them out. (34-39)

Note Shakespeare's use of the word "quicken," and his poetic 
image of her bringing Antony back to life through her 
kissing. Cleopatra's archetypal renewable power heightens 
the effect that her dual good/evil nature has upon the 
storyline.

Cleopatra's next lines, expressing her intent to follow 
Antony in death, may be honorable in Roman eyes:

Cleopatra. We'll bury him; and then, what's brave, 
what's noble, 
Let's do't after the high Roman fashion, 
And make death proud to take us. (85-88)

but her words also suggest the Egyptian custom of "Sati," or 
"suttee," in which wives, attendants and sometimes whole 
families would die with the deceased. Family members 
sometimes cast themselves upon the funeral pyre or in the 
grave of the deceased being mourned. "Sati" means "to be," 
and connotes the female who is true to herself, true to the 
part she plays.24

Besides being true to herself by portraying Isis' 
archetypal nature, another part of Cleopatra's role was to 
depict the goddess Isis to her public, thereby increasing 
her popularity among her citizens. Heyob describes one 
occasion when the historical figures of Antony and Cleopatra 
appeared in public as their cultural images suggest:



37

In 34 B.C.at the triumph staged in Alexandria of 
Antony's victory over the Armenians, Antony gave his 
spoils to Cleopatra rather than to Jupiter, as was 
the custom. Cleopatra sat on her throne wearing the 
garb of Isis. Antony and Cleopatra posed for 
paintings and statues, he representing Osiris or 
Dionysus and she Isis or Selene.25

Depicting his understanding of Isis' popularity at the time 
of Cleopatra's reign, Shakespeare makes six references to 
Isis in the script, and four to "the Gods." The best 
passage reads from Act I, Scene ii:

Charmian. 0, let him
marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I 
beseech thee, and let her die too, and give him 
a worse, and let worse follow worse till the worst 
of all follow him laughing to his grave, fiftyfold 
a cuckhold! Good Isis, hear me this prayer, 
though thou deny me a matter of more weight: good 
Isis, I beseech thee! (63-70).

Heyob explains the archetypal nature of the goddess Isis and 
her popularity among women during the Graeco-Roman era:

Isis was for the Egyptian world goddess of all life. 
. . .Annually, according to the myth, she restored 
the life of Osiris, her brother-husband, god of the 
Nile, who in turn, inundated the land, rejuvinating 
its fertility and providing sustenance for its 
inhabitants. . . .The ordinary Egyptian could turn 
to her in an infinite number of troubles.26

Because the goddess Isis contains the archetypal mysteries 
of birth and rebirth, she was thought to be the protectress 
of fertility and birth, and women evoked her help for any of 
these functions, as depicted by the above passage which 
Charmian speaks. Believing the Isis Cult to be the first 
evidence of western feminist movement, Heyob explains that 
"in Isis, women found a goddess who was essentially their 
own." 2 7



38

As well, Heyob notes that "In the Graeco-Roman world, 
the tale of Isis and Osiris represented a pattern of family 
bonds of affection," and can be seen in the hardships 
experienced in the earthly realm, which, when overcome, 
united the family in heaven, their eternal dwelling place.28 
Shakespeare’s understanding of this devotion to family can 
be seen in the way Cleopatra’s women constantly surround 
her, and also in their unswerving devotion to serve her, 
even in death.

Shakespeare's Cleopatra believes that her death will 
bring earthly honor to herself, her family, and Mark Antony, 
as well as allow her to be present with Antony in heaven. 
Her crossing over to the spiritual plain becomes the 
faithful ’’wife" she has claimed herself to be, and brings to 
focus her power of transformation at work in the storyline. 
Antony and Cleopatra is constructively written with word 
images, symbols, and actions that carry forward this quality 
of transformation. Michael Goldman observes Antony and
Cleopatra's power as a:

. . .transforming force, changing lives, shaping the 
course of history, making things happen in the 
theatre. . .they act on and act out their 
becomingness, striving even in death to become 
themselves.29

Goldman describes Cleopatra's transformative nature as 
eternity itself, a "self-renewing fertility," which is an 
Isis archetypal mystery.3He suggests that Cleopatra 
controls the powers of appetite, "making hungry where one 
would already be satisfied."31 The text contains numerous 



39

references to food and sex which are renewable aspects of 
life, and assists in the ascending poetic effect.

In his book, The Imperial Theme, G. Wilson Knight 
comments on Shakespeare's dual ascending/descending pattern 
of action, culminating in Cleopatra’s death as stemming from 
her own person:

(There is an ascending scale.) The style, the 
poetic vision of the whole, endorses this movement: 
it views the world as one rising from matter to spirit. 2

Being able to give both life and death commands, Cleopatra's 
character serves to move the action of the play to her will, 
which ultimately is with Antony in heaven.

Knight compares Cleopatra to other Shakespearian and 
literary characters that embody either good or evil aspects 
within themselves:

Cleopatra is the divinity of this play in the sense 
that Desdemona is the divinity of Othello. . . .All 
women of legend or literature combine to make our 
Cleopatra. . .Eve, Jezebel, Helen of Troy, Amazons, 
St. Joan, Dido, Delilah, Andepmache, Dante's 
Beatrice, Medusa and Madonna.

Though Knight sees Cleopatra as representing most other 
women in literature, I see that she is the only leading 
female character in the whole scope of Shakespeare's canon 
who conveys the unity of good and evil to such a powerful 
extent. Cressida, Goneril, Regan and Lady Macbeth are a few 
who seem to contain purely evil traits; Imogen, Hermione and 
Desdemona contain purely good traits. Knight shares this 
view, observing that her evil is only a part of her overall 

transcendent nature:



40

Since Cleopatra is so comprehensively conceived, it 
will be clear that the streak of serpentine evil in 
her is part of her complex fascination. . . .From a 
limited view, her trechery is nauseating; but, from 
the view of eternity, the whole and all its parts 
observed, the 'evil' is seen otherwise, as part of a 
wider pattern.J 4

A larger, universal power is also represented in the 
play, with the asp that Cleopatra uses to kill herself. 
According to Egyptian mythology, the serpent, or asp, 
represents the point of entry of the spiritual powers of the 
universe into the world.35 When Cleopatra nurses the asp, 
she represents Terra, the Earth Mother, letting heavenly 
powers flow into her veins. As she sees herself 
representing Isis in her climactic ritualistic act of 
suicide, she mingles her own divine powers with those of 
heaven through the asp's bite, transforming the entire 
nature of heaven, in preparation for her presence there.

Thus, even in death, Shakespeare conveys a sense to his 
audience that life goes on, that she "looks like sleep," 
heightening the poetic effect of continual movement in the 
earthly realm, as well as the spiritual. With 
Cleopatra's entry into the universal sphere, Shakespeare 
achieves the ultimate picture of transformation: she, who 
has consistently used the power of transformation to shape 
events to her will, now transforms herself to her higher, 
immortal will. Unrivaled by any other female dramatic 
character, Cleopatra lets her inherent power of 
transformation move herself, her lover, and her story into 
the status of immortality, at last, becoming herself.



41

NOTES CHAPTER 4

Bridge, E.A. Willis, The Gods of the Egyptians, vol. 
2, (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969), p. 227.

¿William Shakespeare, p. 195.
Ibid, p. 213.
She rises here, as the words suggest. You will note 

that Caesar entreats Cleopatra to rise three times. As 
these words suggest, her continued kneeling should have 
embarrassing effect upon Caesar, as is Cleopatra's 
intention.

Sharon Kelly Heyob, The Cult of Isis Among Women in 
the Graeco-Roman World, (Leiden, Netherlands: E.J. Brill 
1975). p. 48.

bJ. Gwyn Griffiths cites seven translations between the 
years 1296 and 1455. Plutarch, De Iside Et Osiride, ed. J. 
Gwyn Griffiths, (Great Britain: University of Wales Press, 
1970). p. 6.

oXbid-/ P. 16.
qlbid., p. 22.
T%bid-, P- 42.~Ylbid., p. 256.
;hbid., p. 7i.
^Ibid. , p.
r-’ see footnote, Shakespeare, p. 41.15Griffiths, J. Gwyn, ed. The Isis Book (Metamorphoses 

Book XI), (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975), p. 144.
16 "Courser's hair refers to the superstitious belief 

that a horses's hair, when "placed in water was thought to 
turn into a serpent." See footnote in Shakespeare, p. 52.

^Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, p. 330.
“■®Lucie Simpson, p. 2.
19 It is important to emphasize here that the actress 

playing Cleopatra needs to demonstrate an enormous capacity 
of power and control over her vocal and emotional mechanisms 
because in the character of Cleopatra, the two are closely 
intertwined; Cleopatra uses her emotions through her power 
of expression (be it vocal or in physical gesture) to 
manipulate people and events. If the actress lacks the 
ability to express her emotions through her vocal and speech 
mechanisms, my points here will not make sense.

20 Please see Chapter V for a more detailed 
delineation of this conversation between Cleopatra and
Dolabella.2^Griffiths

22Ibid., p.
¿^Heyob, p. 
^Campbell, 

P* 65i5̂Heyob. p.
¿bHeyob, p.

The Isis Book, p. 75.
575.
40.Masks of God, Oriental Philosophy, vol. 2,

21.
1.



42

2̂ :: t8:
zyMichael Goldman, Acting and Action in Shakespearian 

Tragedy, (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985), p. 126.
•"Ibid. , p. 116.^Ibid. . p. 115.
32G. Wilson Knight, The Imperial Theme, (Great Britain: 

Methuen and Company, Ltd., 1951), p. 204.
33Ibid., p. 308.
3*Ibid., p. 310.
35Joseph Campbell, Masks of God, Primitive Mythology, 

(London: Seeker and Warberg, 1960), p. 58.
36Shakespeare, Act. V, Scene ii,line 345.



43

CHAPTER 5
SCRIPT ANALYSIS: ACT V, SCENE ii

"Think you there was or might be 
such a man as this I dreamt of?" 

(lines 94-95)
Characters: Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt

Dolabella, Friend to Caesar 
Charmian, Attendant on Cleopatra 
Iras, Attendant on Cleopatra

Act V, Scene ii is devoted entirely to Cleopatra, and 
gives evidence to suggest that her nature has changed to a 
more stable one, being steeled in grief over the loss of 
Antony, and having a solidified purpose of suicide set in 
her mind. The first four acts developed according to the 
expression of her positive archetypal mysteries of birth, 
rebirth and fruition (coupled with her negative mysteries) , 
and as such, her power of transformation played a key role 
in her being able to change events to suit her will. We now 
see her archetypal immortal power come into more prominent 
view, as Cleopatra readies herself for suicide. As well, 
Act V take place in one location, her monument, and supports 
a more unified and stable theme to the rest of the play: she 
has already confessed her intention to commit suicide at the 
end of Act IV, in ’’high Roman fashion," thereby preparing us 
for this event.1

This scene is a good example of the analytical process 
an actress needs to move through, in order to choose the 
right moment-to-moment motivations to make this scene work.



44

Without textual analysis (choosing a clear motivation for 
each successive moment of stage life), the actress will just 
be spouting lines without any internal connection to the 
thought and feeling process which gave them creation. 
Please refer to footnote information, as I have used them 
substantially in this chapter to supplement my understanding 
and analysis of this scene.

Preparing this scene, an actress should first ask 
herself, ’’what has just occurred?"—her present actions 
would naturally emerge from what had just taken place. She 
has just been visited and humiliated by Proculeius and his 
soliders, when Dolabella appears, commanding Proculeius to 
release the captive Cleopatra and return to Caesar.2 Her 
attendants, Iras and Charmian, are silent and dutiful 
partners. Though they do not speak during this scene, the 
actress may refer to their presence in various ways, 
particularly for emotional support. It is important to 
remember that although Cleopatra's nature has solidified, 
she nevertheless requires those closest to her to still 
serve her; the trilogy of their deaths strengthens the 
ascending action of the play.

After understanding the preceding moments, the next 
step of scene analyzation consists of preparing a moment-to- 
moment motivational subtext. Finding herself present with 
Dolabella, she obviously feels mistrust, because she was 
just tricked by one Roman solider. She is also aware that 
Dolabella has just seen her in a humiliating posture.



45

Cleopatra would surely wish to cover up her embarrassment 
and try to regain a more dignified stance without losing 
face. Therefore, a clear motivation for Cleopatra's 
beginning lines in this scene would be to regain her dignity 
(which implies that the actress begins the scene with a 
feeling of humiliation. Beginning with humiliation, the 
actress has something to work through, an action). There 
needs to be a moment's pause before Dolabella's first line, 
as the two players exchange glances, taking stock of each 
other:3

Dolabella. Most noble Empress, you have heard of me.
Cleopatra. I cannot tell.
Dolabella. Assuredly you know me.
Cleopatra. No matter sir, what I have heard or 

known. (70-74)
These lines may seem insignificant, but are not; looked 

at with deep intent, the words will unlock the doors of 
reality for the actress. (Particularly true of Shakespeare, 
all motivational objectives may be found within the text 
itself, regardless of additional comments given by the 
author or director). Dolabella is humble and generous, 
"Most noble Empress," and entreats her twice, yet Cleopatra 
remains tight-lipped. Why? Cleopatra is obviously feeling 
many emotions: humiliation, grief, worry, fear and dread of 
the unknown, guardianship for her children, and mistrust of 
this new solider's presence. All of these feelings, if 
expressed, would indicate an inferior stance to someone m 



46

control. So, choosing to cover up her feelings by assuming 
an arrogant stance of defiance to this other Roman solider 
would be a good active choice. This attitude of defiance 
should carry through the actress's tone of voice; carrying a 
tone of defiance and arrogance would help her in regaining 
her dignity.

However, Cleopatra sees that his man seems to be 
different from her previous adversary. Dolabella seems to 
be gentle. He has rescued her from humiliation, and instead 
of gaining that recognition for himself, sent away 
Proculeius. He has also addressed her properly and with 
respect. While she speaks her last lines, Cleopatra should 
quickly assess him to be a potential confidant, which 
naturally brings to focus her next motivation or objective, 
that of winning from Dolabella information about Caesar's 
intentions for her.4

Cleopatra knows from previous experience that the 
quickest way to win over a Roman solider is to make him 
express his feelings. If he expresses his feelings, he will 
have dishonored his military pride by having expressed 
weakness. In order to win him over, Cleopatra will use the 
power of her speech, and the power of her emotional capacity 
to sway his feelings. If she can make Dolabella confess to 
his feelings of grief over the loss of Antony, which, no 
doubt, all of Rome feels, she knows that he will then tell 
her what she desires. Although Dolabella tries to interrupt 



her four times throughout her speech, his interruptions 
serve only to propel Cleopatra further on in her narrative. 

Cleopatra says:
You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams;
Is't not your trick? (73-74)

These lines carry superstitous connotations, the idea taken 
from Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride. When Isis was looking 
for the casket holding the body of her dead husband Osiris, 
she met children and

asked them about the chest. Some of these had 
happened to see it and they named the river-mouth 
through which Typhon's friends had pushed the box to 
the sea. For this reason the Egyptians believe that 
children have the power of divination, and they take 
omens especially from children's shouts as they play 
near the temples and say whatever occurs to them.

Besides this reference, Roman history cites the fact that 
Julius Caesar had disregarded the significance of his wife's 
dreams which led to Caesar's death, with which Dolabella 
would have been familiar. By beginning their conversation 
with a superstitious reference, Cleopatra puts Dolabella at 
a disadvantage, for he is being faced with a dilemma. He 
cannot verbally acknowledge his superstitious nature 
because this will show him as having weakness. Yet 
Cleopatra is subtly letting Dolabella know that she believes 
in superstition, and the fact of his denial of the 
significance of superstition is what makes him weak. By 
putting Dolabella at a disadvantage, Cleopatra asserts a 
positive stance with him, delicately maneuvering herself 

into a more commanding position.



48

Her next words are:
Cleopatra. I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony. 

(76)
Here, Cleopatra reminds Dolabella of the greatness Antony 
never achieved on earth, and that only through his death has 
Antony achieved the significant positioning he knew as 
potential. This line would prick any Roman's feelings who 
was conscious of the loss of greatness to city and state, 
and to the world. This line is really an invitation for 
Dolabella to understand the nature of Antony and Cleopatra's 
relationship as being a personification of the macrocosmic 
world in microcosmic man, one of the larger themes of the 
play. Theodore Spencer states that the world setting for 
these lovers depicts the size of their characters:

Their love is as large as the political worlds they 
lead. Their size of love, stature of selves matches 
in size the empires they reject. The word "world" 
occurs 42 times in this play.

Northrop Frye suggests:
Antony and Cleopatra's love goes beyond normal human 
condition. . . .If the wills of Antony and Cleopatra 
had been equal to the passions they express in their 
language, there wouldn't have been much left of the 
cosmos.7

Calling Antony an Emperor, and at the same time 
recalling a dream brings to focus one of the most important 
paradoxes in the play, that man must lose himself in order 
to find himself; Cleopatra loses her sense of reality in 
order to find Antony in another realm She describes the 
dead Antony in universal terms, indicating that through his 



49

transformation from life to death, he has achieved the same 
immortal recognition which he achieved on earth..

Her next lines continue this transition: 
0, such another sleep, that I might see 
But such another man. (77.7g)

Her "0," is a sigh of grief. "Such another sleep" 
represents his sleep of death, to which there is no 
awakening on earth again. Her attention is turned now to 
heaven, eyes cast upward, as if beginning to see him painted 
in the stars.8 "That I might see" indicates her intense 

desire to be with him in heaven. "Such another man" 
indicates her understanding that he has changed form. These 
two lines reveal Cleopatra's thought processes changing 
from real to imaginary realms; Shakespeare has craftily 
given us a bridge from real to imaginary realms.

The monologue which follows challenges the actress's 
command over her imagination, for it is entirely imaginary 
in nature. The audience must see clearly what Cleopatra is 
seeing in her mind's eye for the scene to work properly.
Even if they have never seen her Antony, he must appear real 
to them as he is to her. If this is not possible for the 
actress to achieve, the monologue must at least be 
interesting to watch. Michael Goldman says, "It is 

• 9Cleopatra's portrait of Antony that converts her audience. 
Without interruptions, the main body of the monologue reads 

as follows:
as the heav'ns, and therein stuck 

which kept their course andCleo. His face was 
A sun and moon,



50

lighted
The little O, the' earth.
His legs bestrid the ocean: his reared arm 
Crested the world: his voice was propertied 
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends; 
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb, 
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty, 
There was no winter in't: an autumn 'twas 
That grew the more by reaping. His delights 
Were dolphinlike, they showed his back above 
The element they lived in. In his livery 
Walked crowns and crownets: realms and islands were
As plates dropped from his pocket. (78-92)

One source for this monologue can be taken from 
Antony's previous reference to their universal stations, 
stated earlier in Act I, Scene i, "Then must thou needs find 
out new heaven,/and new earth," (16) and is "designed to 
express the grandeur of the theme of transformation," as 
Kenneth Muir suggests.10 Muir states that one source which 
closely follows Shakespeare's use of universal images can be 
found in John the Beloved's Book of Revelation contained in 
the New Testament. Chapter 10, verses 1-5 read as follows:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from 
heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon 
his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and 
his feet as pillars of fire:
And he had in his hand a little book open: and he 

set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot 
on the earth.And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion 
roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders 
uttered their voices.And when the seven thunders had uttered their 
voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice 
from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things 
which the seven thunders uttered, and write them 
not. ,And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and 
upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven...



51

Further on in that same chapter of Revelation, one may see 
similarity to a command Osiris might have given to Isis, 
bestowing upon her the power to rejuvenate life:

And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto 
me again, and said, Go and take the little book 
which is open in the hand of the angel which 
standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give 

me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, 
and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, 
but it shall be in they mouth sweet as honey.
And I took the little book out of the angel's 

hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as 
honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was 
bitter.
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again 

before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.12
All of the known earth is represented in these passages from 
Revelation, just as in the play.

A last important reference to this text can be seen in 
The Apocryphal Gospel of Eve, as quoted by Joseph Campbell:

I stood on a lofty mountain and saw a gigantic man. 
. .and I heard as it were a voice of thunder, and 
drew nigh for to hear, and He spake unto me and 
said: I am thou, and thou art I; and wheresoever 
thou mayest be I am there. In all am I scattered, 
and whensoever thou wiliest, thou gatherest Me; and 
gathering Me, thou gatherest Thyself.1

Besides noting possible source references, which are 
useful for the actress to understand in her performance, it 
is also important to understand the poetic meaning contained 
in this portion of the dramatic text. Shakespeare uses 
certain key words which create a poetic effect of royalty as 
seen from an earthly advantage. Words such as crested, 
quail, bounty, autumn, reaping, livery, realms, islands, and 
plates help to create this worldly effect.



52

Another poetic vantage represents Cleopatra as the 
earth, while Antony represents heavently rulership over the 
her. The "sun and moon" keeping their course are Antony's 
eyes, lighting upon her, the earth. "His legs bestrid the 
ocean" reveals a sexual connotation, referring the ocean to 
her procreative abilities. He holds her "Crested" in his 
arms. He shakes her with his "rattling" thunderous anger. 
E.M.W. Tillyard notes that to the Elizabethan consciousness, 
"dolphinlike" delights refer to Antony's royal prowess:

Antony stood out in regal fashion above the revels 
he delighted in like the dolphin, king of the fishes, showing his back above the waves.14

Antony walked with "crowns and crownets," kings and queens 
of other earthly empires. "Realms and islands" dropping as 
plates, or silver coins, reveals a generous nature in 
Antony, bestowing monetary wealth to those he commanded, as 
with Antony's return to Enobarbus in Act IV of all his 
earthly treasures.

After describing Antony in this way, inciting 
Dolabella's emotional attachment, Cleopatra then confronts 

him with a question:
Cleo. Think you there was or might be such a man 
As this I dreamt of? (90)

Dolabella's answer, "Gentle madam, no," ( 91) firmly 
suggests to Cleopatra that Dolabella is not a man to be 
rocked from his Roman guard. Cleopatra then returns with 
anger, "You lie, up to the hearing of the gods." (92)



53

Obviously, Cleopatra has returned to the realm of reality at 
this point. Her question to Dolabella serves as a guide- 
post to this transition.

The next five lines are quite complex to understand: 
But if there be nor ever were one such, 
It's past the size of dreaming; nature wants stuff 
To vie strange forms with fancy, yet t* imagine 
An Antony were nature's piece 'gainst fancy 
Condemning shadows quite. (93-97)1°

The key to understanding this passage can be found in the 
actress's right choice of objectives. Cleopatra is speaking 
here of the difference to be found between imagination and 
reality. Clearly, she knows that she has been dreaming. 
Perhaps dreaming is her way of coping with the loss of 
Antony. She is saying here that the real person Antony far 
surpassed any dream she may have of him now that he is gone. 
"Nature's piece," being the earthly form of Antony, condemns 
the shadows of imagination to a less-than-acceptable status 
for her, leaving her to dream of him, and plan for their 
reunion in heaven.

Dolabella is caught. His next lines reveal his "grief 
that smites /(His) very heart at root," (104). She asks him 
point blank what Caesar means to do with her, and he 
hesitates for a moment, leaving Cleopatra to guess what she 
already senses to be true, "He'll lead me, then, in 
triumph?" (109) . Dolabella returns his answer with 
certainty, "Madam, he will. I know't," (110).

With Dolabella's final words of this scene, Cleopatra 
knows she has triumphed. She has succeeded in obtaining the 



54

information she required, at the emotional expense of a 
personal confidant. Her lack of moral conscience reveals a 
politically conscious personality intent on keeping control 
over her domain, and used to turning other people's wills to 
her own.

Thus, we may see through this scene that Cleopatra 
transforms Dolabella through the power of her speech, using 
her emotions through her speech in order to change 
Dolabella's mind to her own. The actress's responsibility 
is to faithfully follow each word and phrase with carefully 
determined motivational analysis, thereby revealing the 
truth of Cleopatra's unique and powerful ability to 
transform and shape the events of her life to her will. 
Seeing this and all other portions of the text in this 
light, the actress will achieve union with the inherent 
power of the text, transforming her moment-to-moment living 
to be that of the character she is playing. By following 
this procedure, as well as demonstrating her own archetypal 
nature through the text, the actress may thereby enliven the 
dramatic action of the play with effective power, creatively 
empowering the entire theatrical experience.



55

NOTES CHAPTER 5

^Act V, Scene xv, line
-î 4 ——___ - •_

86.
* . , that Proculeius is the manAntony named for Cleopatra to trust among all of Caesar's 
men, yet he turns out to be the very man who humiliates 
Cleopatra. This adds another ironic twist of fate to their

The actress should improvise this scene, imagining 
herself being held hostage by a foreign country. Things 
like different clothing, accent, nature, etc. would come 
into play that would add reality to the scene. Being held 
hostage would also incite anger and dread, which are real 
emotions being felt by Cleopatra. The actress should never 
forget that these scenes, however personal in nature, are 
actually political in nature, and that these players 
represent the rulers of the world at that time, therefore 
carrying tremendous power and influence over the course of 
history.

4The actress must remember that however emotional 
Cleopatra appears to be, she is the shrewdest politician 
alive, always getting what she wants. Political strategy 
should always be in the forefront of the actress's mind when 
choosing motivational objectives. Cleopatra controls much 
of the world's riches, and now finds herself in a 
politically insecure position. Regaining her foothold 
should be the dominant motivation for her, not only for her 
children's sake, but because she has never been bested by 
anyone, and isn't about to start now, when she forsees her 
end is at hand.

^Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, p. 140.
6Theodore Spencer, Shakespeare and the Nature of Man, 

(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1961), p. 162.
¿Ibid., p. 138.®Here, one other reference to Shakespeare's use of 

celestial imagery can be seen in Juliet's monologue from 
Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene ii, :

And when he dies (or, "And when I die", as taken 
from the First Folio edition), 
take him and cut him out in little stars, and e 
will paint the face of heaven so fine that all the 
world will be in love with night, and pay no worship

9Michae1%©1dman Acting and Action in Shakespearian 
Tragedy, (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985), p. ix • ^^¿enneth Muir, Shakespeare' s._Sgurces, (London. Meth 
Vern ^d Company, Ltd., 1957), p. 219.

-.-Tbid., p. 21. vorci'nn (Thomas Nelson, Inc.,lzHoly Bible, King James Version,



56

13Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, p. 39.
14E.M.W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan World Picture, (New 

York: Random House, no date cited), p.35.1SI think this line should be delivered with such a 
passionate cry as to either rock the ceiling from its 
hinges, or with a less loud sound, send tingles up the 
spines of those in the audience. In either case, the 
delivery should visibly move Dolabella, so that the audience 
sees a reaction of emotional depth. and16William Shakespeare, T^-Tragedy of Antony a_gg 
Cleopatra, ed. Barbara Everett, (New York: New American 
Library, 1964), p. 173-174.



57

CHAPTER 6 
CONCLUSION : THE POSITIVE FEMININE ARCHETYPE 

AT WORK IN THE PERFORMING ARTS

Blessed Cecelia, appear in visions 
To 311 musicians, appear and inspire. 
Translated daughter, come down and startle 
Composing mortals with immortal fire.

—W. H. Auden

Besides providing a basis for acting identification 
technique, the function of the feminine archetype carries 
with it a much larger significant potential within the body 
of humanity. A play such as Antony and Cleopatra gives 
opportunity for people to recognize specific archetypal 
mysteries and patterns at work, such as were discussed with 
Cleopatra. As well, other dramatic roles within the classic 
repertoire contain easily identifiable archetypal mysteries, 
at the individual and social levels, representing larger 
archetypal patterning dynamically in motion. The artist 
within society who chooses to work with positive archetypal 
images may release these and other new positive archetypal 
patternings, inspiring and regenerating the larger social 
consciousness in which he dwells (please see Appendix II) .

Shakespeare's character Cleopatra is a good choice to 
use, in briefly looking at larger archetypal patterning. 
Though Cleopatra's most prominent character traits resemble 
Isis and her positive mysteries, she also portrays negative 
traits, which appear in her as manipulation, overbearance



58

and domination. As well, her visionary nature, especially 
seen in Act V, and her inspirational and almost ecstatic 
sojourn into the unknown realm of death mark positive 
trans formative qualities of the Muse, Sophia and Mary type.^ 
Clearly, all archetypal patterns are at play in 
Shakespeare's Cleopatra, which brings to focus a whole 
picture of the person, which the character represents.

From a larger standpoint as well, other female dramatic 
characters are also easily identified by reason of the 
specific positive or negative archetypal personalities they 
possess. For example, Joan d'Arc, as portrayed by Anouihl 
in The Lark, or Shaw's Saint Joan, primarily embodies 
positive transformative mysteries characteristic of the 
virgin Muse, as seen in her visionary and ecstatic 
expression which are necessary when leading herself and 
others in triumph. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth (as well as 
the accompanying witches), embodies such negative mysteries 
as madness, ensnaring and death. Medea exhibits negative 
mysteries of death, dismemberment and extinction. Following 
the heroic archetypal pattern, most Shaw women, as well as 
certain Shakespearian female characters, such as viola, 
Imogen, Hermione and Miranda, are easily identifiable.

An interesting picture to see from this analysis is 
that most of the classic repetoire contains choice female 
roles which embody easily identifiable archetypes. Yuri 
Kopuilov, Russian artistic Director, comments that classic 



59

plays have a timeless quality about them, and therefore 
"touch the universal problems of mankind.
Classic roles easily identify archetypes because the plays 
in which they reside personify larger ’'universal” archetypal 
patterns in motion for society.

Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, with its larger 
worldly and universal patterns, is a good example of the 
classic repertoire finding relevant place in contemporary 
society: interpersonal relationships, societies and 
countries fall apart and reunite; affairs of state shift due 
to the instability of leaders; people manipulate their 
surrounding events to suit personal will. Shakespeare's 
dramatic depiction of Rome and Egypt is still as pertinent 
to our social consciousness as ever.

In his essay "Art and Time,” from Art and the Creative 
Unconscious, Neumann discusses the cultural archetypal canon 
which exists in collective consciousness, and the timeless 
function of theatre and art within that context:

. . .in all cultures the archetypes of the canon are 
the numinous points at which the collective 
unconscious extends into the living reality of the 
group. Whether this be a temple or a statue of the 
godhead, a mask or a fetish, a ritual or sacal 
music, it remains the function of art to represent 
the archetypal and to manifest it symbolically as a 
high point of existence.

The illustration contained in Appendix I, page 3 taken from 
Neumann's essay shows archetypal reference points, residing 
within the collective consciousness, to be power points for 
the release of creative energy within that society.



60

Artistic endeavors which bring to focus new archetypal 
patterns have powerful effect on the collective body when 
brought into the forefront of consciousness.

Shakespeare was one such artist who was able to release 
new archetypoal patterning within his society by 
transcending the pre-existing lines of social order 
surrounding him. His female dramatic characters referred to 
already, such as Hermione, Imogen, Catherine, Viola, and 
Cleopatra exhibit a universal heroic image of nobility, 
courage and strength, when the social subservient norm for 
women at that time was in question. These leading female 
characters face exile, unhappiness, uncertainty and death 
with consistent valor and heroic spirit.

Neumann says of great art and artists that they 
necessarily must stand in opposition to the pre-existing 
consciousness and sense of values of the artist's epoch. 
Speaking of the nature of the artists who give form to new 
archetypal patterns, Neumann says:

The creative artist, whose mission it is to 
compensate [stand in opposition to] for 
consciousness and the cultural canon, is usually an 
isolated individual, a hero who must destroy the old 
in order to make possible the dawn of the new.

When unconscious forces break through in the 
artist, when the archetypes striving to be born into 
the light of the world take form in him, he is as 
far from the men around him as he is close to their 
destiny. For he expresses and gives form to the 
future of his epoch.

Ultimately, the function of the artist is to transcend "the 
creative will of the unconscious," and attain a level of 
timelessness, "which is the inner life of the world



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Our society today finds itself in a rapidly shifting 
dynamic of archetypal patterning. with the rise of radio, 
television and film and the technology to spread news of the 
world instantaneously, our "world society" moves in a much 
quicker mode, wanting information at a rapid rate. The role 
of today's artist requires a much more consciously open and 
available state of mind than has been found in past 
societies, in order to fulfill the artist's task of creating 
new archetypal patterning. His world society is not the 
small town or hamlet of Shakespeare's time, but the entire 
globe.

Besides being open to sense larger emerging archetypal 
patternings, the artist also faces the challenge of 
transcending the notion of instant or rapid success, an idea 
that has proliferated with the rise of the entertainment 
industry. This phenomenon is recent; becoming an "overnight 
sensation" was not possible one hundred years ago. As well, 
I notice unfortunately, that television, news broadcasts, 
film and documentary series of today tend to produce more 
commercial forms of entertainment, focusing on the 
destructive, disintegrating aspects of the world instead of 
positive, integrating events (which are just as noteworthy) . 
Obviously, our world society is presently moving through a 
dynamic archetypal shift as archetypes disappear and re- 
emerge at a much more rapid rate (please refer to Appendix 
I). Artistic representations may focus around these shifts: 
the rise and fall of national leaderships; the dissolution 



62

of communistic rule and what has been termed "the Cold War;" 
and the end of the South African Appartheid dilemma and 
other social barriers, to name a few.

Thankfully (as Neumann suggests), the role of the 
artist within this culture has not changed. Eternally 
constant in his urge to create, the artist may continue to 
provide a positive, creative force within conscious and 
subconscious aspects of consciousness, creating artistic 
forms which clothe a more positive archetypal patterning. 
The positive feminine archetypal patterning which I have 
developed throughout this thesis contains far more 
significant potential for creative influence than we 
presently allot them. I wish to bring out this importance 
because this particular patterning contains creative 
essences with which all artists may work to bring about a 
regeneration of life for themselves and society.

In order to establish this positive archetypal 
patterning and its functional components more clearly, I 
have delineated some of the symbols and processes associated 
with each archetypal image. Below each image, I have 
written its associated step in the creative cycle of life 
(water, air, earth and fire) , which I find useful to 

remember:
Arch. Image
Birth:
(Water)

Life Quality
Source of life

Symbol and Process 
seed, first breath, 
new born, untouched, 
perfect, hatched, con­
ceived, released.



63

Rebirth
(Air)

Regeneration of 
life breathing mechanism: 

exhalation/inhalation, 
giving/receiving, yin/ 
yang, positive/negative 
action/reaction

Fruition
(Earth)

Formation of 
life development of form, 

cycles, seasons, whole­
ness, creative process: 
water, air, earth, fire

Immortality
(Fire)

Eternity of 
life absolute, alpha and 

omega, beginning and 
end, wedding ring, 
circle.

These images, symbols and processes may find 
contemporary usefulness within newly created artistic 
endeavors by reminding those who are touched by them of the 
creative process associated with them. Undoubtedly, our 
world society, which is facing some of its most pressing and 
sensitive issues, may find resolution to some of these 
problems with the positive influence that these images, 
symbols and processes may have. Perhaps there will be the 
creation of artistic forms which will utilize these traits 
to assist with the solution of such problems as world 
deforestation, pollution, AIDS, and overpopulation. As an 
example, I am currently writing a cycle of songs for choir 
and instrumentation, entitled Dawn Trilogy, which brings to

focus the beauty of a dawning new day and man 

responsibility in expressing that Other new works
• t wav be conceived and written of art, theatrical and musical, m y

• nrocess of resolving his manywhich will assist man in his p 
problems.



64

Recently, I note many theatrical events promoted within 
society which carry larger positive archetypal patterning. 
Emissary Foundatin International sponsored a theatrical 
event, "Return to the Sacred," a summer solstice event, at 
the Dolores Winningstad Theatre, in Portland, Oregon, on 
June 20, 1988. George Hanson's new musical piece, "Home 
Among the Stars" made its debut in Colorado on September, 
1987. As well, Portland State University sponsored a public 
symposium, The Theatre of Myth: The Neglected Drama of W.B. 
Yeats, in conjunction with Storefront Theatre's production 
of "The Cuchulain Cycle," April 10-15, 1989. One of the 
seminars in this symposium focused on the influence Joseph 
Campbell has had on society. Richard Heinberg, author of 
Memories and Visions of Paradise - Exploring the Universal 
Myth of a Lost Golden Age, presented two Portland, Oregon 
events, a workshop, and Public Lecture at the New Rose 
Theatre in May, 1989. He is now on a world tour, promoting 
his new book and Paradise seminar. The Association for 
Responsible Communication held an evening concert at the 
Sanders Theater, Harvard University in June, 1989, which was 
entitled "A Celebration of Integrity in the Performing 
Arts." Featured world artists included Doah, Michael Jones, 
Deborah Henson-Conant, Onye Onyemaechi and the Igbote Ethnic 
Ensemble from Nigeria, and the Irkutsk Chorale from Russia. 
And as a final reference, June 1 - 11, at the Main Theater 
in New York City, Adrienne Weiss and Michale Almareyda 
Presented their work, "The Myth Project: A Festival of



65

Competency," which was a new play, inspired by Joseph 
Campbell ’ s The Power of Myth.

These, and other recent theatrical events give evidence 
to suggest that a new archetypal patterning is occurring in 
our worl