Internal Conflict In Shakespeare's Antony And Cleopatra

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

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

(1.3.2) 'See where he is, who's with him, what he does: I did not send

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

Julius Caesar’s, one of the main leaders of Ancient Rome, reign was short lived because some of his fellow leaders, including his best friend, Brutus, murdered him. Mark Antony, a Roman politician, general, and ally of this leader, gives a speech at his funeral in William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar. Antony’s purpose is to convince the people of Rome that Brutus and his men wrongfully murdered Caesar. He adopts a sarcastic and snarky tone in order to convince the public that Brutus and his “honorable men” are not the noble, just people that they call themselves. Mark Antony delivers a speech at Julius Caesar’s funeral to persuade his audience that Brutus and his men unjustifiably murdered Caesar.

Antony is also a good friend of Caesar, but unlike Brutus, is not a conspirator and cares for Caesar more than Brutus. When he gives his speech, he is trying to provoke hatred and fury from the audience to get supporters to hunt down and kill the conspirators. His speech is also brimming with fallacies and literary devices, but he uses facts to persuade the audience that Caesar was the ruler they all loved and when he was killed they did not do anything for him. Antony’s speech persuades the fickle crowd to switch sides again and support Antony. He expects this reaction too because he is prepared to take action immediately. He also feels that he will avenge Caesar and that he has done

Additionally, Shakespeare depicts Marc Antony as an overall loyal and devoted person that is always there for Caesar when needed. He is often displayed as a “suck-up” that has no backbone- someone who simply cannot stand on their own and even express their own thoughts all because of their loyalty to another. This is accurate when Antony himself says to Caesar, “When Caesar says “Do this,” it is perform’d,” ( JC 1.2.13). Antony’s full approach toward can be mostly summed up by just that one statement. By expressing this to Caesar, it is evident to readers that Antony has strong devotion toward Caesar. On the contrary, it is also evident that Antony is just as loyal to himself as he is to Caesar. If Antony has really only ever been loyal to Caesar,

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

During the speech Antony begins to humanize Caesar by using examples of what Caesar had done for Rome and explains “when the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (Shakespeare 750). Although Caesar was seen as a king Antony humanizes him by showing he was sympathetic towards the people of Rome. Throughout the play Antony shows his loyalty to Caesar and his sympathy towards him as his “heart is in the coffin with Caesar”(Shakespeare 750). Antony’s is distraught about Caesar’s death showing how he cared for Caesar and shows his loyalty to Caesar by having his spirits die when Caesar died. Anthony's concrete evidence and loyalty to Caesar is what persuades the crowd to turn in favor of Caesar and initially sets up the conflict in Rome as his loyalty to Caesar makes his quest for

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.

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.

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

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

In one instance, he is the rancorous war hero whom Caesar eulogizes and fears. Almost immediately after that, he surrenders his military designation by foolishly allowing Cleopatra to establish his course of action. As his Roman friends, even the faithful Enobarbus desert him, Antony feels that he has, without a doubt, lost himself in old age, and he resolves to salvage his dignified individuality by killing his self. Originally, this act may emerge to be a victory of motive over fervour, of Western consciousness over Eastern ones, but the play is not as straightforward as that.