e, and refuses to be paraded in the streets of Rome as she states: “The quick comedians extemporally will stage us, and present our Alexandrian revels: Antony shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness I the posture of a whore” - Act V scene II. Her noble act highlights her everlasting need to lead a carnivalesque life as the thought of living in a world without excess is unbearable as she states: “Sir, I will eat no meat, I’ll not drink sir … I’ll not sleep either. This mortal house I’ll ruin” - Act V scene II. Also, the reality of being far from the arms her lover Antony proves to be intolerable to Cleopatra as she declares: “I have nothing of woman in me: now from head to foot I am marble-constant: now the fleeting moon. No planet is of mine” - Act V scene II. …show more content…
The mask is connected with the joy of change and reincarnation, with gay relativity and with the merry negation of uniformity and similarity; it rejects conformity to oneself.” p.63 Rabelais and his world – Bakhtin. Shakespeare hence relies on carnivalesque symbolism for clowns and fools who “mimicked serious rituals such as the tribute rendered to the victors at tournaments, the transfer of feudal rights and the initiation of a knight” – p.29 Rabelais and his world – Bakhtin. In this scene, Shakespeare replaces the priest who would commonly wash away the sins of the dead with a clown, who, ironically, celebrate these sins. This could be taken as an attack on Christianity and the notions of the father, the son and the holy spirit as the clown could highlight the tainted and even corrupt religious hierarchy as priests were perceived as those who can acquire immense and total power due to their spirituality, yet it is often overlooked that they are merely men who can be driven by their lusts and