Antony and Cleopatra:

The Beginning and

The End – Act 5
By: Terika Waldron
01 Summary of
Act 03 Themes

02 Dramaterguy 04 Intertextuality
 Summary of Act V, Scene 1
 Caesar orders Dolabella to deliver to Antony a command for his surrender. After Dolabella leaves,
Decretas, one of Antony’s men, enters carrying Antony’s sword. When Caesar asks why the man
would dare appear before him in such a way, Decretas explains that he was a loyal follower of
Antony’s and now wishes to serve Caesar as faithfully.

 Caesar questions the meaning of this reversal, and Decretas explains that his master is dead, taken
from this world by the same noble hands that committed the brave deeds for which Antony is so
renowned. Caesar remarks that the passing of such a great man ought to be marked by great tumult
and mourning—after all, the death of Antony, as one of the two triumvirs, “is not a single doom”
but the end of one-half of the world (V.i.18). Agrippa notes the irony of their mourning Antony’s
death after having fought him so fiercely. Caesar and his men agree that Antony was a great man,
and Caesar declares it proper to mourn him.

 A messenger arrives from Cleopatra to ask what Caesar intends for the queen. Caesar promises to
be honorable and kind to her, and dispatches Cleopatra’s messenger with assurances, bidding her
to be of good heart. Although Caesar tells Cleopatra that he intends to cause her no shame, he
plans to force her to live in Rome, where she will be his eternal triumph. Toward this end, he
orders some of his men, led by Proculeius, to prevent Cleopatra from committing suicide and thus
robbing him of renown.
 Summary of Act V, Scene 2.
 Proculeius arrives at the queen’s monument and asks Cleopatra’s terms for giving herself up to
Caesar. Cleopatra remembers that Antony told her to trust Proculeius and tells the Roman she
hopes the emperor will allow her son to rule Egypt. Proculeius assures her that Caesar will be
generous and says that Caesar will soon repay her supplication with kindness. Meanwhile, his
soldiers, having slipped into the monument, move to seize Cleopatra. The queen draws a dagger,
hoping to kill herself before being taken captive, but Proculeius disarms her. He orders the soldiers
to guard the queen until Caesar arrives, and Cleopatra cries that she will never allow herself to be
carried through Rome as a trophy of the empire’s triumph.

 Dolabella arrives and takes over for Proculeius. The queen converses with him, discussing her
dreams (in which she sees a heroic vision of Antony), and then persuades Dolabella to admit that
Caesar plans to display her as a prisoner of war. Caesar arrives and promises to spare Cleopatra’s
children and treat her well if she does not kill herself. She gives him a scroll that hands over all her
treasure to him—or so she says. When Cleopatra asks her treasurer, Seleucus, to confirm that she
has given Caesar everything, Seleucus contradicts her.
 Summary of Act V, Scene 2
 Cleopatra rails against the treachery of her servant, but Caesar comforts her. He assures her that he
does not desire her wealth, since he is far greater than a mere merchant. When Caesar leaves,
Cleopatra admits to her maids that she doubts his intentions, remarking to her companions that he
is charming her with words, and Iras and Charmian encourage her to follow her plan toward death.

 Confirming Cleopatra’s doubts, Dolabella admits that Caesar means to convey the queen to Rome
and encourages the queen to respond to this news as she sees fit. Rather than succumb to the
infamy of being a spectacle for the entertainment of filthy Roman crowds, Cleopatra resolves to
kill herself. She would rather die than see herself imitated by a boy actor, who would portray her
as a common whore. She orders Charmian and Iras to dress her in her most queenly robes.

 When they have done so, she admits into her presence a clown, who brings her a basket of figs
that contains asps—poisonous snakes.
1. Dressed in her finest royal garments, Cleopatra kisses her maids goodbye. Iras falls dead, and
Cleopatra takes a snake from the basket and presses it to her breast. She applies another asp to her
arm, and dies. As the guards rush in to discover the dead queen, Charmian presses the snake to
herself and joins her mistress in death. Dolabella enters, followed by Caesar. They realize the
manner of the suicide, and Caesar orders Cleopatra to be buried next to Antony in a public funeral.
Dramaturgy Elements:
 Plot Analysis. Act V Scene 1
 This is the first time Caesar's shell of icy rectitude seems to crack. Caesar's words serve as a reminder of how great
Antony once was.

 He is already a diminished figure by the time the play begins, so the emotions aroused by his death lie mostly in the
suggestion that a broken man is finally going to rest.

 By the time Antony dies, it is hard to remember he was "one of the triple pillars of Rome," especially since, in the
play, he spent little time governing or in Rome. But for Caesar, another of the triple pillars, Antony's passing is a
striking blow not only to himself but to the entire world order.

 An indication of Caesar's rattled state at hearing of Antony's death is his having forgotten he sent Dolabella to speak
to Antony before he heard about it. When his staff calls for the lieutenant, Caesar suddenly remembers where
Dolabella is.

 Antony's death marks the first time Caesar shows even the slightest doubt he acted correctly. Until now he has been
certain he was right. Now he suddenly seems to need to prove it.

 Caesar can think only of showing his followers the letters Antony has sent and trying to justify himself: "You shall
see / How hardly I was drawn into this war, / How calm and gentle I proceeded still / In all my writings.“
 Plot Analysis- Act V Scene 1
 Furthermore, no one in this play is all good or all bad. As Caesar reels from the news about
Antony, when he is sudden Inside the monument, vulnerability makes him seem more likable.

 At the same time, however, he does not waver from his plan to exhibit the captured Cleopatra in
public.

 In addressing the Egyptian man, Caesar reveals nothing but tender concern for the Queen's
welfare.

 He may fool the Egyptian; he may even fool the audience. But he still wants his allies and
enemies to fear him.
 Cleopatra Analysis Act V Scene
II
 The final scene of the play brings the characterization of Cleopatra to its highest point of
eloquence and imagery.

 . At the beginning of the play she entered on the arm of Antony as they spoke of their love and
passion in terms special to them.

 Now at the end she must find a way to fulfill her own vision of unity and devotion to him while
still controlling her destiny and the image others have of her.

 Throughout the play Cleopatra has demonstrated contradictory qualities and impulses. She is
unpredictable and fluid, loyal and treacherous; she has shown great heights and depths of passion
and scorn, rarely the same woman from one minute to the next. And her greatness manifests in her
last act: she will die with her loyal companions, finding a way to show dominance and selfhood in
the face of the greatest loss.

 Her final role is one that she, not the conquering Caesar, chooses for her.
 Cleopatra.
 After Antony death, Cleopatra strategic nature didn’t stop. The theme of Honour
and Manipulation is brought out by Cleopatra in Act V scene 2.

 Before Cleopatra makes any important decisions, she analyzes the situation and
consider her options. Cleopatra wishes to know Octavius intention so she can
plan her actions. She gathers all side of the story before finalizing.

 She is torn between finding a way to manipulate herself out of the situation or
live up to her promise to Antony to end her own life as he did.

 Cleopatra plans to take control of her own destiny by taking her life. She plans to
suffer a noble death on her own terms. This showcases Cleopatra need to be in
power and control.

 While Antony is in all ways memorable and affecting as a character lost in his
own errors and weaknesses, Cleopatra's independence and dominance are more
important than her life.
 Cleopatra
Cleopatra understands that Octavius Caesar have defeated her and Antony on the
Battlefield but she still finds a way to outmanoeuvre him in the end by thwarting his
plans to bring her to Rome.

Cleopatra manifests the theme of Manipulation, Strategy and Power by appearing

cooperative with the Octavius Caesar messengers at first, but she is only trying to
deceive those who are deceiving her.

Cleopatra succeeds in convincing Gallus and Proculeius. This conveys how low the
Romans think if Cleopatra and how easy it was for her to trick them.

Cleopatra is the master manipulator and is tricking them. It is however unclear the full
reasons being Cleopatra choosing to kill herself. Some reasons are: Because Antony is
gone , because she realizes there is no real hope or political power anymore ad to
honour herself.

The theme of Honour is seen when Cleopatra will not allow herself to be dishonoured
by becoming a prisoner “pinion’d” at Octavius Caesar Court.
 Cleopatra
CLEOPATRA:
His legs bestrid the ocean. His reared arm
Crested the world. His voice was propertied
As all the tunèd spheres, and that to friends.
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
There was no winter in ’t, an autumn ’twas
That grew the more by reaping. His delights
Were dolphinlike; they showed his back above
The element they lived in. In his livery
Walked crowns and crownets. Realms and islands were
As plates dropped from his pocket. (V,ii)

DOLABELLA
Hear me, good madam.
Your loss is as yourself, great, and you bear it
As answering to the weight. Would I might never
O’ertake pursued success, but I do feel,
By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites
My very heart at root.
 Cleopatra
 After Cleopatra proceeds to take advantage of the moment and asks Dollabella what he plans to do
with her.

 Dolabella feels great sympathy for Cleopatra and tells her, albeit reluctantly, that Octavius intends
to parade her through the streets of Rome as a prize of war. In doing so, Dolabella risks his own
life, should Octavius. learn of the matter.
 Cleopatra- Hyperbolic Language &
Nature
 Shakespeare uses a great deal of hyperbolic language, especially with Cleopatra herself, who
views herself as the goddess Isis, and Antony her Mars.

 Julian Markels states that, within the play “language goes as far as language can in creating for the
characters that immortality which is attributed to them…the cosmic language…is a continuous
outgrowth of dramatic action” (169).

 For example, as Enobarbus describes Cleopatra‟s arrival in Rome for her first wooing of the great
Antony, he speaks of her as though she is some mythical nymph-goddess

Enobarbus:
The barge she sat in like a burnished throne
Burned on the water. The poop was beaten gold,
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that / The winds were lovesick with them… For her own person, It
beggared all description: she did lie In her pavilion—cloth-of-gold, of tissue— O‟erpicturing that
Venus where we see The fancy out work nature.
 Cleopatra- Hyperbolic Language &
 Nature.
She is held over Venus, and her boy servants are cupids, her gentlewomen like mermaids. Every
description of Cleopatra is over the top.

 Antony‟s man Alexas tells her that even “Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you / But when you
are well pleased.” She replies, “That Herod‟s head / I‟ll have!” (III, III), giving proof that she is a
woman of extreme passion; her passion would put fear into the archetypal and hyperbolically
raging theater Herod.

 Cleopatra‟s language emulates her high passion; it is full of hyperbole, exploding with high
emotional extremes, from anger to despair to love.

 She elevates herself and Antony to godlike and mythic stature, to her, Antony is “the demi-Atlas of
this earth, the arm / And burgonet of men…” and she herself “was / A morsel for a monarch” (I,
V); the two of them are beyond human.

 Through her conversations, we discover that Cleopatra is impatient, insecure and believes she has
the power to change the truth of the moment. This is seen when she interrupts Antony Finial
speech. Cleopatra uses her words to direct others actions, especially Antony’s.
 Cleopatra
Cleopatra:
The ingratitude of this Seleucus does
Even make me wild. (to SELEUCUS ) O slave, of no more trust
Than love that’s hired!
 What, goest thou back? Thou shalt
Go back, I warrant thee! But I’ll catch thine eyes,
Though they had wings. Slave, soulless villain, dog!
Oh, rarely base!

 Here Cleopatra doesn't give all her treasures to Caesar. Signifying the possibility of life after and not
Cleopatra intention of death.

 The theme of betrayal presents itself as Cleopatra is upset with Seleucus for betraying her.

 This can also symbolize Seleucus reason for betraying Cleopatra. Perhaps to get into Caesar good graces as
he understand Cleopatra have been defeated?
 Cleopatra
 Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. As a character, she has the complexity and inconsistency of real
life.
 Like Antony, she is displayed much through the eyes of others. Even the hard-bitten realist
Enobarbus is moved to lavish poetic splendor by her charm and beauty.

 Only Octavius Caesar, of all those who come in contact with her, is impervious to her charms, and
the nobility of her death moves even him.

 She is mercurial and self-centered, and there is some ambiguity in her love of Antony.

 It is difficult to be certain that her tragic death would have taken place had cold Octavius Caesar
been susceptible to her fascination.

 She is most queenly in her death, which she chooses to bring about in “the high Roman fashion,”
calling the dead Antony “husband” just before she applies the asp to her bosom
 Cleopatra
 Caesar’s final words to Cleopatra convince her that she must follow Antony in death:

Caesar:
Make not your thoughts your prisons.
No, dear queen, For we intend so to dispose you as
Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep.
Our care and pity is so much upon you
That we remain your friend. And so adieu. (v.ii)

 His words seem sincere, but Cleopatra senses the lie in his words, exclaiming “He words me girls,
he words me, that I should not / Be noble to myself” (v.ii)

 This is where she makes the ultimate decision to take action to end her life, putting her out of
Caesar’s reach and back at Antony’s side.
 Cleopatra’s Death.
 Cleopatra wants to look her best when she dies. One could see this as a sign of vanity and decadence, or as
evidence of her queenly nobility. Just as messengers and ambassadors have played crucial roles in the play
to this point, it is the intermediary character of the rural man who allows Cleopatra to carry out her plan.

 Cleopatra’s referring to the asp as a breastfeeding baby alludes ironically to a traditional female maternal
role (one Cleopatra does not fulfill). Octavius’ scheme to prevent Cleopatra from killing herself has failed,
as Cleopatra has outwitted him with her final strategic action.

 Octavius sees that his plan to take Cleopatra to Rome as a prisoner has failed, but he
appreciates Cleopatra’s bravery. Even Octavius respects Cleopatra’s sense of personal honor. Antony and
Cleopatra are buried together like a husband and wife, suggesting the strength of their love. By attending
the funeral before celebrating his victory, Octavius acknowledges the dignity of his opponents.

1.
 Cleopatra Death.
1. Cleopatra protests, after Antony has told her to seek honor and safety with Octavius Caesar, that,
here, honor and safety are incompatible a line that shows her in a favorable light, especially to an
audience of Shakespeare’s day.

2. She has matured considerably, probably as a result of the crisis of the recent days, and determines
to kill herself.

3. In Elizabethan times, suicide was considered an honorable act; thus, Cleopatra, in making and
carrying out this determination, exhibits a maturity that has been severely lacking in her character
up to this point.

4. As Cleopatra dons her best clothes, intending to meet Antony in the hereafter, it should be
remembered that Antony in the previous act, metaphorically called himself a “bridegroom.”
 Cleopatra Death
Cleopatra:
"Give me my robe. Put on my crown.
I have Immortal longings in me.
Now no more The juice of Egypt's grape
shall moist this lip." (V. II)

 Cleopatra expresses her acceptance of and control over her death in a particularly lyrical way by
dressing and readying herself for immortality, as she views the afterlife.

 As much as she has loved ruling Egypt and the life she has led, now her eye is on being with her
beloved forever, as she expects will happen.

Charmain:
"Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies A lass unparalleled." (V.II)

 The snakes' poison has done its work, and Cleopatra is reunited with Antony in death. As Charmian
closes the eyes of her mistress, she tells the world of the dead it has just acquired one of the most
remarkable women in history.
 Charmian's use of the informal "lass" shows how much she loves the Queen and how close they were in
life.
 Cleopatra’s Death
 The death scenes of Antony and Cleopatra, are overflowing with imagery and hyperbole. Antony is Mars and
Cleopatra is the moon.

 “Everyone who reads or sees the play is struck at once by the hyperbolic character of the value the lovers set on
each other, or at any rate the hyperbolic character of their own conception of the value” (Mack 96)

 They become heavenly subjects, united out of reach of Caesar. Cleopatra dresses herself in the most queenly state
with her robe and her crown. “I have immortal longings in me,” she says (v.ii.)

 It is a place created as highly legendary as they are.

 The stolid figure of Caesar contrasts sharply with her. All he can do at the last pages of the play is to count and
view the dead bodies, whose sacrifice he seems, at least in part, to admire. He rightly promises their funeral rites
will be attended by the Roman soldiers, and afterward he must go back to lead the Empire, as is his destiny.

 He aspires to be a great Emperor, and Shakespeare knew he would become one. Antony and Cleopatra will not be
forgotten, but their story is written, while Caesar's is not yet over.
 Symbolism- Snakes
 Snakes symbolize treachery and death because of their slyness and venom.

 Antony famously calls Cleopatra his "serpent of old Nile," and the nickname is appropriate. There
is more than a touch of venom in the way she sometimes treats him.

 When Antony tells Enobarbus they must leave Egypt for Rome, he compares the "breeding"
political situation to a trough of water with a horse's hair in it an image recalling the old
superstition that horsehair could turn into a worm.

 Extending the metaphor, Antony adds the notion of the worm growing into a poisonous snake.
Antony wants to get to Rome as soon as possible, before the worm gets too big

 Shakespeare conflates snakes and worms in an unsettling way in the last act as well: the
countryman in Act 5 calls the asps he brings Cleopatra "worms." "I wish you joy of the worm," he
chillingly says as he leaves.
 Rome vs. Egypt
 Egypt and Rome is depicted in Antony and Cleopatra as polar opposites nations.

 Thus Rome is a guardian of moral restraint, personal responsibility, social order, and military
discipline. Further, Rome places a high value on honor and duty toward one's country.

 By contrast, Egypt is seen as a magnet for decadence, concupiscence, and indolence. Egypt,
according to this view, places a high value on physical enjoyment and luxuriant fertility.

 Egypt is the place to have fun; Rome is the place to work Egypt equals private life; Rome equals
public life.

 By extension, traditional criticism asserts that Cleopatra symbolizes Egypt, Octavius Caesar
represents Rome, and Antony is torn between the two worlds until he is finally destroyed.
 Rome vs. Egypt
 Philo's opening speech sets the central conflict of the play: in turning toward Cleopatra, Antony has
turned away from his Roman upbringing.

 Once, says Philo, Antony could be compared to Mars, the Roman god of war. Now his stern "captain's
heart" has become "the bellows and the fan / To cool a gypsy's [Egyptian's] lust." One of the three
emperors of Rome, a "triple pillar of the world," is now the plaything of a whore.

 In Antony and Cleopatra Rome and Egypt are irreconcilably different, at least in the opinion of everyone
but the lovers themselves, whose cultural differences are attractions.

 But for other Romans in the play Egypt is overripe, overfertile; Cleopatra, the symbol of the country she
rules, is overfond of pleasure. To Cleopatra, on the other hand, Rome is cold, strict, and reined in all the
traits she wishes Antony didn't have.

 Egyptians host grand parties: the Roman Maecenas drools at the thought of "Eight wild boars roasted
whole at a breakfast, and but twelve persons there" (Act 2, Scene 2).

 Meanwhile at Pompey's banquet (which Antony brags doesn't come near the typical Egyptian party),
abstemious Caesar looks on with disdain as everyone else on board has a grand, but inharmonious, time
getting drunk.
 Rome vs Egypt
 Rome and Egypt is the result of changes in both nations: Republican Rome is now Imperial Rome;
Egypt is ruled by an unpredictable and aging queen.

 Rome is prey to shifting alliances and political betrayal by Octavius, who bickers with one
triumvir (Antony) and jails another (Lepidus); Egypt is subject to the flooding of the Nile and the
unpredictable fortunes of Antony and Cleopatra's love.

 In the West, Rome is ruled by men; even Octavia, Caesar's royal sister, is passively dutiful in her
role as a bargaining chip.

 In the East, Cleopatra's court swarms with women and eunuchs. Because a stern, virtuous
environment may be less appealing to describe than a lushly sensual one, Shakespeare is lavish
with descriptions of Egypt and of Cleopatra. In describing Cleopatra on her barge, Shakespeare
says she is more beautiful than Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty.
 Rome vs. Egypt
 Both Antony and Cleopatra have internalized the idea that Egypt is Rome's opposite. After 10 years with
Cleopatra, Antony has cast off much of the self-discipline he embraced in earlier days. In contrast with the
"eight wild boars," Caesar speaks admiringly of Antony's years as a soldier, when he was forced to live on
tree bark and horse urine.

 Cleopatra is furiously anxious at the idea of Antony's returning to Rome, while Antony feels guilty that "The
beds i'the East are soft" (Act 2, Scene 6) and thinks Rome may be what he needs to regain the manly skills he
has lost.

 Antony feels torn, as Cleopatra and Caesar pull him in different directions.

 One reason the queen and Caesar dislike each other is that each wants dominance over Antony. His visit to
Rome deeply disappoints Caesar, as does Antony's leaving Octavia to return to Egypt.

 At this point Cleopatra and the East seem victorious until Caesar's decisive victory sinks Egypt and
Cleopatra with it. Rome has triumphed, at least politically. Strangely, East and West merge at the end of the
play when Cleopatra commits suicide.

 She kills herself "after the high Roman fashion," magnificently dressed for the occasion, and wins even
 Themes to be Explored

01 02 03
Manipulation 04
& Gender
Love & Loyalty &
Power Roles
Betryal Honour
 Loyalty, Honour and Betrayal
Many characters face dilemmas, which complicate any simple notions of these ideas. E.g:

 Enobarbus is loyal to Antony for much of the play, but reasons that it is folly to stay loyal to a fool,
and so leaves for Octavius’ camp.

 Menas decides to leave Pompey, because Pompey refuses to seize opportunity.

 Antony can also be seen as facing a crisis of loyalty: in waging civil war against Octavius, he is in
some sense betraying his own country. Antony loses even personal honor when he flees the battle
of Actium. Perhaps no character is wholly innocent of betrayal, though.

 Octavius is treacherous: not only does he turn on Lepidus, but also, after conquering Antony, he
promises Cleopatra not to humiliate her as a prisoner in his military triumph, though he actually
does plan to do this

When faced with these dilemmas, characters must weigh the importance of loyalty against both self-
interest and personal honor, which could be defined as loyalty to one's own values or ideals.
 Antony Honour Quotes
Antony Honor:
1. (V, i, 19–26) DECRETAS: He is dead, Caesar, Not by a public minister of justice Nor by a hirèd
knife; but that self hand, Which writ his honor in the acts it did, Hath, with the courage which the
heart did lend it, Splitted the heart. This is his sword; I robbed his wound of it: behold it stained With
his most noble blood.

2. (IV, ii, 5–7) ANTONY: Tomorrow, soldier, By sea and land I’ll fight: or I will live, Or bathe my
dying honor in the blood Shall make it live again. Woo’t thou fight well?

3. (III, iv, 20–24) ANTONY: Gentle Octavia, Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks Best to
preserve it. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself: better I were not yours Than yours so branchless.

4. (III, x, 17–23) SCARUS: She once being loofed, The noble ruin of her magic, Antony, Claps on his
seawing, and, (like a doting mallard) Leaving the fight in height, flies after her. I never saw an action
of such shame; Experience, manhood, honor, ne’er before Did violate so itself
 Antony Honour Quotes
 (IV, xiv, 55–69) ANTONY Since Cleopatra died, I have lived in such dishonor, that the gods
Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword Quartered the world, and o’er green Neptune’s back
With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack The courage of a woman; less noble mind Than
she which by her death our Caesar tells “I am conqueror of myself.” Thou art sworn, Eros, That,
when the exigent should come, which now Is come indeed, when I should see behind me Th’
inevitable prosecution of Disgrace and horror, that on my command, Thou then wouldst kill me.
Do’t, the time is come. Thou strik’st not me, ‘tis Caesar thou defeat’st. Put color in thy cheek.
 EROS The gods withhold me!
 Mark Antony.
 Mark Antony, also called Marcus Antonius, the majestic ruin of a great general and political leader, a
triumvir of Rome.

 Enthralled by Cleopatra, he sometimes seems about to desert her for her real and dangerous rival,
Rome.

 He marries Caesar’s sister Octavia for political reasons but returns to Cleopatra. His greatness is
shown as much by his effect on others as by his own actions.

 His cynical, realistic follower Enobarbus is deeply moved by him, his soldiers adore him even in
defeat, his armor-bearer remains with him to the death, and even his enemy Octavius Caesar praises
him in life and is shocked into heightened eulogy when he hears of his death.

 Antony is capable of jealous fury and reckless indiscretion, but he bears the aura of greatness.

 He dies by his own hand after hearing the false report of Cleopatra’s death, but he lives long enough
to see her once more and bid her farewell.
 Mark Antony
 Antony is closely associated with Mars, the Roman god of war. He is also proud of his alleged descent
from Hercules, the mythical Greek hero. He is driven to become, like them, a supreme symbol of heroic
achievement.

 But times have changed. Rome's new heroes are those who excel in political maneuvering.

 Antony doesn't have the capacity to manipulate public opinion, and he doesn't know how to wage a
propaganda war against Caesar.

 He tries to find a way to combine the values of Rome and Egypt—to be both a soldier and a lover—but
he is frustrated in his search.

 He's humiliated by his losses at Actium and Alexandria. On the first occasion, he overcomes his shame,
but the second one overwhelms him.

 He rages helplessly at the disparity between the glorious hero he once was and the defeats handed to him
by the "boy" Caesar. In his eyes, the shame and disgrace he suffers erase all that he has accomplished up
until now.
Roman Spectacle of
Antony and Cleopatra
 Mark Antony – The Tragic Hero
 Rome being under the guardianship of the strictly disciplined Octavius Caesar) versus Egypt
under the sway of the flamboyantly unpredictable Cleopatra.

 Antony can be regarded as the go-between or victim of the Rome/Egypt dualism. As such, Antony
must deal with his own set of internal conflicts: his Roman honor giving way to dishonor in
Egypt; his youthful warrior's physique diminishing with age and dissipation; and his love for
Cleopatra undermining his loyalty to Rome.

 Antony's dilemma can been described as one involving a choice between love and war; between,
that is, his life with Cleopatra in Egypt and his profession as a soldier in Rome.

 In contrast, Antony's dilemma is solved when love and death are paired through his and
Cleopatra's suicides. When Octavius commands the burial of the lovers in the same grave, he
acknowledges that death has immortalized the love of "a pair so famous" as Antony and Cleopatra.
 Question!!!

The play ends with many deaths

and Caesar’s promised tribute to
Antony and Cleopatra. Who is the
greatest victor here? Is there a
victor?
Octavius Caesar.
Intertextualit
y:
Romeo and Juliet
 Romeo and Juliet and Antony and

Cleopatra
The comparison between the Mature love of Antony and Cleopatra with the youthful love of Romeo and
Juliet.

 For Romeo, the idea of Juliet overrides all other considerations, and there is no suggestion of his making
any compromise between his love and his other obligations.

 Antony's feelings. on the other hand. while they are unmistakably love - love that, like Romeo's.
eventually destroys Antony, costing him his life and his name - are never overriding.

 Unlike the younger lover for whom love makes every other consideration petty, Antony allows his
passion for Cleopatra to remain in disharmony with other things that are important for him.

 Romeo is overtaken by passion, suspending judgement and self-critique.

 Antony allows passion to overtake him completely only once, at the extremely important moment in
which he goes after Cleopatra's ship and thereby loses the sea battle at Actium. At all other moments,
passion lives in constant tension with his other obligations.
 EXERCISE
Fill in the blanks with the
name of each part

_____
Mercury is the smallest
of them all
_____
Despite being red, _____
Mars is a cold place
Venus has a beautiful
name, but it’s too hot
Thank you. The End.
 THANK Do you have any questions?

youremail@freepik.com

S
+91 620 421 838
yourcompany.com

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by

Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics
& images by Freepik

Please keep this slide for attribution