4 h 7 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the strongest ruler in the room prefers mercy—and the young queen mistakes power for punishment?
In Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra, a strange meeting beside the Sphinx brings together a frightened young queen and a calm Roman general. Julius Caesar arrives in Egypt amid a quarrel over the crown. Cleopatra wants to rule, but she must learn that being obeyed is not the same as knowing how to lead.
In Alexandria, the court schemes while Caesar seeks peace and a safe return to Rome. Cleopatra’s brother Ptolemy rivals her for power, and the adviser Pothinus guards his own influence. Shaw turns this struggle into sharp comedy, asking what makes a leader great when force, pride and the desire to punish seem easier than mercy.
What you’ll discover
- A meeting by the Sphinx Enter a desert night where Cleopatra mistakes Caesar for an oddly mannered stranger.
- Caesar off his pedestal Meet a tired, funny, clever man whose kindness has practical purpose.
- A queen learning power Watch Cleopatra confront the difference between demanding obedience and learning to rule.
- Mercy with a purpose Explore Caesar’s belief that mercy makes good sense as well as decent conduct.
- Comedy with sharp teeth Enjoy Shaw’s teasing attack on national habits, especially through the solemn, rule-loving Britannus.
Is it for you?
This play suits you if you like witty talk, history told with a grin, or stories about how leaders learn and teach. It is also good for anyone curious about Shaw. If you want romance or battle scenes played straight, you may find it less suited.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A god opens the show, then a desert
- Caesar meets a girl who fears him
- Rome comes to a court full of schemers
- Pompey's death and the lesson of mercy
- Cleopatra learns what a queen must be
- What the play says about power and how it is told
Who’s who
- Julius CaesarThe Roman general, nearly fifty, calm and witty, who wants peace and a safe return to Rome and believes in mercy as good sense.
- CleopatraA sixteen year old queen of Egypt, vain, quick and frightened, who wants to rule and must learn what ruling needs.
- RufioCaesar's blunt, loyal officer, a plain soldier who says what he thinks and watches over his general.
- BritannusCaesar's solemn Briton secretary, devoted to rules and sure that the customs of his own land are laws of nature.
- PtolemyThe boy king of Egypt, Cleopatra's brother and rival, who repeats what his advisers tell him.
- PothinusThe Egyptian treasurer and chief adviser, a scheming courtier who wants to keep power in his own hands.
- FtatateetaCleopatra's fierce old nurse, who feeds the girl's pride and believes a queen's power is the power to punish.
- ApollodorusA devoted Sicilian friend of Cleopatra, an art lover and showman who helps her make a daring entrance.
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Cesare e Cleopatra
by Bernard Shaw· 1901
Caesar teaches a young Cleopatra the uses of power.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A god opens the show, then a desert
The play begins with a prologue spoken by Ra, the Egyptian sun god. He talks to the audience in a teasing way, reminding them that Rome and Egypt are very old and that people in the story will behave much as people do now. It sets the tone at once. Shaw wants us to treat the ancient world as a place full of real, ordinary, quarrelsome humans.
Then the scene moves to the Syrian desert, near the great Sphinx, on a night in Egypt. Rome has a strong hold on the region, and Pompey, Caesar's rival, has been beaten and has fled. Caesar has followed him to Egypt. Egypt itself is split, because the young boy king Ptolemy and his young half sister Cleopatra are rivals for power, and each has advisers pulling the strings.
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The author
Bernard Shaw
1856–1950 · Irish playwright and critic
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was an Irish playwright and critic. Born in Dublin, he moved to London in 1876 and later lived in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, where he died. His plays include Arms and the Man (1894), Man and Superman (1903), Major Barbara (1905), and Pygmalion (1912).
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What is Caesar and Cleopatra about?
It follows Julius Caesar in Alexandria, where he gets caught up in a quarrel over the Egyptian throne. He meets the young Cleopatra and helps her grow from a frightened girl into a queen, in a comic play about power.
Is Caesar and Cleopatra a true story?
It is built on real history. Caesar did go to Egypt and meet Cleopatra, but Shaw changes and invents much for comedy and argument. He wrote it in 1898 and printed it in 1901, so it is a fiction on a historical frame.
Who is Britannus in Caesar and Cleopatra?
Britannus is Caesar's secretary, a serious Briton who follows rules and thinks British customs are the way the world should be. Shaw uses him as a comic figure to tease narrow national pride.
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