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Home > English > Advanced > Module C: Representation and Text > Elective 2: Powerplay > Antony and Cleopatra

Antony and Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare

This material was written by Ian Bate and the English faculty at Winmalee High School

Medium of production/textual form influencing meaning
Perspective influencing meaning
Choice of language influencing meaning

The interplay of types of power

• imperial
• personal
• sexual

Portrayals of the powerful

• Antony
• Cleopatra
• Octavius Caesar
• Lepidus

Insight into the nature of politics

• Antony , Caesar and Lepidus
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Antony , Enobarbus and Eros; Cleopatra, Charmian and Iras
• Extent that power resides with people

Texts of own choosing: framework for analysis

Module C: Representation and Text ‘requires students to explore various representations of events, personalities or situations. They evaluate how medium of production, textual form, perspective and choice of language influence meaning. The study develops students’ understanding of the relationships between representation and meaning.’ ( English Stage 6 Syllabus , p52)

In studying Elective 2: Powerplay, ‘students consider representations of and the interplay of types of power. They analyse portrayals of the powerful, consider how the depiction of particular relationships provides insight into the nature of politics and consider the extent to which power resides with the people.’ ( English Prescriptions: Areas of Study, Electives and Texts 2004-2007 , p21)

In Antony and Cleopatra, the same stage presents scenes of marching armies and scenes of domestic conflict. It is a play that explores powerplay at the imperial and interpersonal level. It also explores the ways in which these two contexts are inter-related and the consequences for those not directly engaged in the conflicts.

Medium of production/textual form influencing meaning

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy. This means there is a basic set of conventions underpinning its composition, and which function to convey the text’s meaning. Tragedy as a dramatic form emerged in the 5th century BC in ancient Athens ( Greece). According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, a tragedy is a drama which follows the fortunes of a main character, a protagonist, who suffers some terrible downfall through a combination of fate, and his or her own hamartia (frailty, excess or error of judgment). The intended effect on the audience is what Aristotle called catharsis: an arousal of the emotions of pity (pathos) combined with fear, which is purged by the end of the tragedy, with the audience feeling uplifted and wiser in their understandings of the inter-relatedness of humans, gods and fate. There is an emphasis in tragedy, therefore, on the actions and decisions taken by the characters. The seating arrangement in the ancient Greek amphitheatre, with the audience looking down on and seated around the performance space, would have encouraged its members to make judgments about the characters and their actions as they watch the play.

Shakespeare’s tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra was probably first performed in the Globe Theatre in London, c.1607. The theatre was roughly circular, with a rectangular stage thrusting (hence the term thrust stage) out into a courtyard, surrounded by 3 storeys of seating. Many people stood in the central courtyard looking up at the action on stage; many people in the seated part looked down on the action as did the people of ancient Athens, observing the characters’ actions and decisions that move them towards inevitable downfall.

As in ancient Greece, the protagonists of Shakespeare’s tragedies were people of high rank: kings, queens, princes, emperors, members of wealthy families. Tragic plays cut these people down to human status, showing that even great ones are susceptible to destructive fate if they act rashly. Cleopatra says of Caesar (and, ironically, the same is true of herself and Antony):

One way in which Antony and Cleopatra varies from conventional Aristotelian tragedy is the way in which it is more than the tragedy of two elevated characters. Four other characters for whom the audience may develop great sympathy also die during the play as a result of the actions of those they serve: Antony’s lieutenants Enobarbus and Eros; Cleopatra’s servants Charmian and Iras. The play can also be seen as the tragic death of love in the face of naked power.

Perspective influencing meaning

From the opening speech of the play the audience is positioned to judge the unfolding action. Act I, sc i presents two Romans complaining about Antony’s conduct in Alexandria. The behaviour of the two protagonists immediately confirms Philo’s judgement. From the outset, then, we will be like Philo, witnessing the excesses of Antony and Cleopatra. Unlike Philo, we will also be positioned to like Antony and Cleopatra for all their weaknesses and follies, and we will be positioned to question the value system of the empire that ultimately destroys them.

Shakespeare also capitalises on our audience perspective, external to the action, by deliberately juxtaposing scenes. Frequently, scenes set in Rome and characterised by cold formality will be immediately followed by fast-paced, light-hearted scenes in Egypt, thus highlighting the differences in value systems.

Choice of language influencing meaning

Heightened language, rich in imagery

The blank verse (iambic pentameter) form of verse is very close to natural speech rhythms. Blank verse was used because of convention: English plays had been composed in rhyming verse for centuries. Blank verse was an innovation of Shakespeare's time with Shakespeare’s contemporary, Christopher Marlowe, being credited with this.

However Shakespeare uses blank verse to effect. It suits the depiction of legendary historical characters on live stage: the characters are bigger than life, and so is the language. It is also an excellent vehicle for some very poetic passages, notably Cleopatra’s first meeting with Antony as recounted by Enobarbus. Some specific instances of language use are dealt with elsewhere in these notes.

The interplay of types of power

There are three main types of powerplay depicted. They are all interlaced, with enormous ramifications for those directly involved and the common people who feel the consequences:

• Imperial powerplay: the politics of ruling an empire that has emerged from civil war into an uneasy arrangement - a triumvirate between Antony, Lepidus and Caesar, threatened by uprisings such as Pompey’s. We also see the politics of colonisation, the annexation of countries by force and keeping them as part of the empire.
• Personal powerplay: individuals’ private motivations relative to others, such as Caesar’s personal resentment of Antony.
• Sexual powerplay: the powerplay between male and female – Cleopatra and Antony.

Imperial powerplay

In Act I, sc i, the militaristic ideology that underpins the Roman Empire is brought home to us in Philo’s opening speech. Antony no longer behaves as a Roman general, as ‘plated Mars’ (the Roman god of war). Ideology is that set of beliefs that a culture holds which drives and justifies its actions. The Roman imperial ideology values male aggression, militarism, personal sacrifice, privation and male authority (see I, iv, 57-72). Antony is depicted as having turned from most of these qualities.

Personal powerplay

The theme of individual duty versus imperial duty: which is the most important? This is a key theme in the play.

Mark Antony:	The business she (Fulvia) hath broached in the state Cannot endure my absence
Enobarbus	And the business you have broached here cannot be without you; especially that of Cleopatra's, which wholly depends on your abode.
	(Act I, ii, 164-168)

Lepidus tries to be a conciliator between Antony and Caesar in Rome. He wisely points out to Enobarbus that at a time of grave emergency, with Pompey massing forces:

Later, Antony reveals that Fulvia waged war against Caesar in part to make Antony leave Cleopatra:

Many lives are sacrificed to fulfil personal agenda.

In Act III, iv, Antony is angry: Caesar is making new wars on Pompey, but he seems just as upset about scant mention of himself in Caesar’s will. He tells Octavia that he is preparing for war with her brother. Again, private power struggles and grievances will affect the lives of thousands of people, as Octavia points out, referring to ‘slain men’.

In Act III, vi, Caesar is angry: Antony has assembled an alliance against Caesar. Caesar seems more horrified that Antony has left his sister for a ‘whore’, a ‘trull’. Again, personal agenda will take the lives of many in war.

Sexual powerplay

Act I, ii, depicts Cleopatra’s emotional manipulation of Antony. Antony blames her for his ‘dotage’ (‘I must from this enchanting queen break off’; ‘She is cunning past man's thought’). Enobarbus mocks Cleopatra’s abilities to exaggerate emotion as a manipulation tactic:

Her melodramatic lines (‘O never was there queen/ So mightily betrayed…’) confirm Enobarbus’s description of her in the previous scene.

Act II, ii, includes Enobarbus’s recount of the first meeting between Antony and Cleopatra that took place on the river Cydnus in Tarsus. Antony, as triumvir, had summoned Cleopatra, a queen of a subject state, to Tarsus to discuss her financial contributions to the Parthian campaign. She turns the tables on Antony: sexual powerplay defeats imperial powerplay in this case. Language use is very important here. In the lines before the recount starts, Enobarbus and Maecenas, seasoned soldiers as they are, speak in fairly direct prose.

However, at line 191, Enobarbus’s lines become rich blank verse, laced with poetic devices such as simile, metaphor, personification and assonance.

Enobarbus:
I will tell you.	Long pause – dramatic tension, and allows Shakespeare to ‘ring the changes’
The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne , Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold ; Purple the sails, and so perfumed that The winds were love-sick with them ; the oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made The water which they beat to follow faster, As amorous of their strokes . For her own person, It beggar'd all description: she did lie In her pavilion--cloth-of-gold of tissue-- O'er-picturing that Venus where we see The fancy outwork nature: on each side her Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool And what they undid did.	simile metaphor personification Oxymoron conveys how extraordinary was the scene
Agrippa:
O, rare for Antony !	Even the cold Agrippa is aroused. Note how he cuts in on Enobarbus
Enobarbus:
Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes, And made their bends adornings: at the helm A seeming mermaid steers: the silken tackle Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, That yarely frame the office. From the barge A strange invisible perfume hits the sense Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast Her people out upon her; and Antony , Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone, Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy, Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, And made a gap in nature.	Sensuous descriptions : sight, touch, smell Antony sits on his throne alone in the market place- the whole city has gone to see Cleopatra arrive.
Agrippa:
Rare Egyptian!
Enobarbus:
Upon her landing, Antony sent to her, Invited her to supper: she replied, It should be better he became her guest; Which she entreated: our courteous Antony, Whom ne'er the word of 'No' woman heard speak, Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast, And for his ordinary pays his heart For what his eyes eat only.	Cleopatra successfully wins a sexual powerplay
Agrippa:
Royal wench! She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed: He plough'd her, and she cropp'd.	Agrippa certainly punctures the beautiful image conjured up by Enobarbus’s words. He also exemplifies the phallocentric militarism of Roman ideology
(Act II, ii, 191-229)

At the end of the scene Enobarbus asserts that Antony will not leave Cleopatra despite the marriage to Octavia that Agrippa has suggested. This is confirmed in the next scene by Antony himself:

In Act III, vii, Antony’s men see him as led by Cleopatra, matching the general Roman perception of their general. Subsequent scenes will confirm Enobarbus’s judgement, when Cleopatra flees from the sea battle and Antony follows. (In Act III, x, Scarus conjures the image of an old nag or cow in heat being chased by an aroused male duck!)

In Act III, xi, Antony, shamed by his defeat, tells Cleopatra that she was his ‘conqueror’.

In Act IV, xii, Antony’s second defeat: this time he blames Cleopatra: ‘The witch shall die’ (line 47). She is no longer his ‘love’ or ‘conqueror’. It is convenient for his own ego to blame his failures on a woman who has bewitched him. In Act IV, xiv, she is a ‘vile lady!/ She has robbed me of my sword’, that is, she has symbolically emasculated him by turning him away from imperial duty.

Portrayals of the powerful

Antony, as one of the triumvirate ruling the Roman Empire in the wake of the civil wars, is invested with imperial power which he is neglecting, which he admits to Caesar in Act II, ii. In Act I we see how he puts ‘pleasure’ and ‘sport’ before imperial duty, confirming the Roman opinion of him, that he has gone soft in his ‘dotage:

Despite his reputation as a great soldier, Antony is capable of treachery. In Act II, ii, he betrays both Cleopatra and Pompey in order to retain his position of triumvir without having to resort to war. He does this, yet he describes the Roman populace as ‘slippery’ because they can be fickle in their allegiances. The audience may feel that the explanation for this is simple: the leaders the people are expected to follow are even more inconstant.

Both Antony and Cleopatra seem to be acting out a fantasy in which they are god-like, unassailable. There is a sense that they have come to believe their own legendary status. They often address each other in epic terms. For example, when Antony leaves the stage with Cleopatra to embark on an inevitably disastrous sea-battle, Antony refers to Cleopatra as ‘my Thetis’ (sea goddess). They seem oblivious to their danger, unlike the men who may die because of their folly.

Antony falls from power because he seems tired of imperial values. The attractions of love, life and joy overcome the need to constantly forge empire. Unfortunately, Octavius Caesar, who one day will be the most powerful of all the Roman emperors, will not permit this.

Cleopatra is a monarch, yet her opening lines in Act I, I, are not about state, but love (‘If it be love indeed, tell me how much’ – line 14). This is her character note for most of the play. ‘Give me some music; music, moody food/ Of us that trade in love’ she orders in Act II, v. The assonance here emphasises that love is her business, her politics. This confirms Enobarbus’s description of the Tarsus meeting with Antony. She is playful and sensuous by turns, capable of using her sexuality to manipulate a line of high-ranking Romans.

In Act II, v, she fancies fishing to pass the time, imagines finding each fish an Antony, and saying, 'Ah, ha! you're caught.' This betrays her attitude towards her partner, even though she is in jest. She goes on to describe their cross-dressing in bed, when he wore her ‘tires and mantles’, and she wore his ‘sword Phillipan’, his weapon at the famous and decisive battle of Philippi, in other words, his personal symbol of male and military potency.

Cleopatra can be very callous towards her servants. Note how she taunts the eunuch Mardian in Act I, v. Later we will witness her physical and verbal abuse of a messenger who brings her bad news.

Cleopatra possesses reserves of character that were only hinted at earlier in the play. As the Roman forces close in (Act V, i), she shows a capacity for determined action and personal resolve:

The tragedy is caused in part by her too late resolution to display these noble qualities.

We first meet Octavius Caesar in Act I, iv. He habitually refers to himself in the third person, which conveys constant self-aggrandisement. As the play goes on he uses the royal ‘we’ more and more frequently. He also clearly is very conscious of the image he projects at all times, a consummate politician. In his first lines he is being sure to not sound petty towards Antony, even as he is criticising him:

In Act III, ii, Enobarbus is highly sceptical of Caesar’s apparent emotion at Octavia’s departure, suggesting Caesar is again thinking of the image he projects. In Act III, v, Caesar deposes Lepidus, fabricating a pretext to seize another third of the empire. Again, the politician is careful to disguise his motives and to appear blameless in acquisition of power.

In Act IV, vi, Caesar is clearly thinking of how he will be depicted in history books, as we see from this grand statement:

In Act V, i, at news of Antony’s apparent death, Caesar launches into a eulogy for his adversary. Shakespeare has an Egyptian messenger interrupt, deflating the moment for Caesar, whose wish to be confirmed for posterity as a virtuous leader is strongly shown:

He subscribes to the male hegemony imperial and ideology of Rome, seeing Antony as weak and emasculated by Cleopatra (‘…is not more man-like/ Than Cleopatra; nor the queen of Ptolemy/ More womanly than he…’, lines 5-7). His admiration for Antony’s legendary exploits of earlier years shows how he values courage, self-denial, self-discipline and sacrifice as Roman virtues.

He seems aloof from the people, and expresses disgust at Antony’s easy familiarity with the people of Egypt. In Act IV, I, he is optimistic about the next day’s military prospects against Antony and Cleopatra. He orders that the army have a feast: ‘they have earned the waste’. He betrays a niggardly nature (contrast with Antony’s generosity to his servants in the next scene: …’let’s tonight/ Be bounteous at our meal’.) His callousness extends to how he will deal with soldiers who have defected to him. They will be stationed in the ‘vant’ (front lines) of the army, so that they can be sacrificed first.

Caesar has capacity for cunning, as we see when he despatches Thydias (Thyreus in some editions) to influence Cleopatra to betray Antony. We see something similar in Act V when he sends Proculeius to prevent Cleopatra from suicide, lying to Proculeius about his intentions for Cleopatra. As we saw in the case of Lepidus, Caesar will manipulate and use good-hearted individuals, even his sister, for imperial (and personal) power.

It is a high priority for Caesar to take Cleopatra alive so that she can be displayed in his triumph when he returns to Rome as the sole ruler of the Roman Empire.

Lepidus, who rules the empire jointly with Antony and Caesar, is represented as an ineffectual figure. He tries to be a conciliator between Antony and Caesar but it is clear that any such attempt is doomed.

How the depiction of particular relationships provides insight into the nature of politics

Antony and Caesar

We see a clash of two powerful but opposite personalities: a hedonist versus an ascetic. Caesar is cold and focused, describing Antony’s behaviour as ‘rioting in Alexander’.

In Act II, vii, the feast on Pompey’s galley becomes a drunken wassail, led largely by Antony. Caesar resists the drunkenness, needing to be focussed and self-controlled at all times. Antony on the other hand is a hedonist and enjoys the food, drink and song:

Shakespeare shows that basic personality clashes can be the driving forces in politics: personal rivalries being shaped into matters of state and empire, such as war, with incalculable results for people caught up in the conflict.

Antony, Caesar and Lepidus

From the outset, Lepidus is presented as an ineffectual peacemaker. Even the servants on Pompey’s boat see him as such:

These lines also have some applicability to Antony.

If power is to be maintained, it must be exercised. Caesar is the most determined in this, and ultimately triumphs over his fellow triumvirs.

Antony and Cleopatra

This relationship shows powerplay in personal and sexual contexts. As Cleopatra taunts Antony in Act I, i, we see the tension between powerplay at the personal level and powerplay at the imperial level. Where does Antony’s duty lie: with his beloved in Egypt? Or on the imperial stage, waging wars and extracting tribute from conquered lands? Cleopatra uses irony to taunt Antony, simultaneously deflating Caesar and the empire:

Antony, Enobarbus and Eros; Cleopatra, Charmian and Iras

The servants of Antony and Cleopatra remain loyal to them, even Enobarbus who suicides in shame at his defection from Antony. Their loyalty is in part ideological, in part simply human, manifestations of love. The relationships are tragic: all end in death. The servants and lieutenants can be seen to represent those people who are victims of power struggles: ordinary people, soldiers, and so on.

In Act I, ii, the witty, light-hearted and fast paced banter of this early scene quickly attracts audience sympathy for these characters. The audience is moved to pathos at their deaths, which are tragic as a consequence.

The extent to which power resides with the people

Shakespeare represents an empire ruled by princes and despots. The common people have virtually no power. Their fates are at the whims of great ones. The powerful appear cynical and dismissive towards the people. We hear of the people being referred to as ‘shouting plebeians and ‘slippery people’ who change allegiances ( Antony); ‘slaves’, ‘knaves that smell of sweat’; ‘This common body (that)... Goes too and back… To rot itself with motion’ (Act I, iv) (Caesar); ‘mechanic slaves/ With greasy aprons’; and ‘thick breaths,/ Rank of gross diet’ (Cleopatra).

Antony is shown in conversation with ordinary soldiers. They give him advice, but he ignores it and men die. Caesar is not shown in conversation with mere foot soldiers. Cleopatra’s contact with the messenger results in violent abuse. When Antony has Thydias whipped (note Enobarbus’s disapproval of this), he says that Caesar may whip and torture Antony’s servant who is being held hostage. In Act I, v, Antony promises Cleopatra that ‘All the east/ (Say thou) shall call her mistress.’ He makes good this promise, as Caesar complains in Act III. Whole populations become subject to foreign rulers because of the will of a powerful few.

Enobarbus represents the common man for us in many respects. The audience can respond to his dry, earthy humour that frequently punctures the pomposity and rhetoric of political discussions. He is a soldier trying to make sense of conflicts, machinations and situations, often speaking plainly, to the displeasure of Antony and Caesar (see Act II, ii, in particular). His despair which leads him to abandon Antony is a measure of how desperate and powerless the common people can feel when their fates seem at the whim of the powerful.

Proculeius can be played as a man deliberately misled by Caesar and his honesty exploited. As such, he is an example of an individual who is inadvertently drawn into dishonesty by powerplays between the powerful.

Powerplay texts of own choosing: framework for analysis

Consider the following aspects for each text selected:

• Title, composer, publication date, source (if article, etc)
• Medium of production – how does it affect meaning?
• The interplay of types of power (what forms of powerplay are shown? Are they interconnected?)
• Portrayals of the powerful (how are we positioned to perceive these characters or figures?)
• How the depiction of particular relationships provides insight into the nature of politics?
• The extent to which power resides with the people
• Language features (can include visual language, eg photographic or film techniques)
• Textual form - how does it affect meaning?
• Perspective influencing meaning (what is the composer’s perspective? How is audience perspective created?)
• How does the text relate to Antony & Cleopatra in what it shows about Powerplay? Any points of contact? Totally divergent? Alternative view of power relationships?

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