ABSTRACT
On the 20 of May, 1608, Edward Blount entered the plays, Antony and Cleopatra and Pericles, into the Stationers' Register. Antony and Cleopatra is the last of Shakespeare's great Tragedies, while Pericles is the first of Shakespeare's late Romances. The reasons for this change may have something to do with the authors of Pericles renewing their collaborative friendship. “Wilkins's” style is characterized by moralizing sententiousness. In contrast to Shakespeare, “Wilkins” liberally employs the word “sin” in Pericles. The only occasion when “sin” is used in Antony and Cleopatra, it is for Cleopatra to deny the sinfulness of her love of Antony. Antony's adulterous lust for Cleopatra is exemplified in his wish “that I were upon the hill of Basan to outroar the horned herd.” This comment is explicable if this expresses Shakespeare's desire for the dark lady Aemilia Bassano. This interpretation is supported by Aemilia's own intimate identification with the sinful Cleopatra in Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, and her confession of being this “weak lost sheep.”
