Question
`Shakespeare doesn't organize his tragedy as a drama of love between Antony and Cleopatra, but as a drama of the rise and fall of Antony in the struggle for world leadership'. What is your view?
Answer
Fundamentally, I disagree with this interpretation of the play. Indeed we do see the fall of the great Marc Antony but the play never actually depicts scenes of his rise to prominence. `Antony and Cleopatra' is renowned as one of the greatest love stories of all time and I align myself with this conception.
In this play, Antony's rise to greatness is assumed from `Julius Caesar' and from the stories and references the audience is given by other characters. This can be seen in Caesar's first scene in the play, Act 1 sc4, Caesar states:
"Thou didst drink
The stale of horses and the gilded puddle
Which beasts would cough at"
And can also be seen in Act 1 sc1 where Philo states:
"His captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast"
All of this eulogy is said in the past tense, suggesting that Antony no longer performs such extraordinary feats; he is no longer that man. This illustrates from the onset that Antony is on a downward spiral as the play begins. Antony's fall is evident throughout the play. As an audience, we see him flee the Battle of Actium, we see him hopelessly trying to commit suicide and we also witness him fail to honour his word in marriage to Octavia. The fact that `Antony and Cleopatra' doesn't actually show Antony's rise is one of my rudimentary discrepancies with the argument.
I believe that the fall of Antony is just part of the love story. Antony has a great deal of affection toward Cleopatra, evident throughout the ...
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...aking the day off to spend it in the company of your partner?
It cannot be ignored that Antony's decline and struggle for power is a theme in the play, but I feel that Shakespeare is not emphasising on this theme but on the love between Antony and Cleopatra. Here we have two people whose extraordinary love affair defied public opinion and gave meaning and transcendence to their lives in a dark time. I feel that theme of love is central to a lot of what happens in this play. Antony flees Actium to follow Cleopatra, because he is trapped by his feelings towards her. The play begins with the Triumvite in a weak state; this is because of Antony's debauchery in Egypt with Cleopatra. Caesar wages war with Antony because Antony was disloyal to Octavia as he still had feelings for Cleopatra. I feel that the theme of love triumphs over the theme of the struggle for power.
The play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare showcases many characters and events that go through many significant changes. One particular character that went through unique changes was Julius Caesar. The 16th century work is a lengthy tragedy about the antagonists Brutus and Cassius fighting with the protagonists Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus over the murder of Julius Caesar. Although the play’s main pushing conflict was the murder of Julius Caesar, he is considered a secondary character, but a protagonist. Throughout the theatrical work Julius Caesar’s actions, alliances, character developments, and internal and external conflicts display his diverse changes. William Shakespeare retold a very unique event
... and the passionate love of a beautiful, foreign and strong queen. And, they are connected through the historical figure Augustus Caesar, for whom The Aeneid honors and Antony and Cleopatra portrays.
Cleopatra is most often remembered as the lover of two Roman consuls, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, thereby forever connecting the Egyptian queen to the history of Rome. The stories of her relationships with the two men do not always paint a flattering picture of Cleopatra, as her reported promiscuity and presumption give her a colorful reputation. Cleopatra is also sometimes seen as a misunderstood woman, someone who was never given a fair opportunity to be accepted as the wife of Marc Antony nor the mother of Caesar's child. Some historians and authors use the issue of Cleopatra's race as a reason that she was ostracized from Roman society, saying that the Romans were prejudiced against Egyptians, and despite Cleopatra's Greek background, would never accept her as a suitable mate for a Roman consul. This theory, however, is far outweighed by the numerous justifications the Roman people had for their distaste of Cleoaptra. It is not surprising that Cleopatra never found acceptance in Rome, as she offered nothing to the relationship between Egypt and Rome, she stood for everything they were against, and little by little, she succeeded in destroying parts of the society that the Roman people had worked to build.
In Shakespeare?s play 'Antony and Cleopatra' Caesar, while he displays remarkable tactical skills, is calculating and cold hearted. Antony on the other hand embodies many admirable qualities and emotions which make him the greater of the two. Firstly I will look at Caesar?s military victories before examining Antony?s great human qualities.
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 the villains who killed his beloved Caesar. After Antony turns a rioting Rome on him and wages war against him and the conspirators, Brutus falls by his own hand, turning the very sword he slaughtered Caesar with against himself. Brutus is unquestionably the tragic hero in this play because he has an innumerable amount of character flaws, he falls because of these flaws, and then comes to grips with them as he bleeds on the planes of Philippi.
Reading Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare one finds a borderline love story that exists in the easy to define plot. But digging deeper brings up the many inside battles that are raging on throughout this story. East vs. west in the ruling styles and culture of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. How Egypt and Rome represents men vs. women and the sexism that Shakespeare creates for Cleopatra and Antony. Whether there is no doubt that these things exist, taking them into further analysis may bring up the real controversy behind Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
The first impressions the audience gains of Caesar show him to be a complete contrast to what the audiences have previously observed about Antony, one of the other leaders in the Triumvirate. Caesar is very strong-minded about leadership, and prioritises rules and regulations over lov... ... middle of paper ... ... akespeare has portrayed Caesar in 'Antony and Cleopatra' he has a large impact into the tension in the play, due to his contradicting views and attitudes. It is clear how complex the character of Caesar is.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is an intimate portrayal of the famed assassination of Julius Caesar and the complex inner workings of the men who committed the crime. In one particularly revealing scene, two of the men closest to Caesar, one a conspirator in his murder and one his second-in command, give orations for the deceased. Despite being simple in appearance, these two speeches do much of the work in developing and exposing the two characters in question. Though both have a love for Caesar, Mark Antony's is mixed with a selfish desire for power, while Brutus' is pure in nature, brought to a screeching halt by his overpowering stoicism. These starkly-contrasted personalities influence the whole of the play, leading to its tragic-but-inevitable end.
In The Tragedy of Julius Caesar , he reveals his historical influences by incorporating aspects of Roman Society, such as the plebeians struggle against Roman hierarchy. Additionally, Shakespeare formulated the play’s main conflict around Caesar and his ambition, which can be attributed to the cause of man’s demise, and he based Caesar’s character after the actual Caesar motivations and conquests. He also reflects English society by including parallels between Queen Elizabeth I and Julius Caesar. Lastly, through the play’s conflict, he conveys his political views on civil war and expresses his concern for the fate of England’s government. Most importantly, Shakespeare demonstrates how age-old stories, such as the betrayal of Julius Caesar, can be applied to current society. By understanding Shakespeare's motivations and influences, readers are not only able to glimpse into the age of Roman Empire, but also, they are able to understand the political turmoil in England during Shakespeare's
In the play Julius Caesar the climax should be after, when Antony gives his speech and persuades the people that something wrong has occurred. Many people will argue that this is not the case. After Antony gives his speech there is no return. In result of his speech there is war, death, and suicides. Antony’s speech gave a blow that wasn't undoable.
Between the characters of Octavia and Cleopatra there exists a "moral contrast" (Bree 110) -a conflict of Roman ideals and Cleopatra's foreignness. Throughout the tradition of Cleopatra, authors, including Plutarch, Shakespeare, Dryden, and Fielding, as well as filmmakers such as Mankiewicz, have separated Cleopatra from Rome and Octavia because of her combination of political power and sexuality: "The notion of Cleopatra that we have inherited identifies her primarily as being the adversary, the Other. Her otherness is twofold. She is an Oriental, and she is a woman…" (Hughes-Hallett 4). If Cleopatra represents the 'Other', then Octavia exemplifies Rome itself. She embodies all of the characteristics of a proper Roman wife: beauty, grace, wisdom, and above all obedience to her husband. Octavia is Antony's celebrated wife throughout the literature although their relationship is dispassionate, while Cleopatra's "otherness" prevents her from attaining the respectable title of Antony's wife despite their love. Octavia acts as a character foil for Cleopatra, highlighting Cleopatra's foreign nature and her sexuality, which the Romans find unattractive and unacceptable in the character of a woman.
One of the biggest internal struggles in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is Antony’s struggle between reason and emotion. One of the times this is shown is when Antony turns his ships around after noting that Cleopatra has done so in Act III scene 10. Shakespeare decided to show Antony’s internal struggle by having him follow Cleopatra to emphasize how strongly his emotions and reasoning lead him to mix business with pleasure, intertwining his role of general with his role of lover. From turning his ship around mid-battle to dressing himself after spending the night to outright stating his feelings, Antony shows over and over the unavoidable mutual existence of his roles as general and lover.
Bradley, A.C. "Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra". Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. John Russell Brown. London: MacMillan Press Ltd., 1968.
Mark Antony’s character at the beginning of the play, is that of a great, powerful, triumvir whose heart has been entrapped by Cleopatra’s enchanting personality. The audience hears many good things about Antony’s character, which is shown through his great past, “It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh which some did die look on,” which informs us that he was a great warrior which evoke feelings of respect towards him.
Antony. Shakespeare proves this play a tragedy by selecting characteristics of ill-fated lovers in Antony and Cleopatra. Poor Antony turns victim to Cleopatra's enslavement, and forgets his duties in Rome. Antony is a disgrace to his Roman self, and "loses" himself to dotage" of Cleopatra. He also forgets of his marriage to Caesars sister Octavia flees back to Egypt, to Cleopatra.