Central Concerns In Antony And Cleopatra

“They mainly agreed with the idea that Cleopatra to take the blame for all the turmoil because she wasn’t Egyptian.” Nonetheless, Cleopatra wasn’t discouraged then, she didn’t get anything get in the way of keeping her throne. She killed her brother whom she was married to, and also ordered for her sister to be killed so she won’t block her way in fulfilling her years in power. “Cleopatra created alliance with Rome’s strong leaders by offering them financial support and resources.” Because Egypt was a rich country at that time, Rome started to depend on Egypt’s wealth.

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

Marc Antony, Brutus, and Cassius are all critical characters in William Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Due to their distinctive personalities and values, there is no trait that all of these characters share, although they do share some traits with one another. Firstly, Marc Antony and Cassius are manipulative in nature, while Brutus is not. Secondly, the root of Brutus and Cassius’ failure is their personality flaw, while Marc Antony proves strong in all the ways they prove weak. Lastly, Antony and Cassius, unlike Brutus, do not separate their private affairs from their public actions while acts only with honor and virtue and completely ignores his personal concerns.

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

Once again in Julius Caesar, we see the use of dramatic form to convey opposing perspectives on the assassination of Caesar. Conflict is a key factor in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and in any Shakespearean drama. Conflicting perspectives are used to build dramatic tension, in Julius Caesar, this is both within the group of conspirators and between them and those who oppose them. From the beginning Shakespeare encourages us to question the republican cause. In the opening scene of act one, Flavius and Marullus, who are the administrative officers display their disdain for the common people of Rome. Flavius refers to the common Romans as ‘idle creatures’ and Marullus, outraged by the plebs when they turn their backs on Pompey, calls them ‘You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!’ ‘O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, Knew you not Pompey?’ The use of insulting language, imperative, exclamation and rhetorical questioning make an important point regarding Caesar’s triumph over Pompey and the fickle nature of the plebians. They appear cruel and dictatorial, making it hard for the audience to

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

Wanting to avoid yet another Roman civil war, Octavian did not want to pit Romans against Romans, and so he instead chose to ignore Antony and focus Rome’s suspicion and hostility on Antony’s wife — Cleopatra — instead (Schiff). Two themes dominated the propaganda spread by Octavian. The first being that Cleopatra had used sex to ensnare Antony and lure him away from his wife (and Octavian’s sister), Octavia, causing him to become totally subservient to the Egyptian queen who was now forcing him to oppose Rome’s best interests by giving Cleopatra and her children Roman territories; and the second, and arguably worse, theme was that Cleopatra’s true goal was not to secure the welfare of Egypt, but the subjection of Rome to Egypt (Burstein

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is the story of the resulting conflicts from the assassination of perpetual dictator and Roman emperor, Julius Caesar. A great friend of Caesar, Mark Antony, comes to the senate to see the dead body of their dictator. He pretends to not be angry at those who took part in the assassination, and asks to speak at his funeral, a request which he is granted. However, after the men leave, he begins a soliloquy in which he suggests that Caesar's spirit will take revenge upon his murderers and invoke a war involving the entire country. Antony begins the revenge of his death by speaking at the funeral about the wrong done to Caesar, the man's generosity to the people, and how Brutus tried to persuade them 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:

The following study is based on the plays Antony and Cleopatra which is written by William Shakespeare and All for Love which is written by John Dryden. Both writers are the most prominent playwrights in the history of English literature. We can see that both writers through their respective works have focused on the relationship between two prominent characters of the ancient world- Marc Antony, who was a Roman ruler and Cleopatra- who was considered the most beautiful woman in the world and who was also the queen of Egypt.

The queen of Egypt Cleopatra, as represented in the Shakespearean tragedy, embodies a deceiving and controlling nature. This is the cause of conflicts between herself and Antony, concocted for selfish, personal gain. Cleopatra twists the mind of Antony, fabricating a lie to get his attention onto her. “-If you find him sad, - say I am dancing. If in mirth, report - That I am sudden sick.” (Cleopatra: 1, 3, 3-5). Shakespeare’s use of dialogue is there to express Cleopatra’s jealousy of his wife Fulvia and how she wishes for Antony to feel longing for her and regret that he went back to Rome leaving a ‘sick’ queen alone. She reiterates her feigning spell over Antony to distort his emotions. “-Mardian go tell him that I have slain myself. -Say that the last I spoke was “Antony”, piteously” (Cleopatra: 4, 13, 6-8). She fakes her death accomplishing her goal of Antony forgetting about his anger towards her and instead to feel endearing sadness. The Egyptian queen manipulates Antony to believe that her love for him is real, yet he is blind to her performance. Here she showcases the power she holds above Antony, unusual in both Shakespeare’s time and the

In the tragedy “Antony and Cleopatra”, Shakespeare presents our protagonist Mark Antony as a tragic hero. He does this by using a number of dramatically effective methods, including language, staging techniques and structure. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as a character of noble stature who has a tragic flaw (usually hubris which is over confidence/arrogance) and suffers a downfall that is partially their fault but also due to factors beyond their control. The downfall they suffer exceeds the “crime” but the tragic hero gains some sort of self-awareness.

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

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