William Shakespeare's Presentation of Domitius Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra

Throughout this Scene, Antony and Octavia do not talk about their private life and only discuss the public issues, even when they are alone together. This is shown by their persistent talk about duty and honor of Antony with his wife Octavia and the fact that it was not common for the husband and wife to talk about their public life, whereas Antony only discusses private life with Cleopatra. The fact that Octavia acts as the “reconciler” between Antony and Caesar also indulges her into their public life that further justifies the point that there is an inversion of private life with Octavia and that even in the only private scene of the play, they talk about public affairs. The inversion is further shown by, “O my good lord, / Believe not all, or, if you must believe, / Stomach not all.” From this line we see that Octavia cares about Antony, nonetheless the fact that she means the news, justifies the point that there is an inversion and that even when they are alone together, Octavia talks about the news and public affairs around them. Furthermore, the effect that Octavia says this privately to Antony, refers to the fact that their relationship is only based and was made due to public affairs, when Antony married Octavia to sign and agree to bond to Caesar closely, as they were against the same enemy, whereas with Cleopatra, Antony discusses private issues as he is in love with her. This is showcased by, “There’s beggary in the love that can be reckoned.” Shakespeare shows through these words Antony’s love to Cleopatra, that he does not want to measure the extent of love. The significance of putting this in the first scene of the play is to shows the strong love and bond between Antony and Cleopatra and that the play ends with them dying together, signifies that the whole play is actually revolving around their relationship and the relationship of Antony and

Cleopatra develops as a character during this sequence, becoming more sensible and less melodramatic in response to trivial problems. In Act III, Scene 7, Enobarbus tells Cleopatra not to be involved in the battle itself, saying that:

Marc Antony displays manipulative qualities early on in Shakespeare’s play of Julius Caesar. Before Caesar was brutally murdered, Antony was portrayed as a loyal friend that would treat Caesar with the utmost respect, but after Caesar’s death, his behavior quickly changes. The death of his closest friend brought anger and resentment to those responsible for Caesar’s death. In order to get his revenge and drive the common people into an act of rage against the conspirators, Antony had to ignore his promise to Brutus and expose the conspirators’ actions. Antony was able to convince the crowd of commoners that Brutus, Cassius, and all of the other conspirators are evil men who killed their beloved Caesar out of pure hate.

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.

Enobarbus realizes his betrayal through witnessing the loyalty and humility of Marc Antony. Despite his betrayal, Enobarbus is still Marc Antony's most loyal subject. Enobarbus stays by Marc Antony's side for the majority of the play, even when Marc Antony makes decisions Enobarbus himself did not agree with. Through these characters acts, Shakespeare expresses the direct relationship between self-interest and loyalty. As said by Paul Yachnin in his article "Shakespeare's Politics of Loyalty: Sovereignty and Subjectivity on Antony and Cleopatra," "under the pressure of misfortune, many followers fall away, revealing by their betrayals of their masters the fact that men often only pretend to be loyal." (5). Cleopatra and Enobarbus are only two of the characters who betray Marc Antony, however, they are the two character's whose betrayal Marc Antony is effected by most and cause some of the shifts in plot within the play.

She teases him, “if it be love indeed, tell me how much.” Antony replies “then most thou needs find out new heaven, new earth” in order to contain his love. This shows the extents of his love for her. Furthermore, Antony refers to them as “a mutual pair” and says, “We stand up peerless.” This is repetition, highlighting that it is all about him and Cleopatra being together. They stand together, however, in contrast they also fall together. By the end of the play, both Antony and Cleopatra have killed themselves; Antony falls upon his sword after hearing news of Cleopatra’s death. When Cleopatra, who in reality is alive, finds out about Antony’s death, she too kills

Though Cleopatra has captured his attention in Act 1, she has not yet captured the whole of his soul. There remains a part of him that values propriety, responsibility, and duty. Soon after his declaration of dismissal, he questions his loyalties and vows to face up to his responsibilities, thus distancing himself from Cleopatra. When he is called to duty, he makes the decision to leave her in order to tend to what is needed of him. Though Enobarbus insists that the news of his departure will devastate Cleopatra, “I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment”, Antony is resolute he “must from this enchanting queen break

Antony found it hard to leave this place. He took to wearing Greek clothes and spent his days with Cleopatra, feasting, hunting, and playing games. Sometimes, late at night, they would put on servant’s clothes and run about the streets knocking on people’s doors and windows and started laughing when the sleepy occupants cursed them.

The emotive language “brutish”, “mutiny”, “rage”, “corpse”, “daggers”, “stabbed”, and “traitors” helps manipulate the audience into an enraged fury. Through the use of enjambment and caesura he further emphasises these words and persuasively plants mutinous ideas to “fire the traitor's houses”. Dialogue such as “his eyes are red as fire with weeping” and personal tone “ he was my friend” contrast with Brutus's rational address, allowing Antony to engage his audience emotionally. He diminishes Brutus's perspective through sarcastic repetition of “yet Brutus is an honourable man” accentuating the lack of evidence provided by Brutus. In contrast, Antony gives specific examples of Caesar's humility; “when the poor have cried Caesar hath wept” causing the audience to identify with Caesar and call into question the logic of Brutus's motives. The audience acknowledges the controversy of Caesar's death has caused him to be misrepresented and that the actions of this “noble Roman” have not reflected those of an ambitious man but of a loyal man working for the good of Rome. Thus, through both Brutus's and Antony's speeches we have been presented with conflicting perspectives, through which Shakespeare has been able to reveal different insights into Caesar's personality.

O'er my spirit thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that thy beck might from the bidding of the gods, command me.” This quote shows that love and power are attractions of each other as Antony’s love for Cleopatra forces him to follow her. She is the commander of his actions, even in the political and military areas of his life, because of his overpowering love for her. Power in the play is apparently a political force, as the play turns around the competition between Antony and Caesar for dominance in Rome. But it has other faces too, most notably the effect of love. Antony refuses to be dominated by Caesar, but he willingly submits to Cleopatra. Power is thus a political and a personal force, one that impacts the desires of both individuals. Caesar states that between love and political power, there is a certain degree of interaction between both of the entities in life which I thus is a direct correlation. “I should have known no less. It hath been taught us from the primal state that he which is wish'd until he were; and the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love, comes dear'd by being lack'd.” What Caesar mean, is that people in power are never missed or appreciated until they are gone. People are ungrateful, or unable to see the good in front of them, especially when it comes to those who rule them. It’s easier to complain against those in power than to praise their good. Same applies to love, that at times we do not

Antony is a seasoned leader—a leader with charisma, experience and resolve—he enjoys the admiration of his soldiers and the Roman citizens, as we find out from the conversation between Lepidus and Caesar the other two leaders of Rome. They show the reader how Antony was before he met Cleopatra 'Thou didst drink the stale of horses and the gilded puddle' this suggests that Antony used to drink horses urine and filthy water to keep him going in his battle which shows his dedication to the country. However, as Caesar suggests that Antony has changed ' This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes the lamp of night in revel' which suggests that Antony is corrupt and he wastes his nights wheras he should be supporting his country and being more responsible. This might prepare the audience for tragedy as Antony's behaviour may cause conflict between Caesar and Antony as Caesar praises Antony for how he used to be and makes him angry seeing Antony being irresponsible now and as readers it makes us think that the attitude of Caesar towards Antony may cause conflict in the upcoming or rather there could be conflict between Antony and Caesar involving Cleopatra.

Antony’s character only makes a few brief appearances in this play. He was a high-ranked soldier in the Roman Army. The credibility and intelligence he has to gain power is very interesting. Looking back at how the citizens react, they actually attentively listen, to him shows how much they trust his word and opinion. “Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous/He is a noble Roman and well given.”(I.2.288)

In the playwright Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, Marc Antony appears to be a strong advocate for Julius Caesar’s triumphs for more power. However, like Caesar, Antony is extremely manipulative and powerful. After Caesar’s death, Antony persuaded the conspirators into trusting that he understood their intentions on executing Caesar and later asked if he could speak at Caesar’s funeral. While Brutus and the conspirators remained fooled by Antony’s innocence, Antony took the initiative to inform the citizens of Rome on the conspirator’s horrendous actions towards Julius Caesar, their beloved leader. Caesar’s funeral was a time of reflection on the citizens of Rome as Marc Antony questioned their allegiance to Brutus. Marc Antony’s power has always been a part

Love, as an enduring theme in Shakespeare’s work, is often represented in a particular way. Oppositions between passion and reason, romance and reflection, emotion and renitence all facilitate a necessary expressiveness. It tends to result in a carpe diem approach with a focus on intensity and openness, the representation of love and the way lovers interact in the plays is rarely blunt or stale. However, in Antony and Cleopatra a different kind of dynamic emerges. This new dynamic conveys a sense of maturity and could even be described as a lower-key love. The feelings expressed by Antony are without doubt those belonging to a man in love, however they never overwhelm, and this kind of love remains a part of a plurality of voices in the play. In order to achieve a deeper understanding of the subtleties that belong to this representation of romantic love and desire, it is important to analyse and look at the behaviour of the characters in the play; their action, language, and forms of response.

One of the many themes of the play Antony and Cleopatra is loyalty Antony loved Cleopatra so much and was so loyal to her that he gave up being part of the triumvirate to stay with her. He even betrayed Caesar by abandoning his sister and his wife. He even went to war with Caesar because of Cleopatra while she on the other hand was never loyal to Antony even though she claims to kill herself over him. Her constant willingness throughout the play to manipulate him is an indication of the fact that she’d betray him as soon as it was convenient for her, either politically or emotionally she wasn’t as loyal to him as much as he was loyal to her. Also another example of loyalty from the play is Enobarbus after Enobarbus deserts Antony he then ultimately regrets the decision so much that he dies of his sorrow he was very loyal to Antony but something went wrong that made him betray Antony but because of how loyal he was before to Antony he then died of his sorrow regretting not being loyal to Antony till the end. Another