Caesar is portrayed as the real hero of the play whereas Antony is seen as weak.

Caesar is portrayed as the real hero of the play whereas Antony is seen as weak. Throughout the play we are given many references to how much more power Caesar has than Antony. Caesar can be portrayed as the stronger of the two. The entire play, the audience perceive Antony as weak. This is because he is supposed to be seen as a very manly, strong and independent man. The play actually converts this image, he is being bossed around by his mistress and seems so love struck that he is actually unable to function correctly. Rome is a very powerful and political city, they are a very dominant city and when they see their leader being dragged around by a woman, this causes them to loose some of the dignity they had for him. This ultimately leads Antony to be the weaker character of he and Caesar, as Caesar does not get involved with such nonsense. In Act 2, Scene 2, there are many revelations of Antony as a character. He admits that he couldn't control his wife and this is revealed in lines 61-69. In the times that this play was set in, this is unacceptable, men control their wives and the fact that Antony cannot do this means that he is weak. More revelations occur when in lines 97-100 he actually admits he's weak. Furthermore, in Act 2, Scene 2, He has to apologise to Caesar as his wife and brother are plotting war against him. This shows that Caesar is the stronger force of

  • Word count: 1372
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Antony & Cleopatra - language

In Act 1 scene 3 lines 13-56, what do we learn about Antony and Cleopatra's characters? In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare uses rich, poetic language; this not only provides a source of visual pleasure for the audience as it is a play; but also acts as a means of defining the various characters, particularly Antony and Cleopatra, the protagonists. In the scene being analysed, the tone, hyperbole language and imagery gives the reader an insight into the characters as well as their affection for one another. 'If you find him sad, Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report'. From the outset of the scene, Cleopatra's language and tone of voice depicts her character to the reader as very clever, yet volatile with a bizarre lack of confidence, 'I shall fall' illustrates her dependence and need for stability and security. The melodrama also portrays her crave for attention, especially that from Antony, and her egotistic rush for power and recognition. The reader also perceives Antony as the eponymous, tragic hero, who is allowing his love for Cleopatra to cloud his judgement. His short rushed sentences, 'Now, my dearest queen' in reply to her demands reiterate this judgement of character, he is reassuring her, and trying to placate her as he doesn't want a scene. The scene is almost a microcosm of the entire play; it miniaturises fundamental themes, and sets the atmosphere for the

  • Word count: 1346
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

"Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of both Antony and Cleopatra in Act 1"

"Discuss Shakespeare's presentation of both Antony and Cleopatra in Act 1" Shakespeare's presentation of both Antony and Cleopatra in Act 1 can be analysed in many ways as they are both introduced in Act 1 with in-depth descriptions and images of both of them throughout, whether it be by eachother or opinions on them voiced by other characters. Straight from the beginning of the play, in Act 1 scene 1, Antony and Cleopatra argue over whether their love for one another for one another can be measured: CLEOPATRA: If it be love indeed, tell me how much. ANTONY: There's beggary in the love that can be reckoned. CLEOPATRA: I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved. ANTONY: Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth. This exchange sets the tone for the up coming talks on love and their attitudes to eachother and their relationship. Cleopatra expresses the expectation that love should be declared grandly. She is looking for a particular sense of comfort and being loved by asking Antony and wanting to hear of how much he loves her. It seems as though Cleopatra and Antony's relationship seems to be very much in the public eye due to both of them holding such high positions in the two most powerful empires of the world. In the lines quoted above, Cleopatra claims that she knows the limits ('bourn') oh her lover's affections, and Antony responds that, to do so, she will need

  • Word count: 1341
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Antony and Cleopatra. Comment on the Romans construct of Cleopatra as a cultural stereotype.

Assignment on Antony and Cleopatra Question: Comment on the Roman�s construct of Cleopatra as a cultural stereotype.         Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare is one of the best known tragedies of William Shakespeare. The tragedy is a portrayal of the actual events and persons from the Roman history and it also embodies the love story of the title characters. The plot, historical background and the intimate details of the affair between the title characters, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Roman General Antony has been borrowed from the Roman historian Plutarch�s �Lives�. In the characters of Antony, Cleopatra and Augustus Caesar; Shakespeare displays larger than life characters. The play is a very involved play that operates with rapid shifts between the homeland of Antony, Rome and the palace of Cleopatra in Alexandria, Egypt.                    The assortment of perspectives from which we see Cleopatra illustrates the varying understandings of her as a decadent foreign woman and a noble ruler. As Philo and Demetrius take the stage in Act I, scene i, their complaints about Antony�s neglected duties frame the audience�s understanding of Cleopatra, the queen for whom Antony risks his reputation. Within the first ten lines of the

  • Word count: 1314
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How much does Antony's love for Cleopatra contribute to his downfall?

How much does Antony's love for Cleopatra contribute to his downfall? Throughout the play, Antony grapples with the conflict between his love for Cleopatra and his duties to the Roman Empire. In his opening lines to Demetrius, Philo complains that Antony has abandoned the military endeavours on which his reputation is based for Cleopatra's sake. His criticism of Antony's "dotage," or stupidity, introduces a tension between reason and emotion that runs throughout the play. Antony and Cleopatra's first exchange heightens this tension, as they argue whether their love can be put into words and understood or whether it exceeds such faculties and boundaries of reason. Shakespeare has mainly concentrated with the battle between reason and emotion, rather than the triumph of one over the other. Antony vacillates between Western and Eastern sensibilities, feeling pulled by both his duty to the empire and his desire for pleasure, his want for military glory and his passion for Cleopatra. Enobarbus' speech in Act 2 sc. 2 tells the audience of Antony and Cleopatra's first encounter. Shakespeare uses simile after simile and plenty of metaphors as well for example, "like a burnished throne/the poop was beaten gold." Enobarbus tells of "Antony...invited her to supper" and he uses food imagery to try and explain how Antony felt when he looked at Cleopatra, "pays his heart for what his

  • Word count: 1309
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Rossetti's poetry has been described as

Rossetti's poetry has been described as "both controlled and passionate". Making clear what you understand by the terms discuss which of these two views you have more sympathy with and why. Refer closely to atleast three of the set poems. Christina Rossetti poetry uses concise structures but through these she expresses immense emotion; in this respect her poetry can accurately described as "both controlled and passionate" yet the two words are almost a paradox as passion is frequently seen to be at odds with controlled tight structures. Other poets have also followed in Rossetti's footsteps by combining tight structured poetic forms with emotion e.g. Dylan Thomas. L.E.L is a prime example of Rossetti's technique; it combines a complex structure with a very emotive outcry. The structure is very precise with each verse not only rhyming within itself, in an A, B, A, B, C, C, C pattern, but also within pairs of stanzas containing a pattern between them on the 5th to 8th lines. The 2nd and fourth lines provide visually rhyming lines throughout the poem connecting each verse although when the poem is read aloud the lines do not rhyme verbally. Rossetti also plays with structures in the poem, beginning with an elegiac stanza form ("a Quatrain of four iambic pentameters rhyming A, B, A, B" - Pears Cyclopaedia) before diversifying into her own version ending with C, C, C. The elegiac

  • Word count: 1269
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

An exploration of Shakespeare's use of imagery in 'Antony and Cleopatra'

An exploration of Shakespeare's use of imagery in 'Antony and Cleopatra' In 'Antony and Cleopatra' Shakespeare uses a wide range of imagery. These forms of imagery includes: mythological characters, the elements, food and the lunar cycle. In this essay I will be exploring this imagery to suggest its intended purpose to display relationships, the Roman and Egyptian empires and power of the characters. Shakespeare compares Antony to Mars the god of War and Cleopatra to Venus. Shakespeare uses this type of imagery because the Elizabethan audience would have known the myths and legends that surround these gods. "Have glowed like plated Mars." This is how Philo introduces us to the play and Antony. Philo is a dramatic device that gives the audience a strong impression of how Romans viewed Antony. With this simile he is showing how Antony used to be a frightening and powerful figure. "Now bend now turn." The subject of this imagery is how he has changed his focus from military leadership to his private passion, Cleopatra and the life style of indulgence, which is essentially what Egypt represents in the play. Enobarbus also refers to Antony using Mars, "Speak as loud as Mars" This shows Antony like Mars was respected for the power of his brazen voice and wise words, which was heard throughout Rome. This shows Anthony's character before he met Cleopatra

  • Word count: 1249
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Caesar in "Antony and Cleopatra" I.i-III.iii

Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra Octavius Caesar has a pivotal role to play in Antony and Cleopatra: as a member of the triumvirate (the ruling council of the Roman Empire, composed of three members, the others being Lepidus and Antony), he has the responsibility to run part of Empire, he also has a long-standing rivalry with Antony, and dislike Antony's relaxed mood, especially his affair with Cleopatra. We first see Caesar towards the end of scene one, where he is criticising Antony for spending too much time with Cleopatra. Two common habits of Caesar are shown in the first few lines of this scene: It is not Caesar's natural vice to hate our great competitor [Antony] ... he fishes, drinks and wastes the lamps of night in revel. (I.iv.2-3a, 4b-5a) Not only does Caesar like to himself in the third person ("Caesar's natural vice...") he also has a tendency to criticises anyone who likes to enjoy themselves; this is seen again at the feast on Pompey's ship. Caesar then goes on to list more of Antony's faults, as Lepidus, ever eager to stop any arguing, tries in vain to excuse Antony, and calm Caesar down: Lepidus: I must not think that there are Evils enough to darken all his [Antony's] goodness. Caesar: Let's grant that it is not Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy, [To] keep the turn of tippling with a slave ... and stand the buffet With

  • Word count: 1233
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Cleopatra is always at a significant disadvantage as a woman in a male-dominated world. What in your opinion are the strengths and weaknesses that the Queen shows as she deals with the men in the play?

Rohan Sathyanand 13G 17/09/2012 A2 English Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra Cleopatra: Queen of Egypt “Cleopatra is always at a significant disadvantage as a woman in a male-dominated world.” What in your opinion are the strengths and weaknesses that the Queen shows as she deals with the men in the play? Unanimously renowned as the “harlot queen” [Stanley, 2001] and as a “lascivious courtesan” [Stanley, 2001], the mercurial Egyptian Queen is anachronistically portrayed by Shakespeare in a more sympathetic attitude than his contemporaries who had diluted her character into an object of carnality. Ostentatiously dissimilar from the female visions of constancy and chastity presented by Octavia and Fulvia, the “mature and sexual woman” is celebrated for her compassionate love which offers “the most profound vision of human constancy” [French, 1982] in the patriarchal power struggle between the three Roman triumvirs. Cleopatra, renowned for her physical beauty is shown to have an alluring effect on the men that surround her, often exploiting her appearance to ensnare powerful men to do her bidding. Te extent to her aesthetic manipulation is revealed in the lavish descriptions of her when she first met Antony, who instantaneously seemed to have fallen victim to her charms. The first encounter of the matriarch and her lover, as narrated by

  • Word count: 1213
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How does Shakespeare use his contrast between Rome and Egypt to present the themes in Antony and Cleopatra ?

How does Shakespeare use his contrast between Rome and Egypt to present the themes in Antony and Cleopatra? In the play Antony and Cleopatra there are two different worlds, Rome and Egypt. Throughout Antony and Cleopatra, we see the hard-working political life of Rome and the luxurious and pleasurable life of Egypt. The effect of the difference between the two places on the main characters, and on the plot, is a key theme throughout the play. Rome is a world in which men compete for power in a high stakes game without clear rules. The eastern world of Egypt is, of course, totally different. Shakespeare's deception of sexuality in Egypt is presented as entirely natural. There is no sign of sin attached to this love unlike there would be from Rome. We can see that Shakespeare clearly wants us to be able to see the political and love side of either of these countries. The split between Rome and Egypt is very controversial as the Romans are so fascinated with Egypt that they cannot leave it alone. This could be the reason that the three greatest Romans, Antony Caesar and Pompey have all had sexual experience with the queen of Egypt. He uses the contrast in difference between the two countries very well and this makes the main themes in the production stand out. In Egypt, women talk openly about explicit sexuality, they express their sexual feelings, joke about sexual matters, and

  • Word count: 1169
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay