Shakespeare
Cambridge Student Guide
Antony and
Cleopatra
Rex Gibson
Series Editor: Rex Gibson
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 2004
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions
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take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2004
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Typeface 9.5/12pt Scala
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ISBN
0 521 53858 0 paperback
Cover image: © Getty Images/PhotoDisc
Contents
Introduction
Before the play begins
Commentary
Contexts
What did Shakespeare write?
What did Shakespeare read?
What was Shakespeare’s England like?
Queen Elizabeth I
King James I
King Christian IV
Rome and Egypt
Changing ideas of honour
Shakespeare’s own life
Language
Imagery
Antithesis
Repetition
Lists
Verse and prose
Critical approaches
Traditional criticism
Modern criticism
Political criticism
Feminist criticism
Performance criticism
Psychoanalytic criticism
Postmodern criticism
Organising your responses
Writing about an extract
Writing an essay
Writing about character
A note on examiners
Resources
Books
Films and audio books
Antony and Cleopatra on the Web
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Contents
3
Commentary
Act 1 Scene 1
Nay, but this dotage of our general’s
O’erflows the measure.
(lines 1–2)
The scene is set in Cleopatra’s palace in Alexandria, and Philo’s first
words condemn Antony’s infatuation with Cleopatra. Philo protests
that Antony, once the model for all noble warriors, has lost all military
qualities and has become merely ‘the bellows and the fan / To cool a
gipsy’s lust’. It is significant that here Shakespeare provides a stage
direction which is the visual equivalent of Philo’s words, having
Cleopatra enter ‘with eunuchs fanning her’. And the word ‘gipsy’
contemptuously reveals Rome’s attitude to Egypt and her queen.
Shakespeare uses the Roman Philo to open and close Scene 1 as a
choric commentator. He exposes the vast gap in values and behaviour
between Egypt and Rome. Philo invites Demetrius – and the audience
– to witness Antony’s degeneration from a triumvir (one of the three
political masters of the world) into the plaything of a whore:
Look where they come.
Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transformed
Into a strumpet’s fool. Behold and see.
(lines 10–13)
Every director considers carefully how to stage the audience’s first
sight of Antony and Cleopatra. Traditional productions often staged a
ceremonial entrance of much grandeur and dignity, but most modern
productions present the lovers playfully engaged with each other,
locked in embrace or tugging at each other’s clothing. In the 2002
Royal Shakespeare Company production, the lovers were already on
stage, with Cleopatra sensuously rubbing oil into Antony’s back. The
dramatic intention was to give a context to their first exchange in
which Cleopatra demands to know how much Antony loves her.
Antony dismisses as worthless the value of love that can be calculated,
and when Cleopatra claims she will set a limit (‘bourn’) on his love, he
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Commentary
responds in a style that will characterise the whole play, hyperbole
(obviously exaggerated language):
Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.
(line 17)
The lovers’ playful talk is interrupted by a messenger from Rome.
Antony, irritated, demands to hear the news in brief, but Cleopatra
mocks him, saying it is perhaps about his wife Fulvia’s anger, or a
peremptory command from young Caesar to conquer or liberate
another kingdom. She continues to taunt him, claiming he blushes at
the thought of being vassal (‘homager’) to Caesar or scolded by Fulvia.
Cleopatra’s teasing prompts Antony to another hyperbolic outburst:
Let Rome in Tiber melt and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall!
(lines 35–6)
In the same extravagant style, Antony declares he cares only to be with
Cleopatra, embracing or kissing her as he claims, ‘The nobleness of
life / Is to do thus’. As if issuing a public proclamation, he calls on the
world to recognise (‘weet’) that he and Cleopatra have no equals in
love: ‘We stand up peerless’. But Cleopatra continues to tease,
accusing him of outrageous lying, ‘Excellent falsehood!’, and
reminding him she is no fool like him. Antony protests he is ‘stirred’
(sexually excited) only by her, and proposes pleasure rather than
‘conference harsh’. Looking forward to ‘sport’, he refuses to hear any
message from Rome, praises Cleopatra, and declares that tonight they
will wander the streets, observing the people of Alexandria.
Shakespeare is using here a quotation from Plutarch (see page 71)
which claimed that Antony and Cleopatra would sometimes disguise
themselves as slaves to visit the city and watch and quarrel with its
citizens.
Antony dismisses the messenger and the stage empties, leaving
only Philo and Demetrius to comment with dismay on what they have
seen and heard. Both note how slightly Antony values Caesar and that
he no longer displays the greatness he once possessed. It confirms
what malicious gossips have been saying in Rome. Demetrius’
expression ‘approves the common liar’ (confirms what liars say is
true) expresses another characteristic which will recur throughout the
Act 1 Scene 1
7
play: paradox. Neither Philo nor Demetrius will appear in the play
again, but they have served their dramatic function to draw attention
to:
● the vast difference between Egypt and Rome;
● Antony’s change from noble soldier to infatuated lover;
● potential antagonism between Antony and Caesar.
Act 1 Scene 2
The first 70 lines of Scene 2 reveal the frivolous, pleasure-seeking,
sexually obsessed nature of Cleopatra’s court. Charmian and Iras,
ladies-in-waiting to the queen, joke together as their fortunes are told
by the Soothsayer. His formally spoken prophecies contain ominous
meanings, but the two women refuse to see any menace in his words.
Both women’s chatter is full of sexual innuendo: ‘figs’ were thought to
look like vaginas; ‘an oily palm’ was believed to signify sensuality; Iras’
claim that she would prefer an inch ‘Not in my husband’s nose’ is
obviously a phallic joke; and both women tease Alexas unmercifully
about his future as a cuckold (deceived husband). Their banter is
interrupted by Cleopatra, who is evidently concerned about a change
in Antony:
He was disposed to mirth, but on the sudden
A Roman thought hath struck him.
(lines 77–8)
Antony is seen approaching, but Cleopatra determines not to speak
with him, and the entire court exits with her, leaving only Antony and
the messenger on stage. It is an abrupt mood change, as the relaxed
atmosphere of Egypt gives way to Antony’s ‘Roman thought’:
reminders of duty, discipline and military affairs. The world of politics
is forcing itself into the scene, opposing the preoccupation with love
and idle pleasure the play has so far presented. Antony hears the news
that the armies of his wife and brother have fought against each other,
but then united to fight Octavius Caesar, who has defeated them and
driven them out of Italy. The messenger has even worse news, but is
afraid to tell it because it might cause him to be punished. Antony’s
order that he should report it reveals the stoical and fearless nature of
his character (and is in marked contrast with how Cleopatra will treat
a messenger who brings bad news in Act 2 Scene 5):
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Commentary
Things that are past are done, with me. ’Tis thus:
Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death,
I hear him as he flattered.
(lines 93–5)
The messenger reports that the victorious Parthians have occupied
Roman provinces from Syria to the shores of Asia (modern Turkey).
Antony knows that what the messenger is still afraid to report is that
such Roman defeats are due to his (Antony’s) neglect of his military
obligations. He also knows that everyone in Rome is blaming his
infatuation with Cleopatra for his dereliction of duty, and he demands
that the messenger scold him just as Fulvia would. But he dismisses
the messenger and, as he waits for further news, determines to
abandon his life of lust and ease with Cleopatra and return to his
political and military responsibilities as a Roman:
These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
Or lose myself in dotage.
(lines 112–13)
As he makes his resolve, yet another messenger brings news of
Fulvia’s death. Antony is moved to regret. Although he had often
wished his wife dead, he now wishes her alive again. The thought
prompts him again to reflect on his own state, and he feels the
‘present pleasure’ of Egypt losing its attraction. He resolves again to
leave Cleopatra, ‘I must from this enchanting queen break off’, and
tells Enobarbus his decision. Enobarbus makes a joke of it, saying
Cleopatra will react passionately to his departure. He puns on ‘dies’
and ‘dying’, which Shakespeare’s audiences knew could mean ‘reach
sexual orgasm’. Antony, seemingly preoccupied, merely responds,
‘She is cunning past man’s thought.’ His words prompt Enobarbus to
describe Cleopatra in what will be seen to be his typically sardonic
style, as he ridicules Cleopatra’s extreme feelings:
Alack, sir, no, her passions are made of nothing but the finest
part of pure love. We cannot call her winds and waters sighs
and tears; they are greater storms and tempests than almanacs
can report.
(lines 142–5)
Enobarbus similarly mocks Antony’s fervent wish, ‘Would I had never
seen her!’ On hearing of Fulvia’s death, Enobarbus offers consolation
Act 1 Scene 2
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