“I was not I?”: Tracing the Representations of Cleopatra in English Drama, 1592–1611

Abstract

Representations of Cleopatra in art and literature have shifted enormously over the centuries. Her ethnicity and origins have varied as much as representations of her roles as mother, wife, and monarch. Some elements and themes have recurred frequently, while others evolved as the context, author, and times changed. Similarly, the famous Tudor monarchs Queen Mary I (1516–58) and her sister Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603), along with their cousin Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland (1542–87), have also been portrayed in a wide variety of ways—beginning during their lifetimes, and continuing in postmortem reinterpretations that suited contemporary cultural discourses on gender and power. These early modern queens regnant and Cleopatra are similar in regard to their multivalent representations, and in how they raised troubling questions about female monarchy, sexuality, and motherhood given that their mere presence as rulers in their own right destabilizes patriarchal authority.¹ While much research has been done on each queen individually, very little has compared them together, particularly within early modern English dramatic depictions of Cleopatra. An examination of the first two English closet dramas on Cleopatra by Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, and Samuel Daniel reveals that the Egyptian queen served as a critique for female rule, simultaneous to the public debate on gynecocracy outside England by men such as John Knox.²