In scene 5 of act 1, Shakespeare concludes the exposition of the play, showing Cleopatra in Egypt without Antony, allowing us to see a different side to her. As the scene begins we see Cleopatra asking for mandragora to drink so that she may ‘ sleep out this great gap of time’ while Antony is away .she is lonely and bored without him, craving oblivion which contrasts greatly with the sense of urgency to take action in Rome, in the previous scene. She then converses with mardian, her eunuch; of Antony that he too like her is would be occupied with thoughts of love if he was not ’unseminar’d’. when mardian mentions ‘what Venus did to mars’ , reminded of her own great love Cleopatra bursts into a speech filled with ecstasy and longing for Antony. …show more content…
Ti which alexas diplomatically answers saying he ‘ was nor sad nor merry’, Cleopatra is satisfied with such an answer, she sees this ‘well- divided disposition’ to be another example of Antony’s greatness, she also assumes that Antony is putting on an act hiding his real emotions from his soldiers and is only his true self when he is with her in Egypt ,this is a striking contrast to when in the first scene she accused him of bring loyal to his roman roots and said his love was an act. She resolves to send messages to Antony everyday and ask charmain if she did’ ever love Caesar so?’ .charmain’s reply is a praise of Caesar to tease Cleopatra, Cleopatra is furious at her reply threatening to ‘give thee bloody teeth’ if anyone ever spoke of Caesar and her ‘salad days’ in the same capacity as her present ‘man of men’ her ’brave Antony’. With this she leaves and the scene …show more content…
this scene ironically shows the two main characters under a illusion of security a well, too wrapped in their love to realize the gravity of the oncoming threats .Antony, despite being portrayed by Cleopatra as a ’demi-god’ on a mission to reclaim glory is actually a man in conflict who has lost what made him great according to his roman peers. Beneath Cleopatra's whims and her girlish melodramatics over her absent lover, there is a hint that the very strength of her feeling portends a deeper affection than her behavior would
Brutus first states, “[Would you rather Caesar] living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead to live a freemen” Then Antony came back with “You all did love him once, not without cause. What cause withholds you, then, to mourn for him?” After Brutus’ speech, Antony was able to evoke the feeling of the audience and bring them back, before his death and see what they had loved within Caesar before his death. All of his accomplishments were able to evoke the emotions they had before his death and then wanted to actually kill Brutus. In the next Scene, it mentioned a major consequence of the words that Antony had spoken. The famous poet Cinna was killed. However, he wasn’t even involved in the assassination of Caesar. That was how much emotion he was able to evoke in the people in Rome. Although ethos could establish the cold, hard truth, pathos can get under peoples skin and effect them and draw them into your cause. In which case it is Antony's'
It is very obvious when reading both passages that whilst Plutarch and Octavian had similar but also differing opinions about Mark Anthony and his relationship with Cleopatra, they are both guilty of putting their own negative spin on the situation. They both use different approaches to the subject but the end result is the same. Anthony is portrayed as a man who has lost his way and in doing so, has sunk to the lowest levels of society .The one thing they both agree on, is that Cleopatra had a very negative effect on Anthony
When Octavian stated “And yet, at first, I was so enthusiastic about him that I shared with him my command, married my sister to him, and have him legions,” he shows that he was the dominate male in his home and an authority figure in Rome during his speech to his troops (Document 2). He tells them of how men are superior to woman, but that Antony is allowing Cleopatra to take control of Rome and him. Antony has given her everything that the citizens of Rome have worked for and owned including land, riches, and even an island, all while he is still married to Octavian’s sister. Antony went as far as even “legitimizing the two children, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selena,” that he conceived with Cleopatra while still married (Document 1). Octavian tried to reason with Antony, showing that he still backed him but that he needed to come back to the Roman side because the Egyptian queen has brainwashed him, and turned him into a female servant. Once, Antony rejects the offer, Octavian condemned Antony and in return was condemned right back (Document 1). From that point, Octavian decided that he no longer has a choice, Rome needed to defend themselves from the Egyptian sorcerous, Cleopatra, and the bewitched Marc Antony. If they conquered them, then they would be free from all that has been done, but if they lose, then they have brought shame upon themselves (Document
Antony begins his speech with the dramatic statement, “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (JC.3.2.75). This quote establishes Antony’s purpose at the funeral: a friend of Caesar who arrives ready to mourn him. This provides irony due to the fact that Antony arrives at the pulpit to unequivocally praise Caesar in order to convince the crowd to believe him. As Antony reaches the end of the first part of his eulogy, he finishes with the statement, “My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar” (JC.3.2.107). This quote emphasizes how much Antony loved Caesar and the evident sadness he feels now that he lies dead, for after this statement, he pauses to cry. He does this to gain sympathy from the crowd; to see him saddened by his friend’s death sways the people of Rome against the conspirators, believing that they committed a heinous crime. Antony’s manipulation of the plebeians’ emotions using pathos proves effective as he unites them against the conspirators, causing them to flee from
In the provided extract Plutarch gives his depiction of Cleopatra and the leverage she has over Antony. Plutarch (1965) begins by stating, “He [Mark Antony] allowed the
The speech that Antony gave to the Romans was to convince them that the conspirators were the enemy not their friend by using imagery, tone, and rhetorical structure. Even though Antony uses them, was he really trying to convince the Romans for Caesar or was he just giving a report of what truly happened. When Antony says,”Oh, now you weep, and, I perceive, you feel The dint of pity.” it makes the reader wonder if Antony really cares for Caesar because he is basically says the Romans shed tears while he watches and feels pity towards them, not any sorrow for Caesar. Due to the quote above, the reader may wonder what is the true reason that Antony to give such a powerful speech.
Plutarch opines that Cleopatra’s ignominy of being Antony’s concubine is tolerable if, “[She] could see him and spend her life with him…. if he drove her away it would be the death of her”. Consequently, ‘melted and unmanned’ Antony returns to Alexandria fearing Cleopatra’s suicide. In doing so, Antony neglects his duties at Parthia, ‘[With] Cleopatra’s alarms, and arts upon the occasion.
Impressions of Egypt and Rome in First Two Scenes of Antony and Cleopatra In the first two scenes of Antony and Cleopatra, we are introduced to Egypt and Rome through the images and language used by the characters in the play. Although the contrast between the two countries is emphasised, we are also shown the way in which the two cultures are often merged by the presence of the Romans in the Egyptian environment. Egypt is predominantly presented to us as a liberal, hedonistic society, where precedence is given to banquets and pleasure-seeking, and it is full of female characteristics. On the other hand, Rome is an extremely masculine, military-based society.
Shakespeare’s Presentation of Rome and Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra As the title clearly suggests, Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is based around the extraordinary relationship among two distinctive individuals, one a Roman general and the other an Egyptian queen. Along with Caesar who is also a Roman general, these entities dominate the play’s tragic storyline progression. However whilst Antony and Cleopatra centres around a provocative love affair, Shakespeare makes it evident that there is a good deal larger tensions involved, a collision course between two worlds. Antony and Cleopatra details the conflict between Rome and Egypt, it demonstrates the differences between Eastern and Western
In ‘An Ancient Roman Perspective’, Gemma Wilson’s account for Rome’s feelings towards the Queen is one of great hostility. According to Wilson, “at best, the Romans viewed Cleopatra with suspicion. At worst, they hated her.” Cleopatra was of coarse despised for utilizing the two public figures of Rome’s world, Caesar initially and then Mark Antony. Peter Roberts describes how it was Octavian that initiated Rome’s hatred towards Rome, relying on ‘sexual slander’ to tarnish her reputation. Many Roman poets continued this tradition of condemnation such as Lucan in ‘Pharsalia’, referring to Cleopatra as “Egypt’s shame.” Horace continues to embellish this image; “the queen, with a contaminated gang of creatures’ in his Ode XXXVII, referring to
Though Cleopatra is guilty of being disloyal, she also falls victim to some acts of betrayal and loyalty throughout the play. Cleopatra in fact, feels as though Marc Antony in the beginning of the play- or at least feels has betrayed her as though Marc Antony will show minimal loyalty to her. Cleopatra expresses these feelings in a conversation with Marc Antony:
Such an assertion--that the danger of Cleopatra's sexuality lies in her Egyptian surroundings--requires further detail here. The Orient represented a strange, but terrifyingly fascinating world to the Elizabethans. While it was decidedly inferior and politically weak, the Orient also held a dangerous mystique. As Lucy Hughes-Hallett attests, poets, playwrights, historians and artists have found the idea of Cleopatra's foreignness, or otherness, a suitable method by which to explain away her dangerous sexuality. In other words, the fact that Cleopatra effectively seduced and influenced two powerful Roman men baffled Western thinkers who could only explain it by attributing it to her foreignness or "otherness." Not surprisingly, Shakespeare succumbs to a similar artistic temptation. In the first ten lines of the play, the surrender of Roman dignity to Egyptian passion is made clear. Philo regretfully tells Demetrius how
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.
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
The audience is privy to a private conversation in Caesar’s home between Caesar and Lepidus, who were the other two thirds of the “triple pillar of the world” – the triumvirate. The triumvirate were a powerful political and military force; they ruled the Roman Empire after the murder of Julius Caesar. During this conversation, they discuss Antony’s debauched life and his former greatness in Caesar’s home where Caesar feels free to express his opinions honestly and he declares that Antony is “a man who is abstract of all faults” and someone who would “give a kingdom for mirth.” This shows us how far he has fallen in Caesar’s eyes as his tone would be scathing and I imagine he would be pacing as he ranted about Antony