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Honorable and Dishonorable Killing: The Gender of War in Caesar and Cleopatra

Honorable and Dishonorable Killing: The Gender of War in Caesar and Cleopatra Kill, kill, kill him. --Cleopatra, Act 4, Caesar and Cleopatra That game is played and lost, Cleopatra. The woman always gets the worst of it. --Rufio, Act 4, Caesar and Cleopatra One interpretation of Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra stresses Caesar's magnanimity and greatness and Cleopatra's inability to internalize his teachings.1 Gordon W. Couchman supports this interpretation when he states: ```The child whipped by her nurse' has grown up in a sense, though as a character she has not gained in depth to any appreciable degree. . . . At the opening of the play Cleopatra is afraid; at the end she has overcome fear sufficiently to talk up to Caesar. But all in all she is a poor second best to Caesar.''2 Charles A. Berst also supports it: ``As a kitten, or later as a cat in relation to Caesar's mystical sphinx, Cleopatra may seek to understand, but after she seems most to have attained perceptive queenship, she regresses, revealing how childish both her morality and her pragmatism are in comparison to Caesar's.''3 And, although Bernard F. Dukore praises Caesar as a teacher, he admits, ``For one respect . . . he fails.'' Even though Dukore shifts http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SHAW The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies Penn State University Press

Honorable and Dishonorable Killing: The Gender of War in Caesar and Cleopatra

Pasini, Joy A.
SHAW The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies , Volume 28 (1) – Dec 24, 2008
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Publisher
Penn State University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 The Pennsylvania State University
ISSN
1529-1480
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Abstract

Kill, kill, kill him. --Cleopatra, Act 4, Caesar and Cleopatra That game is played and lost, Cleopatra. The woman always gets the worst of it. --Rufio, Act 4, Caesar and Cleopatra One interpretation of Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra stresses Caesar's magnanimity and greatness and Cleopatra's inability to internalize his teachings.1 Gordon W. Couchman supports this interpretation when he states: ```The child whipped by her nurse' has grown up in a sense, though as a character she has not gained in depth to any appreciable degree. . . . At the opening of the play Cleopatra is afraid; at the end she has overcome fear sufficiently to talk up to Caesar. But all in all she is a poor second best to Caesar.''2 Charles A. Berst also supports it: ``As a kitten, or later as a cat in relation to Caesar's mystical sphinx, Cleopatra may seek to understand, but after she seems most to have attained perceptive queenship, she regresses, revealing how childish both her morality and her pragmatism are in comparison to Caesar's.''3 And, although Bernard F. Dukore praises Caesar as a teacher, he admits, ``For one respect . . . he fails.'' Even though Dukore shifts

Journal

SHAW The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies – Penn State University Press

Published: Dec 24, 2008

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