Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare - Essay Example

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra is one of the finest tragic dramas ever written. Written by William Shakespeare, it is thought to have been first performed on stage around 1606-07.The focus of the story revolves around the passionate love of the Roman general Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. The drama revolves around a conflict-ridden time span encompassing approximately ten-year period of historical conflict that pitted Mediterranean powers of Egypt on one hand, and Rome on the other. This conflict unfortunately results into the deaths by suicide of its eponymous figures in the first century b.c. This essay makes a structural survey, as well as survey of characters, themes, and the language. Importantly, the major structural element in the play is Shakespeare’s dramatic juxtaposition of Egypt and Rome. In the Play Shakespeare effectively depicts Rome as woven in a public culture that is pragmatic, masculine and a martial one that eagerly strives to fulfill virtues of military conquest and the rule of peace. The contrast however is depicted in Alexandrian Egypt which is feminine, domestic and individualistic with an overriding element of pleasure ensconced by Antony’s dalliance with the beautiful Cleopatra. Shakespeare an extraordinary drama by employing the use of historical figures such as Mark Antony, Cleopatra and Octavius Caesar which he borrowed from various sources and interestingly weaved in one story (Shakespeare:16). Widely performed in the second half of the nineteenth century, In spite of it being regarded as one of the Shakespeare’s hard drama to stage successfully; Antony and Cleopatra is still popular with audiences who are drawn in by Cleopatra’s beauty and allure which has accorded her an enigmatic historical status as queen as well as one of the most fascinating female characters in Shakespearian dramas. In this drama, Cleopatra takes the central focus of the play. Her character in manners and behavior is contradictory, egocentric, extravagant and in particular the essence of her mystery in winning the control of Antony without taking into consideration his character as a man of military virtue, or the aspect of his complete devotion to her. This prompts Cleopatra into sealing her own tragedy and therefore precipitating Antony’s despair and self destruction. Cleopatra’s fundamental strength is her mutable identity that personifies Egypt to an extent that she symbolizes its multiplicity and vast internal differences. Contrariwise, the Roman figures with whom she is juxtaposed, individuals such as Antony or Octavius Caesar who represents masculine virtues and an unbridled drive of dominating: she represents an all inclusive force that embraces both the feminine and masculine, yet refuses to be consumed by one or either of them. Other critics have held Cleopatra’s status as the “tragic hero” of the play, while others have viewed her as a composite mixture of both masculine and feminine principals. However, Bushman (1991) argues that Cleopatra is neither feminine nor masculine, but instead defines herself through theatrical spectacle, and locates her shifting identity within the mutable realm of staged performance (Schörkhuber:3). Interestingly, in an age when women had little or no political power, Shakespeare with subtle dramatic penchant manages to believably weave the person of Cleopatra into a violent and intimidating character, who is located in a foreign realm-like a villain in disguised. Shakespeare therefore manages by Jacobean theatergoers to invert her gender role with that of her masculine lover Antony. As a result her maternal nature is obliterated and only redeemed by her through death. Antony and Cleopatra is riddles with thematic oppositions which includes dual conflicts. For instance the play represents love as an opposite of military leadership, the antagonism between imagination of art and nature, the futility of action in the face of changing fortunes, the essence of sublunary world and the power of perception and reality as it can be affected by theater and role-playing. Importantly, it also brings into cognizance the effect of opposing cultural values associated with both Egypt and Rome, and the symbolic conflict that creates tension between change and permanence which drives Antony and Cleopatra to escape and flee from this mutable world. Shakespeare figures move out of their own genders in a painful but educational process that a character contends to undergo in order to find a place of existence in a world not bound by life or death, tragedy or comedy. We also see in Antony and Cleopatra the dynamics of master and servant relationship and the tensions it builds between the order of command and response as well as the political implications in the context of the Jacobean and Elizabethan periods. Moreover, the concept of comic subversion of the tragic and Egypt’s status as a carnival-like parody of Roman culture leads to a theme of transformative force in the drama where the world of ruinous oppositions in Antony and Cleopatra is defined by struggles, degeneration, loss of identity and self-annihilation ( Shakespeare:42) The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra Plot Analysis Antony living luxuriously in Egypt Happy with his infatuation with Cleopatra, everything for Antony seems to be going well until word reaches him that things are falling apart back in Rome. He hears that wars are brewing and the two triumvirs of Lepidus and Caesar are in need of his help. Because of Cleopatra, Antony hears that he is loosing face in Rome and therefore resolves to go back home and be a soldier once more. Conflict In Rome things are dire for wars are being waged left and right. Antony’s wife and brother are waging war against Caesar which gets resolves when Antony’s wife dies. Antony steps in to negotiate a truce in the war between Pompey and Roman triumvirs, which also resolves the pirates issue. Antony marries Octavia to seal his peace with Caesar only to find out that Caesar has betrayed him by breaking the truce with Pompey, kicking Lepidus out of office and slandering Antony in public. He therefore decides to go to war with Caesar with the first war being held at sea. Antony counts on Cleopatra’s help but when the naval battle heats up, Cleopatra’s ship flees, but out of his love for her, follows and looses battle. Complication Things take on an awry turn for Antony as Cleopatra flirts with Caesar’s messenger Thidias. This is particularly awful to Antony since he has just lost a naval battle and his soldierly honor for her. Moreover, some men on watch hear a strange music all around them, which they interpret as the sound of Halecules abandoning Antony, further, Enobarbus deserts Antony for Caesar’s camp. Antony admits that he is loosing faith in himself and therefore in everything else (Bulman235). Climax Antony looses his senses, watching his men turn against him at sea, and is convinced that this is the work of Cleopatra’s betrayal. He returns in rage and vows to kill her. When he hunts her down, his real conflict is rallied round the question of whether Cleopatra is devoted to him and vice versa, given that he has sacrificed so much for this woman. The suspense of the drama is created when Cleopatra locks herself away in her monument and sends word to Antony that she has committed suicide. She does this in order to gain Antony’s attention. Like she usually does, she plans to decide her actions based on Antony’s reaction. But what she is not aware is that Antony has fallen into despair which only the audience can anticipate something awful. Denouement Antony upon hearing of Cleopatra’s suicide stabs himself but while bleeding, he finds out that Cleopatra did not really kill herself. Therefore Antony in his fury lets love take him to death by suicide thinking that he will find Cleopatra in death. His suicide is apparently not as sad though because he feels that it is the best way for him to prove to Caesar that he is the sole master of his own destiny. Thus it is a noble and self-possessed act. Having this in mind, though his death is tragic, his death is not lamentable as such. As a result, Cleopatra decides she will kill herself too, and though she says it in passion we cannot really trust her. Her fate is however sealed by the knowledge from Dolabella that Caesar will have her marched through the streets as part of his triumphant parade. Since she cannot bear such indignity, she actually kills herself. But the two lovers make peace before Antony dies and eventually Cleopatra kills herself. Cleopatra sends for a poisonous snake which is smuggled to her in a basket of figs. She proclaims that she is going to meet with her husband, but as she takes the snake to her breast, she wishes the snake could lament against Caesar for loosing out in terms of craftiness in the contest against her. She dies with her pride intact and hopes to join Antony her husband but mostly for having defeated Caesar by robbing of the chance of conquering her. Finally Caesar finds her and says that she will be buried next to Antony, thus giving the famous lovers a chance to be together in death. He therefore orders his army to solemnly attend the funeral and then head back to Rome to finish up with the business of the empire. Conclusion In spite of the tragedy in the play Antony and Cleopatra, most people in the play get around a lot. Out of the tragic end of the story; Octavia was left to take care of everybody’s kids. After the death of both Antony and Cleopatra, Octivia was left under her patronage Julious Antony, from Antony’s marriage to Fulvia; Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Serene II and Ptolemy Philadelphus, Antony’s three children with Cleopatra. This was in addition to her children from her marriage to Marcellus before Antony. Caesar brutally murdered Cleopatras oldest son known as Ptolemy Caesar who was believed to be Caesar’s son. Works Cited Shakespeare, William, and John D. Wilson. Antony and Cleopatra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Bulman, James C. The Heroic Idiom of Shakespearean Tragedy. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1985. Print Shakespeare, William, and Tony Farrell. Antony and Cleopatra. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 2004. Print. Schörkhuber, Verena. The Representation of Gender in Shakespeare's 'macbeth' and 'antony and Cleopatra'. München: GRIN Verlag, 2007. Internet resource Read More