The Metaphor of Perfume: The Body Politics in Antony and Cleopatra

Abstract

Abstract: Olfaction is one of the five basic human senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell) to understand and perceive the world. In the Western culture it contains specific cultural connotations. Perfume, in particular, evokes dreams, fantasies and desires. During the time of Shakespeare, perfume was not only a necessity in daily life, but also a crucial prop on stage. In his tragedy, Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare explores the body politics through the metaphor of Cleopatra’s “Invisible, strange perfume” and implies that Cleopatra’s female body feature of aromatic exotica is quite similar to that of Elizabeth I, thus revealing the important but complex cultural implications of perfume in the play.

Key words: perfume, body, gender, politics, Antony and Cleopatra

Hu Peng. The Metaphor of Perfume: The Body Politics in Antony and Cleopatra[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2019, 41(1): 74-85.

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