A Shakespearean gloss on the death of Deborah Jean Palfrey.
p>The night before Deborah Jean Palfrey took a length of nylon
rope and stepped into her mother's garden shed in a trailer park in
Florida to hang herself, I went to see a production of
Antony
and Cleopatra
at the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington. Among
that play's memorable lines, you will remember, are those of
Cleopatra's resolution on the death of Antony who, having been
defeated in battle by Octavius Caesar, falls on his own sword
rather than allow himself to fall into the hands of his enemy.
"We'll bury him," says Cleopatra to her maid-servants,
br>
/p>
blockquote>
em>and then, what's brave, what's noble,
br>
Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,
br>
And make death proud to take us.
/em>
/blockquote>
br>
The rest of the story is well known, and the magnificence of the
Shakespearean language continues with her to the end, through
br>
blockquote>
em>Show me, my women, like a queen; go fetch
James Bowman, our movie and culture critic, is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is the author of Honor: A History and Media Madness: The Corruption of Our Political Culture, both published by Encounter Books.