How Shakespeare Makes the Audience Aware of Cleopatra's Infinite Variety in the Opening Act

How Shakespeare Makes the Audience Aware of Cleopatra's Infinite Variety in the Opening Act

Cleopatra was a talented mistress who used her feminine charm for

personal gain. She was seductive, lustful, flirtatious, and sarcastic,

she had courage, and she was jealous, spiteful, very violent and

impatient. She was a woman of many contrasts, facets and changing

moods. Shakespeare shows these different aspects of her character in

the first act then goes on to build on them throughout the play.

In the opening scene straight away we enter into Philo and Demetrius'

- friends of Antony - conversation, the subject of which is Cleopatra,

Philo is not speaking very highly of her saying she has, '. . .a tawny

front. . .' suggesting she is dark-skinned but he is doing so in an

uncomplimentary way. In the same conversation he calls Cleopatra a

'gipsy' meaning a loose woman; this straight away gives us the

impression that Cleopatra isn't very popular with the friends of

Antony.

Cleopatra and Antonythen enter, we see Cleopatra being flirtatious as

soon as she appears on the stage, 'If it be love indeed tell me how

much you love me' Antonyreplies, 'There's beggary in the love that can

be reckon'd'. Here, Antony is saying that the love that can be exactly

estimated must be a poor one. Cleopatra still replies with, 'I'll set

a bourn how far to be belov'd' and here she is teasing him, and saying

he has to put some sort of boundary on how much he loves her.

An attendant enters with a message from Rome. Antonyasks for a quick

summary but Cleopatra says, 'Nay, hear them, Antony:

Fuliva, perchance, is angry; or, who knows

if the scarce-bearded...

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...s a guard to get her a asp, this shows her bravery and

her loyalty to Antony. She doesn't want to betray Antony by being with

Caesar once again. The clown brings the basket with the asp and then

she says her farewell's and applies the asp to her arm straight after

doing so she dies.

Through out the play Cleopatra showed us, as the audience, all her

different assets of her Character. Shakespeare provides us with a

clear picture of Cleopatra she loves Antonydearly but she doesn't

always want him to know that. She likes to know where he is but again

she doesn't allow him to know that. She is a typical jealous woman and

asks typical questions but won't accept the answers if they are not

what she wants to hear. Cleopatra was very talented and always used

her feminine ways to gain what she wanted, and she always succeeded.