How Does Act 1 of Antony and Cleopatra Prepare the Reader for Tragedy?

After Brutus finishes his speech, Antony speaks about his opinion on the issue; unlike Brutus, Antony acts slyly and communicates a very manipulative tone to persuade the Romans to rebel. Because of Antony's use of parallelism, he creates vivid reasoning for his speech. He states, “ I come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.44). By using this device, he shows the people of Rome that he isn't praising Caesar, he is putting the leader to rest. This particular line creates a very manipulative tone, because his speech is all about what great this Caesar has done and how he wants to rebel against the conspirators. Further more, Antony uses a lot of irony to slyly get his point across. One example that he uses throughout the speech is “Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is a honorable man” (III.ii.44). Because of the repitition of this ironic statement, the meaning of it changes and intensifies. At first, his tone was sincere, but as the speech progresses, you can see his sarcastic tone increases. Antony does this because he has to use this device to surpass the regulations of Brutus, as well as make the romans listen. Lastly, he uses personification to give life and further meaning to a word. Early in the speech, Antony says, “The evil

　　By keeping his listeners thoroughly engaged, Antony is able to further develop on his purpose by utilizing diverse rhetorical devices. Near the beginning, he makes effective use of parallelism to list Caesar’s selfless deeds, like “when that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept”, which gives the effect that the list is so long that Antony cannot describe it in unique detail. Additionally, his parallel repetition of “Brutus says he was ambitious and Brutus is an honorable man” serves as sarcasm. By repeating each good action with these two lines, Antony is getting the audience to contrast Caesar’s endless good deeds with Brutus’s repetitive and conflicting argument. Further on in the speech, Antony uses proslepsis somewhat obviously to reveal Caesar’s will to the people. He tells them that he found “a parchment with the seal of Caesar...tis his will”, yet quickly stops himself from telling anymore. Therefore, the audience is intrigued by the will and its mention reengages any listeners who

Shakespeare’s complex play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar contains several tragic heroes; a tragic hero holds high political or social esteem yet possesses an obvious character flaw. This discernible hubris undoubtedly causes the character’s demise or a severe forfeiture, which forces the character to undergo an unfeigned moment of enlightenment and shear reconciliation. Brutus, one of these tragic heroes, is a devout friend of the great Julius Caesar, that is, until he makes many execrable decisions he will soon regret; he becomes involved in a plot to kill the omniscient ruler of Rome during 44 B.C. After committing the crime, Mark Antony, an avid, passionate follower of Caesar, is left alive under Brutus’s orders to take his revenge on

The tragedy of Julius Caesar is a story of struggle and betrayal; however, in it, Shakespeare conveys messages about human nature. Three of the main characters in the play convey the ways that power corrupts and changes people. Brutus’ attitude towards killing Caesar and rising to power, along with his personality, change throughout the first three acts. Cassius’ need for power makes him lose himself and his humanity. Mark Antony, changed by Caesar's death, rises to power after taking it away from those that killed him. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, he conveys notions regarding human nature and the ways that power changes and corrupts people; he does this through his characters Brutus, Cassius, and Antony.

Caesar respected Antony, and his way of life. He defended him when he said, "See! Antony, that revels (makes merry) long a-nights, is notwithstanding (however) up. Good morrow, Antony" (2.4.116-117).

There have been many rulers in history who have been betrayed by those they trust, but The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare,1959) still holds a special place in Western literature as one of the most enigmatic human beings to ever exist. Powerful men like Julius Caesar shaped the life and times of the late Roman Republic, just before Rome would officially become the Roman Empire on the crowning of Augustus as the first Roman emperor. Julius Caesar was a powerful general who expanded Rome's power and who was beloved by the people for his generous charity after his successful conquests. Despite knowing the story of Julius Caesar to some extent, most 16th/17th century English would not have ever visited Rome, nor would know what the Roman Republic was like, which presented a unique opportunity to William Shakespeare to create a play unlike any other he had created before. (Shakespeare Julius Caesar, 1599) Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a reimagining of Rome from a Elizabethan point of view, and despite some inaccuracies, the play depicts an enlightening view on Roman life, and the life of the Roman general, Julius Caesar.

Historically, the action of Antony and Cleopatra takes place over a ten-year span, whereas in the play the story is compressed to fit the needs of the stage. Antony is clearly much older than he was in Julius Caesar, and his political instincts

One must engage in very close reading of the text to determine the cause and the signs of change. Issues for discussion include whether Antony is carried away by personal power, whether he is driven by desire for vengeance to assuage his personal grief, and whether these things constitute a desire to act for his friend or for himself. Antony's final speech is essentially a repeat of Brutus' rhetoric following Caesar's murder, and Antony's transformation is complete.

Deliberately falsifying information for personal gain causing an ensuing conflict is a motif clearly contrived within William Shakespeare’s tragedy Antony and Cleopatra. Deception is represented within the protagonist, the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, a tempting seductress who has a false relationship with Antony only for personal motives. Within the play Cleopatra fabricates illnesses, deceives Antony’s love through her betrayal at sea and likens Caesar to a god, Antony’s enemy, all to achieve attention and advance politically. Created in 1606 during the Elizabethan era the characters within the play are based on an imaginary and partially real concept of historical characters. Shakespeare showcases Cleopatra as a woman unlike many of the time, holding power over man. In the visual representation a mask, ships on a stormy sea and a serpent are used to represent the act of deception. Antony’s fatal attraction to the queen, and Cleopatra’s hidden desires bind the two together to create a falsified love on public display that is fueled by deception.

Antony and Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare’s more glamourous plays that details a forbidden romance in an incredibly passionate and often aloof way. While reading the play it is difficult to find empathy in my heart for Antony and Cleopatra’s demise. The way I read the play made me feel second hand embarrassment for the way they handled their relationship and Antony was all the more worse with his continued infidelity and immature actions. However, watching the play in the intimate setting of the Round at the Folger Theater allowed the audience to have a more intimate connection with the actors and better identify with the characters’ actions. The director took care to light the mood of certain scenes accurately which effectively warmed and cooled the audience down in a way the director wanted the audience to feel. The director also made several casting decisions that really pushed the interpretation of the play he wanted to exhibit. The technical production of the performance including lighting and sound paired with the casting decisions made by the director help display the director’s angle of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays: to bridge the gap between Egypt and Rome, where the audience is able to gain an understanding of the characters is ways they have never been able to before because of the way their emotions and actions change on a whim. It is difficult to really “get” Antony and Cleopatra and follow their story because of the way it bounces around so

On a slightly different note, Antony later expresses an opinion that causes the reader to question the validity of his earlier statements. “This is a slight unmeritable man, / meant to be sent on errands” (JC 4.1.13-14). While speaking directly to Lepidus, Antony seems to be remotely kind and friendly. However, once Lepidus leaves the room to complete Antony’s requests, Antony complains about him endlessly to Octavius... If he is capable of being that secretive of his true opinions about Lepidus, who is to say that he is not doing something of a similar manner whilst speaking of Julius Caesar? How can he be sure that his cover, word and plot manipulation, will keep everybody happy forever? There seems to be no one-hundred percent certainty that Mark Antony is truly a whole, good, and honest man.

Antony and Cleopatra share a passionate love story, mixing business with pleasure. This results in an inner conflict developing within Antony between what he perceives to be his two identities: the lover and the general. Throughout the play, the lover is associated with death, whilst the general is associated with Antony’s sword and armor. Though he believes the two parts of him to be separate, the text indicates that Antony is both lover and general at the same time through all of it. The difference in the two identities lies in the accountability. As a general, Antony is accountable to everyone and no one. His actions do not fall onto Caesar, thus he is accountable to no one, but his soldiers rely on him to lead them to battle and victory;

Tragedy is one of the most common topics throughout literature. This theme can be found in many works of literature spanning from Biblical archives to more recent works in Blockbuster movies, and is commonly found in almost all societies today. The theme of tragedy is so universal that it is found in many of Shakespeare’s plays and poems (e.g. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and plenty of other works). In specific, tragedy is found in one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays named King Lear. King Lear was a tragedy that focused a lot on betrayal, however the play has plenty more important elements that define the play. There of the most noteworthy aspects that make up the play King Lear are: 1. The influence of many deaths in William

By the end of Act I Scene I, the audience sees two Roman soldiers, speaking with disappointment of their once great general, Mark Antony, who has turned into a ‘strumpet’s fool’. Apparently enough, Antony’s disregard towards the messengers from Rome, which prompts Demetrius to say ‘Is Caesar with Antonius prized so slight?’ is an indication to the possible collapse of the triumvirate. Philo’s comment, ‘sometimes when he is not Antony he comes too short of that great property which still should go with Antony’ displays clearly Antony’s failure in his duty as one of the three emperors. The servants, on the contrary recognize Lepidus’s failure in playing his role as a peace maker among the members of the triumvirate. He is compared to ‘a reed’ and does not live up his position and compares his effectiveness to ‘the holes where eyes should be’.