Shakespeare's Presentation of Antony and Cleopatra in Act One

Shakespeare's Presentation of Antony and Cleopatra in Act One

Shakespeare’s presentation of both Antony and Cleopatra in Act 1 can

be analysed in many ways as they are both introduced in Act 1 with

in-depth descriptions and images of both of them throughout, whether

it be by eachother or opinions on them voiced by other characters.

Straight from the beginning of the play, in Act 1 scene 1, Antony and

Cleopatra argue over whether their love for one another for one

another can be measured:

CLEOPATRA: If it be love indeed, tell me how much.

ANTONY: There’s beggary in the love that can be reckoned.

CLEOPATRA: I’ll set a bourn how far to be beloved.

ANTONY: Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

This exchange sets the tone for the up coming talks on love and their

attitudes to eachother and their relationship. Cleopatra expresses the

expectation that love should be declared grandly. She is looking for a

particular sense of comfort and being loved by asking Antony and

wanting to hear of how much he loves her. It seems as though Cleopatra

and Antony’s relationship seems to be very much in the public eye due

to both of them holding such high positions in the two most powerful

empires of the world. In the lines quoted above, Cleopatra claims that

she knows the limits (‘bourn’) oh her lover’s affections, and Antony

responds that, to do so, she will need to discover uncharted

territories. By likening their love to the discovery and claim of “new

heaven, new earth,” the couple link such private emotions to current

affairs of state. As a result, their relationship is shown to be one

which may have hidden agendas which delve...

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...s sesibility and hard working ethics against Cleopatra’s lavish

Egypt. This speech also dismisses Antony’s passion for Cleopatra as

irresponsibility of childish levels, he again reinstates the Roman

ethic of duty over pleasure.

In general, it is fair to say that in Act 1 Shakespeare focuses on the

relationship between Antony and Cleopatra which later becomes the

catalyst for the unravellment of the conflicts between the two

empires, the triumvirate and more specifically Ceasar and Antony and

the conflict between Antonys desires and his duties. In Shakespeare’s

presentation of both characters, it is apparent that all is not as the

audience expects and that both have particular attributes, beliefs and

skills which make them into a very much more mysterious and capable of

great destruction on others as with one another.