Explore Shakespeare's presentation of Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra

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Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents Cleopatra in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’

Shakespeare cleverly dupes the audience into something of a pre-disposed opinion of Cleopatra before we have even met her, based on the conversation in the opening scene between Philo and Demetrius. Philo, addressing his fellow Roman soldier, denounces Antony’s love for Cleopatra, regarding it as nothing more than a demeaning infatuation with a lustful harlot which is tarnishing their general’s former greatness. Philo’s opinion that Antony’s ‘dotage o’erflows the measure’, i.e. that his infatuation is out of control in its abundance, causes the audience to make an early judgement of their relationship before the couple have even come on stage. It should be noted that Philo’s opinion, as a Roman soldier, is likely to be rather biased, because to Romans duty to the Empire came way before duty to one’s lover. The matter of Roman and, by contrast, Egyptian values and attitudes is an important theme of the play, especially in acts 1 and 2.

Philo’s use of the word ‘gipsy’ with reference to Cleopatra is perhaps the most revealing of all about the Roman view of Cleopatra in this short passage. Gipsies were widely thought to have come from Egypt and had a reputation for cunning, fortune-telling and loose behaviour, and certainly shows she was hardly held in wide regard by Philo, and by representation the Roman people. Cleopatra’s manipulative streak becomes obvious as soon as we hear her speak- her first words are asking if their relationship ‘be love indeed, tell me (Cleopatra) how much.’ Her attempt to make Antony confirm his love for her shows either that she feels insecure about their relationship, or, what is more likely given what we are told by Philo before the couple’s entrance, that she is manipulating Antony, trying to make him forget his duties in Rome. This, an obvious display of Cleopatra’s attention to publicly upholding her status, emphasizes the effect of her ostentatious entrance, which, as written in the stage directions, includes a ‘flourish’ of sorts, and a sizeable entourage of ‘her ladies’ (Iras and Charmian), ‘the train’ and ‘eunuchs fanning her.’ Cleopatra could already be perceived as grandiose, and possibly slightly self-absorbed. As a messenger enters with news for Antony from Rome, all she can muster is ‘grates me! The sum’, meaning in other words that Rome irritates her and that the messenger must keep this interruption as brief as possible. These words support Philo’s claim that ‘the triple pillar’ is being distracted from his Roman duties. By the end of the first two acts, Cleopatra has been labelled a ‘wrangling queen’, a ‘slave’ and ‘Egyptian dish’, all ways in which various Romans have depicted her as cunning, untrustworthy and promiscuous. But to view Cleopatra as such is to reduce her character to the rather narrow perspective of the Romans, who, standing to lose their honour or kingdoms through her agency, are greatly threatened by her. Certainly this threat has much to do with Cleopatra’s beauty and open sexuality, which, as Enobarbus points out in his description of her in act 2, scene 2, is awe-inspiring. But it is also a performance. Indeed, when Cleopatra takes the stage, she does so as an actress, elevating her passion, grief, and outrage to the most dramatic and captivating level. Enobarbus says that when the lovers first met Cleopatra ‘pursed up his heart upon the River Cydnus’, and goes on to describe the queen’s magnificence. The timing of this description makes for a far greater impact that if it had been delivered earlier, in Egypt, suddenly injecting the life and colour of an alternative world after the tense political manoeuvrings that have preceded it. The contrast is also linguistic and poetic. The language of the triumvirs is graceless and formal, and coming immediately after the proposal of Antony’s marriage to Octavia, who is a mere pawn in a business arrangement and is not described at all, it presents us with the spellbinding magnetism of Cleopatra to which Enobarbus and, as we already know, Antony, are bound to return. Quite frankly, after the harsh realities of Roman power struggles, who would not find relief in the seductive charms of Egypt? The exotic picture of Cleopatra that emerges is not unlike the Roman view expressed before the meeting by Pompey, except that it is presented sympathetically. This picture is emphasized linguistically as the previously prose speaking Enobarbus suddenly slips into iambic pentameter/blank verse.

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In act 1, scene 3 the Queen reveals herself to be an actress of formidable range, feigning illness, turning Antony’s words against him, taunting and perversely misbelieving him, while making false accusations to her own advantage. Her intentions in this scene are clear, telling Charmian that if she ‘should find him sad’, tell Antony she is dancing, and if she should find him happy, that she is ‘sudden sick’. As Antony enters she begins to use all her wiles to prevent him from leaving. Her capriciousness is evident throughout, protesting she is ‘sick and sullen’, pretending faintness and asking Charmian ...

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