Enter Ftatateeta: name symbolism in Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra

Abstract

This study explores the symbolism behind the name Ftatateeta, one of the characters in Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1899). This character, one of Shaw's creations for the play, has a name that is both aurally salient and evocative of sartorial materials (i.e., tuftaffeta, taffeta). This symbolic name, in turn, goes hand in hand with the character's discourse and behaviour, as well as with her role as a stock character