Discuss the 'variety' of Cleopatra, and how successfully Shakespeare presents the contribution, which this makes to the dramatic impact of the play.
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety".
Discuss the 'variety' of Cleopatra, and how successfully Shakespeare presents the contribution, which this makes to the dramatic impact of the play.
In this play, Shakespeare has created a uniquely fascinating character in the Egyptian Queen. Cleopatra is a very sensuously attractive woman whose past relationships with Julius Caesar and Pompey indicate that even before meeting Antony she is sexually experienced. Her 'variety', as Enobarbus indicates, has much to do with her theatrical temperament, her mood swings and highly sensual nature. She is capable of participating in vulgar jokes, feigning illness, outbursts of temper and physical violence, as well as tender expressions of love and nobility in the face of tragedy. The audience also see her behave in a cowardly way and play the diplomat. It is also not always easy to understand Cleopatra's motives or gauge her level of self-interest.
Cleopatra is overall an awe-inspiring queen who leaves all audiences breathless. She may be called a "wrangling queen" and an "Egyptian dish", but such epithets alone do not do full justice to her character.
In the opening scene of the play, the audiences' introduction to Cleopatra is as a "gypsy" and "strumpet". This is expressed by Philo, as very much the Roman view and Caesar agrees that:
"Let's grant it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,"
Shakespeare invites the audience to observe Cleopatra's behaviour later in Act one, Scene one. Significantly, her first words are "If it be love indeed, tell me how much." She needs reassurance from her lover quite often and we can see that this is an indication of her emotional insecurity.
She likes to banter with and tease Antony. Fascinated, the General often responds well to these flirtatious games and values the variety of her unpredictable moods. Of these, he says:
"To chide, to laugh, to weep -
whose every passion fully drives
To make itself in thee, fair and admired."
Her character shown on stage is dramatic and she comes across as an actress, elevating her passion, grief and outrage. In this way, Cleopatra is said to make Antony "the noble ruin of her magic".
When under the spell of her charm, the audience even see Antony echoing Cleopatra's mood changes. In Act one, scene one, a messenger arrives with news from Rome and, being interrupted, Antony suddenly changes his tone of voice and snaps impatiently, "Grates me! The sum".
Duty irritates him and he only wants to focus on Cleopatra, which is exactly the attitude she wants him to adopt so that he will stay in Egypt. By Antony changing like this, the audience can see that Cleopatra is clearly manipulative but behind this, there are genuine feelings of love for Antony that are reflected in the language and especially in her ability to draw from the General generous expressions of devotion to her. An example of this would be when Antony says:
"Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the ...
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Duty irritates him and he only wants to focus on Cleopatra, which is exactly the attitude she wants him to adopt so that he will stay in Egypt. By Antony changing like this, the audience can see that Cleopatra is clearly manipulative but behind this, there are genuine feelings of love for Antony that are reflected in the language and especially in her ability to draw from the General generous expressions of devotion to her. An example of this would be when Antony says:
"Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch
Of the rang'd empire fall! Here is my space."
Shakespeare's language changes as each mood changes. When Cleopatra is speaking in short sentences, she is often acting annoyed or obviously teasing as in Scene one, and when both she and Antony are speaking to one another about their love, they express themselves in eloquent terms that enhances their god-like status and preoccupation with each other. This is especially true of Antony in the first scene when he says, "Let Rome in Tiber Melt". The power and might of the Empire are expressed in the imagery of these lines. It is power on a god-like scale that Antony says here he is prepared to sacrifice for the sake of love.
Enobarbus provides valuable thoughts into Cleopatra's character. His highly poetic and dramatic barge speech helps the audience understand why Antony is captivated by her. He says,
"The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne...
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick with them."
The colours that Enobarbus uses here to describe the barge are very exquisite. The gold, silver and purple all emphasize the luxurious comfort of Cleopatra and they elevate her grandeur and status. The audience can sense from these colours used, how important Cleopatra really is. Enobarbus also uses, in this speech, personification to great dramatic effect by, for example, referring to the winds as "love-sick". The highly condensed images that are used are extremely sensual and he compares Cleopatra to the goddess, Venus. This emphasizes her beauty and her love for Antony. Enobarbus says:
"O'erpicturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature"
He means here that her beauty surpasses the painting of Venus of which the artist has created a beauty greater than that found in nature. He describes her youthfulness and emphasizes that no matter how old she is, Cleopatra will always remain beautiful and youthful. No attempted description of the sight they saw, would never match to the reality as "it beggar'd all description".
Enobarbus also uses appetite imagery in Act two, scene two, when he says:
"Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where she most satisfies"
It underlines the fact that Cleopatra is a powerfully sexual woman, which again helps to explain Antony's infatuation with her.
In Act One, Scene Two, Antony hears of Fulvia's death and the pressing matters regarding the Empire from Rome. At this point he feels that Cleopatra is bewitching him and distracting him from his duties. What is interesting in relation to Cleopatra here is that Enobarbus firmly states that Cleopatra's behaviour especially her mood swings, are a sign of the strength of her love for Antony. He says, "Her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love."
At times in the play, we can see how Cleopatra infuriates Antony or causes him anguish. In Act one, scene three, she mocks Antony, accuses him of falsehood, pretends sickness and even expresses the desire to fight him. In this scene, she asks him for forgiveness, when she realises her melodramatic tactics are not going to sway him from returning to Rome. We see her true feelings come out at this point. When Cleopatra flees the Battle of Actium, this leads Antony near to the point of despair. He chides himself for following her but in anguish asks, "O, whither Last thou led me, Egypt?" Cleopatra, notably, seems genuinely surprised that her cowardly act has much an effect. She is interested to see him in this frame of mind and again can only beg forgiveness:
"Forgive my fearful sails! I little thought
You would have follow'd"
She also infuriates other characters in the play and we see this in Act three, scene eleven. Enobarbus loses his patience with her when she insists on being at the battle of Actium. We also see Scarus in fury when he hears how Cleopatra flees the battle. In Act two, when Cleopatra is extremely angry at Antony, when she learns he has married Octavia, she relieves her anger on the messenger. This is Cleopatra's way of expressing her anguish. She expresses her fury by striking the man and through brutal imagery such as:
"Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire and stew'd in brine,
Smarting in lingering pickle!"
The audience then see her in Act three being kind and rewarding, as she describes how she will "shower [the messenger] with gold".
As well as the audience seeing Cleopatra's melodramatic side, they also see that she is cowardly. The fact that she flees from the battle of Actium indicates that she is not always fully conscious of the consequences of her actions. We also see this cowardice when she refuses to leave the monument, even to be with the dying Antony. However, the audience can recognise that, at this stage, the threat from Caesar is very real. Cleopatra does not want the humiliation of being held up to "shouting plebeians" and having to breathe in their foul breath "rank with gross diet".
There are times in the play when Cleopatra can be stubborn and illogical. An example of this is seen in Act three scene seven, when she does not accept Enobarbus' argument that her presence at the battle of Actium "needs must puzzle Antony/Take from his heart, take from his brain, from's time/What should not then be spar'd". Even when Enobarbus says that Antony is "Traduc'd for levity" in Rome she refuses to listen, saying, "Sink Rome and their tongues rot / That speak against us!" Cleopatra's lack of sound reasoning is also reflected in the fact that she encourages Antony to fight at sea.
In Act five, Cleopatra acquires a heightened nobility and tragic status. This is also noticed at the time of Antony's death. The audience see this when Antony is dying in her arms and she says, "O see, my women, The crown o'th' earth doth melt. My lord!". This scene is very dramatic and she later refers to herself as just a "maid that milks / And does the meanest chares." Without Antony, her life seems meaningless, even with royal status. She wants to "throw [her] sceptre at the injurious gods". Her solution to this is to commit suicide - "Let's do't after the high Roman fashion". However, in Act five Scene two, we see her play the diplomat with Caesar and the audience wonder if her resolve to join Antony in death is weakening. However, any doubts about her commitment to "do it after the high fashion / And make death proud to take [her]" are soon banished as Cleopatra praises Antony to Dolabella as a triumphant man. She describes how "his legs bestrid the ocean; his rear'd arm Crested the world;"
Cleopatra presents herself in death in her "best attires" with full dignity and refers to Antony as "husband". This shows the audience how much she has cared for Antony and how she wishes to continue that in the after-life. Cleopatra says she is now "fire and air" and gives her other elements to "baser life". Death she compares to a "lover's pinch" and we see that her nobility and devotion to Antony is also emphasized by the loyalty of her handmaidens. Their suicides heighten the dramatic impact of Cleopatra's death. Significantly, before killing herself, Charmian calls Cleopatra the "eastern star", a reminder of Cleopatra's association with great beauty and her goddess-like status.
I believe that Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare's strongest female characters with her self-absorption, her charisma, her voluptuousness and her strength and unpredictable moods. This Egyptian Queen certainly proves that "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety."
Ashleigh Carleton - Yr 13 1
