In Act 2: Scene 4, Antony realises that he misses Cleopatra and wishes to return to Egypt. He says that “ I’th’ East my pleasure lies”. Shakespeare makes Egypt sound like a foreign, exotic, seductive place. Shakespeare has chosen ‘East’ instead of Egypt because it makes it seem further away from Athens, where Antony is, so supports the vastness aspect of the play.
In Act 3: Scene 1, we move to a battle scene, which shows more vastness and space. It is with Ventidius and Silius, who have just won battle. Shakespeare takes us to an extreme outpost of the Roman Empire. Shakespeare has also put this scene in for structure; a festivity has just taken place on Pompey’s boat and because Shakespeare wants to show the ‘morning after’, he puts this scene in to pass the time. This is one of Shakespeare’s common conventions to pass the time in this play.
In Act 3: Scene 4, Shakespeare introduces us to a new vastness, between two characters and their characteristics. At this point in the play, Antony and Octavia have moved to Athens to live their lives. Antony is extremely angry, as he has just learnt of Caesar’s actions. Octavia tries to calm him and tells him that: “If this division chance, ne’er stood between, praying for both parts.” We can see that Octavia is in a difficult situation; she is torn between the two most important men in her life. This portrays vastness, as there is a large space between her and Antony, as they have different decisions to make and their feelings towards Caesar are very different. There is also a vastness between her and Cleopatra, as the audience can see, they are very different. Enobarbus even says this, in a scene earlier on. He tells Agrippa that: “On each side her stood pretty dimpled boys, a strange invisible perfume hit the senses.” He uses descriptive language and emotive language that appeal to the senses that show that Cleopatra is much more glamorous than Octavia. It may be taken that Enobarbus is in love with Cleopatra, but every man adored her and admired her.
We have seen that there is true vastness in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ from the cities that seemed so far apart, to the characteristics of different characters, but there is also clearly intimacy in this play that can easily be seen between characters.
The first stage of intimacy we see is straightaway in Act 1: Scene 1. Conventionally, Shakespeare starts the scene with lesser characters, and then the more important characters enter: Antony and Cleopatra. We see, as Philo has told us, that Antony is flirtatious and has abandoned his political duties for his love. We see this when they enter the play when Cleopatra tells Antony: “ If it be love indeed, tell me how much.” Shakespeare has put this scene here to show the audience of the intimacy between the two most important characters. It prepares us for later on, when we see their true love. Shakespeare uses magical language, ‘new heaven, new earth’, to describe the love between these two characters.
Even though there is obvious intimacy between obvious characters: lovers, we also see this action between female characters. Throughout the play we notice that Cleopatra is very close to her handmaid’s Charmian and Iras. She treats them like one of her own, not the class they are in. She relies on them and the intimacy between them is very clear, when the play is shown on stage. In Act 2: Scene 5 she leans and relies on them after the news that Antony has married: “ I faint! O Iras, Charmian! Pity me, Charmian.” She is clearly distraught, which Shakespeare shows here, and he also portrays Cleopatra’s need for her maids and how close they are. We will also see this in her final scene.
We have talked about intimacy, but there is also lack of it in the play, which we can see when we look at Octavia’s character. In Act 2: Scene 3, Antony has been married to Octavia, and we see them together for the first time, since being married. We can see a lack of intimacy between the two and it is clear that she is nothing like Cleopatra: “ The world will sometimes divide me from your bosom.” Antony says this to Octavia, but if he had said it to Cleopatra Shakespeare would have made it more emotive and maybe would have put words into Antony’s mouth that say he cannot leave her. Shakespeare makes this sentence sound mundane by placing the word ‘sometimes’ in the sentence. This may be here to show that Antony longs to be with Cleopatra, but also slightly shows his feelings towards her as he tells her of his political duties. But we remember that he did not want to leave Cleopatra in the early scenes of the play, showing their intimacy is not as great.
Shakespeare also shows intimacy between siblings: Caesar and Octavia. In Act 3: Scene 2 we see this, when Antony and Octavia are to leave for Athens, to start a life there. Caesar and Octavia both become very emotional. Caesar says: “ The time shall not outgo my thinking of you.” Enobarbus scorns his tears, referring to him as a horse that has a ‘cloud’ on his face. This is derogatory and Shakespeare has done this to show that Enobarbus is a true follower of Antony. Caesar calls Octavia ‘sweet’ showing the intimacy between the two and how close they are.
In Act 4: Scene 4, Antony has returned to Cleopatra and this is a very intimate scene as we see her trying to dress Antony for the battle, but she has no idea what the different pieces of equipment are for. Antony tells Cleopatra to leave the armour alone and that she is “the armourer of my heart.” This is very intimate, as we see them together before the battle. Shakespeare has put this here to show that the two are very close before the fight. He uses the word ‘armourer’ in two different ways. Of course he means armour, but amour is also the French for love, so it portrays Cleopatra’s love will be his shield in the battle, which represent intimacy.
In Antony’s last scene Act 4: Scene 15, he returns to Cleopatra to die, and we see a very intimate, romantic scene between the two major characters. Antony enters the scene and Cleopatra is very distraught. Antony says: “ I am dying, Egypt, dying.” By calling her Egypt, Shakespeare is showing the intimacy between the two characters and it is also romantic. She also calls him “lord”, showing her respect for him. Shakespeare has used this language in this scene to convey the intimacy and so we feel sympathy towards the pair when Antony dies.
As we said before, Cleopatra is very close to her maids and treats them like sisters or very good friends, not like servants. In her final scene, Act 5: Scene 2, we clearly see how close she was to Charmian and Iras, and how she cherished their friendship. Before she dies she says to them: “ Come, then and take the last warmth of my lips.” She wishes them goodbye she dies, and we can see how intimate and close the three women were.
As we can see both vastness and intimacy feature greatly in this play. From feminine, seductive Egypt, to masculine, military Rome, the vastness is clearly shown, but not only in cities, but also in the characteristics of people in the play. From vastness we move to intimacy, which can be seen in many of the characters, mainly Antony and Cleopatra, but also in siblings and servants. Shakespeare successfully merges these two very different aspects to create an enchanting play.
