Caesar also acts as if he is charmed by her powers of seduction; he begins to praise both her and Antony now that he knows he is winning and he has no need to be wary of them. He becomes more gentle and compassionate, and free with his compliments. When Antony dies, Caesar calls him “so great a thing”, and now that, in Act 5 Scene 2, Cleopatra is dead, he says “she looks like sleep, as she would catch another Antony in her strong toil of grace”.
However, there are two sides to Cleopatra's attractiveness, powers of seduction and beauty. There are many derogatory references to her sexual history as well.
In the very first scene of the play, Philo calls her a “strumpet” and a “gipsy”, implying her to be sexually promiscuous, and says she has a “tawny front”. This, and the term “gipsy” both have racist implications, as they are pejorative adjectives which refer to her ethnicity and culture. In Act 2 Scene 2 Agrippa calls her a “royal wench”. This is a very interesting insult, as it is basically a contradiction in terms: ‘Wench’ is a medieval word meaning prostitute, but the word ‘royal’ does not go with this. ‘Wench’ suggests lower class, whereas ‘royal’ is obviously upper class. This leads to an interesting and effective contrast, entirely summing up Agrippa’s attitude – that Cleopatra is not fit to rule because she is a woman, very histrionic, and a whore. He uses this insult to emphasise her delusions of grandeur, in “royal”, and her true status, in “wench”.
Surprisingly, many of the insults about her sexual reputation are said by Antony, who is in love with her. This suggests that she is a difficult person to love, and that from afar she seems much more reasonable and pleasant than she is to people who know her better. Calling Cleopatra a whore is an insult commonly used by Romans: this is the one Antony chooses to use in Act 3 Scene 13. It is much more insulting than when others do it, because it is a typical ‘Roman’ insult, and it seems that Antony is trying to prove that he is Roman and therefore ‘not hers’ in the use of it. He calls her “half-blasted”, “one that looks on feeders”, a “boggler” and, to crown it all he offers a very strong pejorative image of “a morsel cold upon dead Caesar’s trencher; nay, you were a fragment of Cneius Pompey’s”. He ends this rant with, “besides, what hotter hours, unregistered in vulgar fame, you have luxuriously picked out”, implying that she is even more of a whore than people think.
Towards the end of the play, in Act 4 Scene 12, Antony calls her a “triple-turned whore”, because he thinks that she has betrayed him. This insult refers to her relationship Julius Caesar, himself, and the false rumour of Cneius Pompey. He being one of these, he cannot criticise this. Pompey is untrue. This leaves just Julius Caesar, and this was a successful relationship about which Antony has no right to judge Cleopatra. This, again, is a typical Roman insult, used constantly by those who reject Cleopatra as a ruler. In using these words, Antony seems to be implying that he too believes that she, being female and a ‘whore’, is not fit to rule. He separates himself entirely from her, breaking any connection and becoming entirely and repulsively Roman.
There is also much evidence regarding Cleopatra's immaturity and girlishness. At the beginning of the play she is very frivolous and flighty, giggling with Antony about love. She very soon afterwards shows herself to be quite intelligent and politically astute when a messenger enters and announces that he has news from Rome. Antony dismisses him, but Cleopatra insists that he must hear the message. She begins gently and jokingly, with “nay, hear them, Antony” but quickly gets more forceful, ordering him to “hear the ambassadors”.
It is strange that this scene, which shows many complimentary images of Cleopatra, is in the middle of two scenes containing Roman, pejorative images of her. The scene begins with the comments about “gipsy” and “strumpet”, and ends with a very small section that criticises Antony for staying in Egypt with her, rather than attending to his Roman duties.
There seems to be a common opinion that Cleopatra is very unpredictable and changeable, and melodramatic. Enobarbus suggests this when he says, “I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment”. (1:2:137). We, as the audience, see this many times throughout the play. Her distress at Fulvia’s death, when she says, “turn aside and weep for her, then bid adieu to me, and say the tears belong to Egypt”, her anger as she hears of Antony's impending departure to Rome in Act 1 Scene 3, her exaggerated boredom when he is away in Act 1 Scene 5, when she asks Charmian for mandragora to help her sleep until Antony returns, and her rage when the messenger tells her of Antony’s marriage all contribute to the truth in Enobarbus's claim.
The silly games she uses to manipulate people seem quite immature. When she is looking for Antony, she says to Alexas, “if you find him sad, say I am dancing; if in mirth, report that I am sudden sick”. This is to ensure that she remains more powerful in their relationship: he will either feel that she does not need him, or that she is ill and he is not with her. The audience recognises this, and may revel in her cunning, but are more likely to sympathise with Antony and hope for her trickery to be discovered. This provides a contrast with the previous happiness in their relationship, so the audience have something to aim for in their distress at the conflict. When Antony returns, Cleopatra is sulking. She says, “I am sick and sullen” and will not talk to him. He does not respond badly to this. Rather, he begins to desperately try to convince her of his love for her, with phrases like, “my full heart remains in use with you”. Here we again feel that Antony is making more effort than Cleopatra is worth, because we feel that she is being unreasonable: we continue to wish that their relationship would resume the blissful quality it had at the start of the play. Her reaction to Antony's behaviour at Fulvia's death is an example of her melodramatic and self-absorbed nature, and acts as evidence for Enobarbus's comment of “I have seen her die twenty times upon far poorer moment”.
There is a point at the end of this scene where Cleopatra tries to be sincere and tell Antony how she really feels. She finds that she is incapable of finding the right words, having used them up in insincerities. She says, “sir, you and I must part, but that’s not it; sir, you and I have loved, but there’s not it” and finally gives up and says, “O, my oblivion is a very Antony, and I am all forgotten”
This scene succeeds in showing Cleopatra as reproachful, angry, scornful, sarcastic, helpless and humble. As some of these are pejorative and some complimentary, the question of the essay title is still not definitively answered. The audience probably have a slightly unsympathetic view of her, after her inappropriate and unreasonable anger directed at Antony. Even her attempt at honesty and sincerity cannot override the audience’s already critical view of her.
Another immature game Cleopatra plays is a very cruel one. She has made Antony angry, and in Act 4 Scene 13 she frantically asks Charmian, Iras and Mardian for advice on how to deal with him. Charmian advises her to send word to him that she is dead, and then he will come, full of remorse and she can sort out the problem. Here we see evidence of her respect for her servants, and their respect for her. She takes Charmian’s advice, which again displeases the audience and adds to their lack of sympathy for her. On balance, we seem to be seeing more pejorative than complimentary aspects of her character, so we are beginning to answer the title question. “Foul Egyptian” appears to be more prevalent until now in the play. She takes Charmian's advice and sends a message of her death to Antony. We here see a very unattractive side of Cleopatra. He calls her down to him, saying, “I here importune death awhile, until of many thousand kisses the poor last I lay upon thy lips”. She responds to this with, “I dare not, lest I be taken”. This is selfish, and questions whether she actually loves him. If she does, she should be able to risk being captured just to be near him before he dies.
A more admirable aspect of Cleopatra's character is her very friendly and close relationships with her servants. Charmian, Iras and Mardian seems more like friends than servants: she confides and jokes with them and asks them for advice. We see this very clearly in Act 1 Scene 5, when she talks to Charmian about missing Antony, saying, “Ha ha! Give me to drink mandragora”, and jokes with Mardian, a eunuch, about his sexual impotence. When the messenger tells Cleopatra that Antony is married to Octavia, in Act 2 Scene 5, she asks “for what good turn?” and he, in his nervousness, responds with a completely inappropriate bawdy joke of “for the best turn i‘th’bed”, hoping to ease the tension and add humour.
There is also frequent friendly teasing between Cleopatra and her servants, for example when she is praising Antony and Charmian mocks how she used to praise Caesar in the same way. Cleopatra asks “did I, Charmian, ever love Caesar so?” and Charmian, rather than responding, mocks Cleopatra's previous exclamations of, “O, that brave Caesar!” and “the valiant Caesar!”, later saying, “I sing but after you”. This is all done in good humour, and neither woman thinks to be offended. Cleopatra excuses her actions with “my salad days, when I was green in judgement, cold in blood, to say as I said then”. These exchanges make the audience feel relaxed and happy, and add to their complimentary view of Cleopatra, as she, unlike Caesar, can mingle with people of a lower class as equals. Also, we begin to associate the happy feeling with Cleopatra and her servants, so feel optimistic when we see her.
Unfortunately, this trust in her servants means that when Charmian suggests that she sends a message to Antony saying that she is dead, she takes this advice and consequently causes Antony to “do that thing which ends all other deeds”
Her friendly relationship with her own servants does not seem to extend to other’s servants. In Act 2 Scene 5 a messenger comes to her palace and tells her that Antony has married Octavia, and she explodes, striking the messenger to the floor and dragging him by the hair. The whole scene very hyperbolic, she first promises to “set thee in a shower of gold” but quickly turns bad when she says, “the gold I give thee I will melt and pour down thy ill uttering throat”.
The messenger’s order was to deliver the message, so he continues to repeat it. Each time he does this Cleopatra “strikes him” or “hales him up and down” until finally, she “draws a knife” and he leaves.
Cleopatra interprets the news about Octavia to mean “Dull of tongue, and dwarfish”, which is obviously not what the messenger reported, but what she wanted to hear. This demonstrates her ability to ignore anything she wishes, and exaggerate other, more desirable things. This is linked to her growing insecurity as she ages, and her fear of becoming undesirable. We, as the audience, find this scene amusing and interesting, so we see this as a complimentary aspect of her personality. At the same time we can rationally see the absurdity of her understanding of the messenger’s description. This should be a pejorative thing, but in fact it may endear us to her because it causes the dramatic mood of the play to rise.
Act 3 Scene 11 has a very melancholy mood, but expresses the relationship of Antony and Cleopatra quite poignantly. “Egypt, thou knew’st too well my heart was to thy rudder tied by th’strings, and thou should’st tow me after”, “my sword, made weak by affection, would obey it on all cause” and “love, I am full of lead” beautifully convey Antony's feelings of love and loyalty to Cleopatra. She is less eloquent, her only lines being “O, my pardon!” and “pardon, pardon”. This gives the impression that their relationship is unbalanced and he cares about her more than she about him.
There are, of course, many scenes that show the unattractive aspects of their relationship as well. Act 1 Scene 3 is an example of this: Cleopatra is angry with Antony, and childishly sulks and refuses to speak to him. It happens very frequently that they have a minor fight and Cleopatra gets very upset and melodramatic. Antony is usually more rational and reserved, but when he gets angry he practically loses all reason.
In Act 3 Scene 13, Antony enters as Thidias is kissing Cleopatra's hand. He gets very angry and afraid that she is being unfaithful to him. He begins to insult her about her sexual reputation. As mentioned earlier, he does this to emphasise his Roman side, and to make the point that he is ‘not hers’. He also compares her to Octavia; a sure way to annoy her as she knows he did not marry Octavia for love, but he makes her sound perfect when he speaks of her. We, as the audience, sympathise with Cleopatra, as it appears that she was kissing his hand in irony, when he talked of her ‘loyalty to Caesar’. Also, we feel that Antony is rather histrionic in his references to Octavia. He should not do this, as he knows exactly how and why it will annoy Cleopatra so much. Cleopatra goes up in our admiration, because of our reproach for Antony. Later in the scene, this is all reconciled. He asks, “to flatter Caesar would you mingle eyes with one that ties his points?” and she reassures him that she is faithful to him, with means of a question: “not know me yet?”
Act 4 Scene 12 is when Antony is told of the sudden surrender of the Egyptian fleet. He is furious that Cleopatra has betrayed him. She, of course, has not done this, and has no idea what he is shouting at her for. He makes many derogatory references to her supposed magical powers, for example “my charm”, “ah, thou spell! Avaunt!” and “the witch shall die”. He again mentions “patient Octavia”, knowing that this will enrage her. Although this is more Cleopatra's fault than the previous instance of Antony's anger, we still feel that he is being too dramatic.
The very last scene, Act 5 Scene 2, shows a whole kaleidoscope of the different ‘sides’ to Cleopatra. As Enobarbus said in Act 2 Scene 3, “age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety”. It is in this scene that her “infinite variety” is most noticeable. We see her as lover, mother, little girl, politician, woman, defeated ruler and many other roles.
Our first view of her is a very strange one; the first line of the scene is, “my desolation does begin to make a better life”. This is a bizarre paradox – Cleopatra becomes quite philosophical, as if now that she is about to die she has suddenly matured and discovered a higher level of consciousness. She explains this in line 283, saying, “I am fire and air; my other elements I give to baser life”
Very early in this scene, Cleopatra reminds us of her role as a mother. We often forget, for most of the play, that she has children. Here, however, she is at the mercy of Caesar and must ensure their well-being and safety. She asks “if he please to give me conquered Egypt for my son” and is reassured by Proculeius that “you’re fall’n into a princely hand” and Caesar will do as she asks, an example of her cunning and ability to get her own way. The guards seize her and she is not capable of suicide, so she launches into a speech full of hyperbole. She vows, “sir, I will eat no meat, I’ll not drink, sir” as this appears to be the only way she will succeed in killing herself and avoiding being disgraced behind Caesar's chariot. This is her most prominent fear; the thing she has spent the whole play working out how to avoid.
Caesar and Cleopatra are meeting for the first time in this scene. This is a very significant moment in the play: one that the audience have been looking forward to with great anticipation. We see an example of her shrewdness and ability to manipulate people to trick them into giving her what she wants in this section. She takes on the role of the subservient, obedient suppliant, so he does not suspect that she is planning to go against him, addressing him as “sole sir o’th’world” and excusing her previous actions in the typical Roman way of “frailties which before have often shamed our sex”. He seems to accept everything she says, but still suspects that she may be trying to manipulate him in some way, and warns her that if she “takes Antony's course” he will “put her children to that destruction which I’ll guard them from if thereon you rely”. We have seen Caesar’s cunning in many previous scenes, and realise that he will not be easily fooled by Cleopatra. This means that, for the audience, the tension begins to rise as the battle of wills between them begins. Caesar knows that Cleopatra is anxious to keep her children safe from him, and assumes that this is a harsh enough threat to keep her from suicide.
We see this same quality in a later scene, when we discover that her suicide with the asps is already arranged; we discover this when she says, “I have spoke already, and it is provided”. This shows her as an astute planner, proficient in thinking ahead.
She is also a sly businesswoman: she shows this when she hands Caesar an inventory of ‘all’ “money, plates and jewels I am possessed of”. Seleucus, a eunuch servant of hers, betrays her by telling Caesar that in fact it is very little of her personal wealth. There is much debate about this event, and whether the betrayal was planned to look like Cleopatra was trying to keep money to support herself, and therefore not planning to commit suicide. Oddly, Caesar is not angry that she attempted to trick him. Instead, he says, “I approve your wisdom in the deed”. This may be another trick of manipulation on his part: he may be trying to lull her into a false sense of security so she will let her guard down and he can then force her into whatever he has planned.
Cleopatra wants to die looking like a queen, in expectation of meeting Antony again. This could be her girlish vanity emerging, making her want to look beautiful for Antony, or may be connected with the idea that she has found a higher, grander part of herself. “I have immortal longings in me” and “I am fire and air; my other elements I give to baser life” show this.
Her girlish vanity and nervousness come out at another point in this scene, when she is talking to the Clown about the snake. She asks, “Will it eat me?”
Her goodbye to Charmian and Iras is an interesting scene. It is poignant and moving, because they have been loyal to her all along and now she is leaving them, but also has an uncomfortable feel to it. When she kisses them goodbye, Iras falls and dies. This is affecting, but not only because of her death. Cleopatra's first thought is that “if she first meet the curlėd Antony, he’ll make demand of her, and spend that kiss which is my heaven to have”. This undermines the beauty of their whole relationship, because as soon as Iras may have something that Cleopatra wants she is immediately jealous. However, this also demonstrates the extent of her love for Antony, so the audience may be touched rather than alienated.
She dies beautifully, and somewhat sexually. She applies the asp to her breast and conjures the image of “dost thou not see the baby at my breast, that sucks the nurse asleep?” This reminds us of her children, and makes her seem human and maternal, but at the same time suggests that breastfeeding sucks the life out of the mother into the child, underlining the image of danger in beauty.
The very last speech of the play is made by Caesar. He makes one grand gesture by saying, “she shall be buried by her Antony”, and now that they do not pose any threat to him he describes them as “a pair so famous”. He can now afford to be charitable; neither of them poses any threat to his plans of power, so he becomes very benevolent.
Throughout the play we see many different faces of Cleopatra, which means that all the way through we are constantly adjusting our judgement of her. Even the last scene is full of many different sides to her personality, but in conclusion I would say that, for me at least, the final judgement on her is an affirmative one. Taking her life to ensure that she has control right until the end shows bravery, and her love for Antony becomes strongly apparent around the middle of the play, when Caesar is becoming more powerful. It seems that as her situation grows worse, her positive personality traits become increasingly evident, and we like her more and more as the play unfolds.
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