Lil as Cleopatra

Understanding the reference to Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” in the first line of Eliot’s “A Game of Chess” establishes a specific frame of reference through which the reader should consider the woman throughout the rest of the poem.

The Cleopatra of Shakespeare’s play is vain and self-absorbed. She is called a lustful gypsy, a whore, an enchantress. She deserts her lover Antony twice in battle, the second time only to take the side of his opponent Octavius. Antony cries out: “This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me.” By noting the reference to Shakespeare, Eliot is able to conjure up all these characteristics and actions in just a single line. The reader is inclined to be skeptical of the woman or women of the poem from the get-go.

This throws new light on the final stanza about Lil and her husband returning from war. After a four year absence, Albert is coming home and will question his wife as to where the money he left her to get new teeth has gone. It is implied that Lil has spent it on “them pills [she] took, to bring it off,” or more bluntly, an abortion. If Albert has been away at war for the last four years the logical conclusion is that Lil had an affair – she betrayed her lover while he was in battle, just like Cleopatra.

From here, one can work back and see that the earlier stanzas can be read as an account of the adultery. Understanding the significance of the reference to "Antony and Cleopatra" allows the reader to draw the parallels between the events of the play and the events of the poem that Eliot intended.