Essay Comparing Eliot’s Parody and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra

examine EliotsParody and Shakespe ares Antony and Cleopatra The first major difference amid Eliots Parody and Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra comes with the very(prenominal) first simile. In Shakespeares original the step on it in which Cleopatra sits is compared to a burnished throne eager on the water, whereas in Eliots parody it is unless a control that she fills like a throne, glowing on the marble. Eliots character comes across, on that pointfore, as far less ample and larger than life than Shakespeare portrays Cleopatra who seems very great, veritable(a) in comparison with her barge, which she fills as if it were a throne - her majesty makes the barge seem tiny in comparison Eliots character only makes a chair look like a chair. Again, with the water on which Cleopatras barge floats burning, and the marble on which the chair stands glowing, Shakespeares externalize if far greater than the one Eliot creates, being strange and somewhat mystical, as opposed to Elio ts chairs entirely possible glow. Cleopatra, in the same way, has pretty dimpled boys fanning her, like smiling cupids, whereas in the passage from The Wasteland, there are merely golden Cupidons, ob serve the scene, one peeping out at her, another hiding his eyes behind his wing - instead of serving an immediate, yet subtle purpose, as Cleopatras are, fanning her. Other images of Eliots, in contrast, are much larger than Shakespeare, but again succeed in do Eliots character look small and insignificant in comparison. Eliot describes the enormous amount of adornments around the room, including her vials of ivory and coloured glass, which contain many an(prenominal) perfumes, which are described as drowning the sense in odours and again it is the neglect of subtlety t... ...speare tends to prefer the use of metaphor to that of simile - whilst Homer oft used extended simile to illustrate his point, and often went off on very distinct tangents, Shakespeare tends to prefer the mo re modern construction of metaphor, earlier than having to protect himself as an author with words like like or as. Eliot may well have chosen this passage for its eccentricities, and it succeeds in creating a powerful and provoking parody, as well as being a very good contrast to other parts of The Wasteland, poetically, including the very next part, which is more modern, and simple. It is also interesting that Eliot chose to almost blend the Shakespeare in with other more ordinary bits of literature - the passage begins with only brush off changes to the words of Enobarbus speech, but soon becomes considerably different to the original Shakespeare.