The Professional Pattern Identifier in my life, The Boyfriend, teased me the other day about a pattern in my reading habits. What? I asked, innocently. I’m not completely unaware of my tendencies; after all, I have a strict browsing order at Elliott Bay Books: Women’s Issues, History, Travel, New Fiction (and, if time allows, I look at journals and buy cute letter-pressed cards for my most recent friend who procreated). 

But this Pattern was even more specific: my favorite books are the ones that are written by women and have strong female protagonists. So you’re saying that if your all-time favorite book is Jane Eyre, and your favorite authors (you know, outside David Sedaris) include the likes of L.M. Montgomery, Jane Austen, Louise Erdrich, Isabel Allende, and Alice Munro, that there might be a pattern? Or if you knew that the Hunger Games trilogy wasn’t well-written but you just couldn’t put them down, that something might be up? Uh-huh. Some might simply argue that these writers and their respective works just happen to be awesome.

HOWEVER, this got me thinking about my reaction to Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra. I guess Prof. Brad Born did not include this in the Shakespeare syllabus, because my first introduction to the play was an outdoor performance a few weeks ago (beautiful weather, great acting by Green Stage Productions). You know what? I was a disappointed in Shakespeare’s Cleopatra.

I was enthralled by Cleopatra: A Life, written by Stacy Schiff, and it is undeniable that Schiff had more secondary sources than Shakespeare (probably more time, too), and that Cleopatra was one of WS’s wittier women and all, but she came off as a little vapid. Like she might be a writer at Cosmo or Vogue writing quizzes like Make a Scene and Make Him Yours or columns about Why Manipulation Is Good for Your Relationship!

What I wasn’t seeing reflected was the Cleopatra who was the only Ptolemy ruler who ventured to learn Egyptian, the language of the common people over whom she ruled. (It is supposed that she was fluent in 6 to 9 languages, including Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Troglodyte). Or the politician. The woman who was intelligent and stealthy enough to become one of the most powerful people in the world. Sigh. 

It’s the feminist AND the historian in me who’s disappointed! Wills, if only we could make some choice edits… Oh, right. Ok. I understand. I’ll go watch Pride and Prejudice and call it a night.