Antony

Cleopatra

Charmain

Octavia

Enobarbus

Octavious

1.2 'ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA' IN THE CONTEXT OF THE

LATER PLAYS

The order in which Shakespeare wrote his plays is by no means

certain, but there is general agreement that Antony and Cleopatra
follows Macbeth, the last of the so-called 'four great tragedies' that
also include Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. These plays raise
profound questions about the purpose of human existence and the
nature of good and evil in an atmosphere of the greatest tragic
intensity. But Antony and Cleopatra seems to represent a lessening
of tragic intensity and a foreshadowing of the final plays - the
sequence of 'dramatic romances' that begins with Pericles and goes
on through Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. In
these plays humanity is given a second chance: love, forgiveness,
repentance and reconciliation make possible the triumph of life
over death.

Although death is not a necessary component of tragedy as an art

form, Shakespeare's tragic heroes all meet with death; but the
deaths of Antony and Cleopatra do not seem to be accompanied by
the same kind of metaphysical horror or bleakness or resignation
that we associate with those of the other tragic figures. Death
seems almost joyful in Antony and Cleopatra. It brings together
Antony's public and private selves and restores him to complete
humanity; and it justifies his faith in Cleopatra, whose death is so
splendid a ritual that it makes the life of the successful Caesars of
'our dungy earth' seem 'paltry' in comparison. There is a
transcendent quality to their deaths, in part owing to poetry of
uplifting grandeur. In the first scene, Cleopatra teases Antony with
the idea of setting a 'bourn' or boundary to their love, but his
magnificent reply is that their love cannot be contained by any
boundaries of this world. Only a 'new heaven, new earth' can do
that. Their deaths give them that boundless eternity of love and
simultaneously immortalize them among the greatest lovers of ali
time. To find that transcendent life, however, they first had to die.
As Cleopatra says, 'but woe, 'tis so!' In the final plays, that 'new
heaven, new earth' becomes a possibility, even if only temporarily,
in this life. For that reason, Antony and Cleopatra marks a
transition from Shakespeare's earlier tragedies to his later
romances.

2.1 SUMMARY OF THE PLAY

At the end of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar, and

Marcus lEmilius Lepidus assume the triple rule of the Roman
Empire after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Antony and
Cleopatra begins with Antony in Egypt, where he has fallen in love
with the queen, Cleopatra, and is neglecting his duties back in
Rome. His wife Fulvia has been waging war against Caesar as a
ruse to bring her husband home; Sextus Pompeius, the son of
Pompey the Great, is threatening Rome in Antony's absence; and
Antony's own soldiers are demoralized by what they consider their
general's 'dotage'. News of Fulvia's death is the spur that Antony
needs to prompt his return to Rome - a return that surprises both
Caesar and Pompey. To cement a new bond of friendship with his
younger rival, Antony agrees to marry Caesar's newly-widowed
sister Octavia. Now the Triumvirate can present a united front
against Pompey, with whom a treaty is signed.

A soothsayer convinces Antony that Caesar's 'fortunes shall rise

higher' than his own; and Antony's own thoughts turn back to the
East, where his 'pleasure lies'. Later, established in Athens with
Octavia, Antony hears that Caesar has renewed the war against
Pompey without informing him and, even worse, that he has
imprisoned Lepidus and sentenced him to death. Octavia leaves for
Rome to mediate with her brother; but, in the meantime, Antony
returns to Cleopatra, thereby giving Caesar the excuse that he has
needed all along to declare war against the one remaining triumvir
and to become sole emperor. Cleopatra insists on being an active
participant in the war and even encourages Antony to fight Caesar
at sea against the advice of his soldiers who know that he has the
advantage on land. During the ensuing battle, however, Cleopatra
flees from the scene and Antony suffers a humiliating loss by
immediately following after her. Caesar refuses Antony's terms for
peace but, instead, sends an ambassador, Thidias, to Cleopatra to
assure her of 'gentle' treatment if she banishes Antony from Egypt
or has him killed. Seeing Cleopatra offer Thidias her hand to be
kissed, Antony loses control of himself and orders Caesar's
ambassador to be whipped. Enobarbus, Antony's trusted adviser
and confidant, now joins others who have deserted Antony; later, he
regrets his decision and dies broken-hearted. In the meantime, war
breaks out again, and Antony has a short-lived victory fighting
Caesar's forces on land; but in a final battle - at sea again, only
because Caesar has dared him - Antony sees that all is lost when
his own fleet surrenders to Caesar; he is convinced that Cleopatra
has betrayed him. He is about to commit suicide when Cleopatra,
trying to appease him, has word sent to him that she is dead; he
now looks upon death as the means of restoring him to both honour
and Cleopatra.

Antony's servant Eros takes his own life rather than help his master
to commit suicide, and Antony's own attempt is a botched affair.
Cleopatra, fearing that Antony might take his life, now sends word
that she is indeed alive. Antony asks to be taken to her monument,
where she has hidden to be secure from Caesar, and there he dies
in her arms. Left alone, Cleopatra negotiates with Caesar and his
ambassadors; but she is merely buying time to outwit her
conqueror and thus deny him the glory of leading her in triumph in
Rome. As a tribute to Antony, she commits suicide 'after the high
Roman fashion'; and even Caesar is impressed by her last act of
courage, nobility, and devotion. He orders that the two 'famous'
lovers be buried in the same tomb.

3 THEMES