SUMMARY OF THE PLOT

Antony, Octavius Caesar, and Lepidus are a triumvirate ruling the Roman Empire; but Antony
prefers to spend his time at leisure in Egypt as a consort to Queen Cleopatra rather than in Rome.
News of his wife’s death and of a threatened revolt by young Pompey makes him return to Rome
which Cleopatra disapproves.

A meeting takes place between Caesar, Lepidus, and Antony, at which they acknowledge the
importance of maintaining their alliance. As a sign of good faith, Antony agrees to marry

Octavia, Caesar’s widowed sister. Cleopatra receives news of this arrangement with great anger,
to the discomfiture of the messenger who brings it.

The triumvirs and Pompey meet and agree a peace, which they celebrate with a drunken feast.
Following the successful campaign of Antony’s general Ventidius in Parthia, Antony and
Octavia leave Rome. However, it is not long before Antony receives news of Caesar’s increasing
disaffection, and of renewed wars by Pompey. He allows Octavia to return to Rome to attempt
reconciliation. But he then returns to Egypt, and to Cleopatra, which incenses Caesar further.

Lepidus meanwhile has been arrested for conspiracy, leaving the stage clear for a confrontation
between Caesar and Antony.

Antony ignores advice from his officer and friend Enobarbus not to meet the Romans at sea, and
is defeated near Actium, following the flight of Cleopatra and the Egyptian fleet. Caesar sends

Thidias to negotiate with Cleopatra, but Antony has him whipped and sent back to Rome.

Enobarbus then deserts Antony for Caesar, leaving his personal treasure behind; but when
Antony generously sends this after him, Enobarbus is consumed with grief, and dies.

Caesar and Antony continue their conflict. Antony has some success by land, but the Egyptian
fleet once again loses at sea, and he charges Cleopatra with betrayal. In an attempt to win back
his affection, she takes herself and her maids off to her burial monument, sending him word that
she is dead. Grief-stricken at the news, Antony asks his servant Eros to kill him, but Eros kills
himself rather than carry out the task.
Antony then attempts to kill himself, wounding himself grievously, only to hear that Cleopatra is
still alive. He is carried to her monument, where he dies in her arms.

Antony’s follower Decretas informs Caesar of his death, and Proculeius is sent to bring
Cleopatra to Rome. Cleopatra knows she will become a public spectacle there, and attempts to
kill herself, but is prevented. She has a meeting with Caesar, where she feigns total submission,
but her attempt to conceal some of her wealth is revealed by her treasurer Seleucus.
Arrangements to take her to Rome are made, but she manages to have a clownish rustic smuggle
in a basket of figs containing asps, and she and her maids all die from their bite.

The Shakespearian Plot

Shakespearean tragedies were also influenced by Greek tragedies. Some similarities can be noted
between Aristotle and Shakespearean tragedy. The plot of Shakespearean tragedies, just like that
of Aristotle, also presents a renowned or prosperous hero who experiences a reversal of fortune
due to a tragic flaw. In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents a tragic hero in the person of
Antony, who is a renowned person in the city of Rome. His extreme love for Cleopatra which
could be said to be his flaw leads to his death.

Shakespeare somehow disobeys the ‘Unities’ in his plot. The play is set in many cities such as
Alexandria, Rome, Athens which breaks the unity of place in a classical Greek tragedy. Also
Shakespeare includes a lot of extraneous scenes in the play which does not directly contributes to
the main plot. The scene where Antony marries Octavia among other scenes do not contribute to
the main plot which disobeys unity of action in Greek tragedies.

Character

A tragedy usually shows a character that is outstanding by his rank or/and inner abilities, falling
into misfortune as a result of fate, and because of an error or a weakness for which he is not
really responsible. First, we find characters that have high rank because they are outstanding
figures. In the end, even if it is hard to see a transcendence in action, the play shows a failure of
human freedom, a determinism in the character's fate that can be considered as the essence of
tragic.
The heroes of Antony and Cleopatra have high rank and ability because they are above the level
of common people. This is a general characteristic in tragedies. Tragic heroes are extraordinary
specimens of mankind. Very often the tragic hero is from royal blood. Antony, in Shakespeare's
play as well as in Roman history, is a military leader of incredible power, intelligence and
courage. Caesar himself shows his esteem for him when he reproaches him for his present moral
decay:

‘When thou once

Was beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st

Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow, whom thou fought'st against

(Though daintily brought up) with patience more

Than savages could suffer.

And all this

(It wounds thine honour that I speak it now)

Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek

So much as lank'd not’. (Act I, scene IV)

If Cleopatra does not have such a strong moral sense, she is remarkable for her royal rank - she is
the last queen of Egypt - her beauty, her intelligence and her audacity. Enobarbus quotes the
episode of her being brought to Antony in a carpet. Last but not least, her sense of honour and
dignity gives her a special nobleness that is typically tragic. Although she fears death - which is
why she flees from the sea battle - she'd rather kill herself than be exposed to Caesar's triumph.
Cleopatra, even if she shows weakness and unpleasant traits, stands apart from other women.
Even Octavia, who possesses all the typical Roman virtues, cannot compete with her. Barely
married to her, Antony comes back to the Egyptian queen. Cleopatra and Antony are a mythic
couple.
A tragic hero is usually outstanding, but not perfect. He/she is unwittingly guilty of some fault
that makes him somehow deserve the disaster that happens to him. This view was put forward by
the first theoretician of drama, Aristotle.

Aristotle, who is very far from asking us to create perfect heroes, on the contrary wants tragic
characters, the ones whose unhappiness is the theme of the tragedy, to be neither all good nor all
wicked. They must consequently have an imperfect goodness, that is a virtue that is capable of
weakness, and fall into distress because of some sin which would make people feel sorry for
them and not hate them.

This view is exemplified in the character of Antony. One cannot deny that his love for Cleopatra
is a weakness and even a fault. His passion makes him forget his duty, his honour as a soldier.
He leaves the battle against Caesar because of Cleopatra, and he is an unfaithful husband to
Fulvia and Octavia. On Cleopatra's advice he decides to fight at sea although his chances would
be much better on land. On the other hand, his passion is not voluntary. He tries to resist it - by
marrying Octavia, he tries to give politics a higher priority than love - but fails. As a result, the
reader cannot but feel compassion for him, even if he more or less 'deserved' his terrible end.
Cleopatra, even if many traits of hers are unpleasant (she mistreats the unfortunate messenger
who announces the marriage of Antony and Octavia, and she is particularly mean to her rival)
deserves our compassion too. Shakespeare creates in her a character that is much more likely to
awaken pity. She is truly in love with Antony. When he is away, she asks for mandragora, 'That
(she) might sleep out this great gap of time', while 'My Antony is away' (Act I, scene V). We do
not see any reason why she should feign in the presence of Charmian. This true passion makes us
sympathise with her.

Another characteristic feature of tragic heroes is that their personal fate is always linked to the
destiny of a community. Their unhappiness is not merely a domestic catastrophe, but concerns
many people. This is particularly clear when heroes have a political role, which is very often the
case, especially in Greek tragedies. In Antony and Cleopatra , this characteristic is particularly
obvious: nothing less than the future of the Roman Empire - that is to say, the whole world for
Romans of the time - is at stake. The rivalry between Caesar and Antony is a tragedy for Rome,
since it leads to civil war. Antony's death is of great consequence for the Roman Empire: 'The
death of Antony / Is not a single doom, in the name lay / A moiety of the world' (Act V, scene I)
says Caesar as he hears about his rival's suicide. The fall of Cleopatra is also the fall of Egypt,
which becomes eventually a part of the Roman Empire. By killing herself, Cleopatra does not
only save her honour and dignity, but also the dignity of her nation.

The fates of tragic heroes and heroines arouses compassion and terror, Antony's two great
passions: his ambition and his love for Cleopatra, are fundamentally impossible to reconcile.
From the first verse of the play, we see that Cleopatra is not accepted by Antony's soldiers. She
is shown as incompatible with his honour. Philo begins the play by complaining about the
general's moral decline:

‘His captain's heart,

Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst

The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper

And is become the bellows and the fan

To cool a gipsy's lust’. (Act I, scene I)

The contrast between the greatness of Antony and the unworthiness of his love is shortly stressed
again: Antony is 'The triple pillar of the world transform'd/ Into a strumpet's fool'. This passion is
shown as unworthy, and we see that it is dangerous since it causes Antony to make serious
strategic mistakes and lose a decisive battle against Caesar. It also makes him neglect his new
wife Octavia, which breaks the brief reconciliation between the two rivals. A solution to the
problem might be for Antony to give up Cleopatra, but to do so is not in his power and would not
make him happy: 'I'the East my pleasure lies' (Act II, scene III) he says soon after his wedding
with Octavia. The love between Antony and Cleopatra is tragic because there is no way it could
make them happy.

If the conflict in Antony himself cannot be resolved, the political conflict cannot but have a
bloody end. Antony, Caesar and Pompey are in a struggle for power and the party organised by
Pompey to seal reconciliation does not fool the spectator. After Pompey's death, the struggle
between Caesar and Mark Antony is inevitable. Two men of such outstanding capacity and
ambition cannot be satisfied with a half of the world each. Caesar sums up the situation after
Antony's death:
 ‘I must perforce

Have shown to thee such a declining day,

Or look on thine: we could not stall together

In the whole world’. (Act V, scene I)

Antony's death is fortunate for Caesar - from a strictly political point of view - but that does not
stop him from weeping for Antony, whom he esteemed and perhaps even loved: 'my brother, my
competitor' he says. The merciless conflict is tragic because no one is to blame for it. The two
characters try not to fight each other, but they cannot escape their own nature. Neither of them is
the 'good' or the 'bad' one.

Caesar cannot be held responsible for Cleopatra's death either. It is true that he, 'though he be
honourable' as Dolabella says (Act V, scene II) intends to lead the queen in triumph, which
would be a great humiliation for her. But he does not really have a choice: not using the Egyptian
queen to enhance his triumph would be a political mistake. In this situation, Caesar and
Cleopatra both do what they have to do in their respective situations. As a fallen queen,
Cleopatra does not have any other possibility than death.

If the conflict between the two leaders is inevitable, so is the decline of a country, and a
civilisation. The independence of Egypt is doomed from the beginning of the play. Cleopatra
tries to preserve it but she has no chance. The love between Antony and the queen of Egypt may
seem to offer some hope, but the submission of one nation to another is as inevitable as the
victory of one of the two competitors. When Antony leads the battle by sea, it is because of his
passion for Cleopatra; she makes him defend her country: 'I made these wars for Egypt', he says,
believing himself betrayed by the queen (Act IV, scene XIV). As soon as Antony has lost,
Cleopatra has no political power and has to submit herself to the master of Rome. The
ambassador explains to Caesar, even before Antony's death:

‘Cleopatra does confess thy greatness,

Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves

the circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs,

 Now hazarded to thy grace’. (Act III, scene XII)

The tragic in Antony and Cleopatra is partially that the situation is from the beginning a knot that
can only be undone by the death of some characters, and even of a country as an independent
nation. No compromise can be found that would satisfy everyone. But the main characteristic of
tragic remains the determinism that does not allow the heroes to be masters of their own lives.
We know from the beginning that the end has to be disastrous. The length of the play, the
numerous incidents in it (Antony's marriage with Octavia, the battle won by Caesar, Enobarbus's
suicide, the death of Pompey, the false announcement of Cleopatra's death) make it difficult to
see a logical chain of events in the play and therefore a determinism. We do not hear (as we do in
Classical tragedy) about gods pursuing vengeance against one of the protagonists, but
nevertheless we can see elements of a determinism that does not let the hero master his fate. The
first is the irresistible violence of passion that Antony cannot resist, and against which his free
will fails. Antony is perfectly aware that his passion for Cleopatra wrongs him: 'These strong
Egyptian fetters I must break,/ Or lose myself in dotage' (Act I, scene II). He tries to escape the
power she has on him, to use his freedom to be himself again. His marriage with Octavia shows
this: he is not compelled to marry her, but shows enthusiasm for the idea: 'I am not married,
Caesar: let me hear / Agrippa further speak' (Act II, scene II). This is an attempt to make use of
liberty that fails. According to Lepidus, Antony simply cannot change his nature:

‘His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,

More fiery by night's blackness ; hereditary

Rather than purchas'd : what he cannot change,

Than he chooses’. (Act I, scene IV)

Antony is not only the victim of his own nature: his will also fails against the power of
Cleopatra. This power is only human, but is no less mighty for that. It seems that Cleopatra is so
cunning and attractive that there was absolutely no possibility for Antony to resist her once she
had set her mind to seduce him.

Enobarbus says that Cleopatra is a woman a man cannot get tired of:

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

 Her infinite variety: other women cloy

The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry

Where most satisfies. For vilest things

Become themselves in her...

When Antony fails in his military duty by following Cleopatra, who flees the sea battle, he
confesses that he could not have acted differently. Cleopatra's power on him is so strong it was
impossible for him to resist it:

‘Egypt, thou knew'st too well

My heart was to thy rudder tied by th'strings,

And thou shouldst tow me after. O'er my spirit

Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that

Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods

Command me’. (Act III, scene XI)

As Oedipus, who commits the most terrible crimes (killing his father, marrying his mother)
without knowing it, and all typical tragic heroes, Antony is guilty, but not responsible.

Antony and Cleopatra also seem to have to submit to a force than makes Caesar inevitably
triumphant. Early in Act II, the winner of the struggle for Roman power is foretold, since we
hear the Soothsayer predicting to Antony that he has no chance to win against Caesar:

‘But near him, thy angel

Becomes afeard, as being o'erpower'd; therefore

Make space enough between you.

If thou dost play with him at any game,

Thou art sure to lose. And of that natural luck,

He beats thee 'gainst the odds’. (Act II, scene III)

Antony notices here that it is really about Caesar's luck, and not about any superiority in strategy
or intelligence: there is no way to defeat him. It is almost futile to fight.

However, it cannot be said that the characters have no freedom at all. In their defeat they can find
a new way of expressing their freedom and escaping the worst. When she finds out that Caesar
will inevitably lead her in triumph, Cleopatra manages to avoid this dishonour by killing herself.
For this, she has to defeat herself, to master her fear of death, although we saw her retreating
from battle.

Diction

Diction is the language used by characters in a play. In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare make
use of some figures of speech.

When Cleopatra tells Antony that his duties call him home, he metaphorically declares:

‘Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch

Of the ranged empire fall. Here is my space.

Kingdoms are clay. Our dungy earth alike

Feeds beast as man’.

This he means that he does not seem to care if Rome is broken down or is destroyed because he
has so much affection for Cleopatra that he does not care about Rome anymore.

Cleopatra also uses personifies Antony’s horse to let us know how she loves and adores Antony
as she says:

‘… or does he walk? or is he on his horse?

O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!’

She means that Antony is very special, and so for him to be on his horse makes the horse enjoy a
special privilege as she says the horse feels happy. She feels that the happiness she feels when
she is with Antony would be felt by the horse for carrying Antony.
Cleopatra also uses oxymoron when she orders her sleep potion as she says

‘… now I feed myself

With most delicious poison…’

Cleopatra uses this oxymoron because she feels that she will be okay for the taking the sleep
potion as it will help her sleep so she forgets about her Antony, but at the same time, it will
prevent her from thinking about him.

Spectacle

Spectacle is the scenic effects or the visual experiences in the play. In Antony and Cleopatra,
Shakespeare creates these visual images. An example is the scene where Cleopatra fakes her
death she does hide in a monument. It is this scene that makes Antony decide to kill himself. The
image this scene paints makes one believe that she is indeed dead. Again, the scene where
Antony kills himself, that which Cleopatra, and that which the soldiers die paints a picture which
have some kind of tragic effect on the audience.

Although Shakespeare does not include some features of classical Greek tragedy like ‘song’, and
also included some features which do not fall in the definition of tragedy by Aristotle, we can
still conclude that the tragic in this play is for the most part of a 'Classical' type, since several
features of it can be compared with classical Greek tragedy.