Antony seems to have abandoned his reason in order to pursue his passion. He declares: “ Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch/ Of the ranged empire fall” (Act 1:1:34-35).
The play is more concerned with the battle between reason and emotion than the triumph of one over the other, and this battle is pursued most forcefully in the character of Antony. More than any character in the play, Antony vacillates between Western and Eastern sensibilities, feeling pulled by both his duty to the empire and his desire for pleasure, his want of military glory and his passion for Cleopatra.
As the play progresses, Antony continues to occupy conflicting identities that play out the struggle between reason and emotion. At one moment he is the vengeful war hero whom Caesar praises and fears. Soon thereafter, he sacrifices his military position by unwisely allowing Cleopatra to determine his course of action.
The Roman understanding of the East and its representative queen is exceptionally narrow. According to the Romans, who pride themselves on the strength of their reason as much as the strength of their army, Egypt is a land in which emotions overshadow rationality, passions dominate and derail the intellect, and pleasure takes priority over duty. According to Caesar for instance, Cleopatra is little more than the whore for whom Antony has sacrificed his kingdom and reputation. Even Antony considers Egypt a threat to his identity as a Roman: “These strong Egyptian fetters I must break, / Or lose myself in dotage” (Act 1:2: 118-119).
On one side are all those masculine virtues that made Rome the dominant force it came to be in world history: strength, clearmindedness, self-control, and an unyielding devotion to patriotic “duty.” On the other side are all those softer virtues that make Cleopatra’s Egypt such an appealing alternative to Roman strength. There is a willingness to accept and live in harmony with the natural forces of the universe (here symbolised by the fertilising floods of the Nile); an awareness that the emotions and the imagination are just as essential to humanity as the mental discipline so important to Roman self-control. Furthermore there is a healthy appetite for life’s pleasures, including the pleasures of the flesh; and a refusal to acknowledge that the claims of the state are ever so all encompassing as to cancel out all claims for personal fulfillment.
Pompey hopes that ‘our stirring’ (his challenge to the triumvirate) ‘can from the lap of Egypts widow pluck/ The ne’er lust-wearied Antony’ (Act 2:1:38-9). It is the side of Cleopatra as a ‘whore’ as described by Enobarbus, that Pompey hopes will prevent the ‘ne’er lust-wearied Antony’ form rejoining the two other Triumvirs. His chances of success in the confrontation will be greatly assisted by Antony not being a participant.
Agrippa’s ‘Royal wench’, with the first word referring to the status of Queen of Egypt and the Second pointing to that of women of the lowest social status, is an oxymoron that prompts recollection of the story of Cleopatra’s meeting with Julius Caesar: ‘she made great Caesar lay his sword to bed./ He plough’d her, and she cropp’d (Act 2:2 :236-7).
Throughout the play, the male characters rail against the power of female sexuality. Caesar and his men condemn Antony for the weakness that makes him bow to the Egyptian queen, but they clearly lay the blame for his downfall on Cleopatra. On the rare occasion that the Romans do not refer to her as a whore, they describe her as an enchantress whose beauty casts a dangerous spell over men. As Enobarbus notes, Cleopatra possesses the power to warp the minds and judgement of all men, even “holy priests” who “bless her” when she acts like a whore (Act 2:2:248-249).
The Roman disappointment in Antony is heightened by the contrast between what Antony was and what he is now. Their condemnation stems from moral self-righteousness; this is reflected in the words that they use to describe Cleopatra and the sexual relationship between her and Antony, such as ‘strumpet’ and ‘filth’. Given the openness of Cleopatra’s sexuality, it stands to reason that the Romans would be threatened by it. But the Romans are equally obsessed with the powers of Octavia’s sexuality, she is considered to possess power enough to mend the triumvir’s damaged relationship: Caesar and Antony expect that she will serve to “knit their hearts/ With an unslipping knot” (Act 2:2:132-133). In this way, women are saddled with both the responsibility for men’s political alliances and the blame for their personal failures.
Shakespeare presents Rome as a pagan world in which characters operate with no reference beyond the earthly City. Rome in Antony and Cleopatra is a kingdom divided against itself in bloody civil war. More important, however, the Empire is in spiritual conflict with itself, caught between it’s profession of honourable ideals and its sordid, self-serving practice.
There is a contrast between Roman stability and Egypt’s abandonment to instability: Egypt is associated with water, the tides, the overflowing fertility of the Nile; Rome with dry land and with symbols of restraint, control and geometrical rigidity- The arch, the set-square, the unslipping knot. The Roman Empire is conveyed through images that suggest power and military conquest. Rome is presented as a place of strength, images of arches and pillars such as the triple pillar of the world (Act 1:1:12) creates a sense of solidarity and soaring power. Moreover, the awareness of the military might of Rome is shown in military images such as Cleopatras description of Antony as the Arm /And burgonet of men (Act 1:5:24-5).
Antonys response that Octavius should be a child of his time might not only be seen as advice to enjoy himself, but it also points to the recognition that Rome, with respect to matters of feasting, is not that very different from Egypt. The distinctions between Rome and Egypt begin to blur and dissolve as Antony takes to Egyptian life, for this reason Pompey hopefully tries to put on an “Alexandrian feast”(Act 2:7:95).
In the play Rome is presented as a masculine world. Shakespeare’s East is best understood as a world larger and more complex than reductive Roman thought allows.
It is difficult to sustain the view of Rome as representative of stability and order, as it becomes difficult to go along with the view abroad in Rome and Egypt, especially in the figure of Cleopatra, as a threat to that Roman stability and order.
Through the differences between Rome and Egypt, Shakespeare presents us with conflicting value systems. Egypt offers a world of emotional intensity and sensual enjoyment. This world is judged harshly by the Romans, who are sternly critical of what they see as self-indulgence and lack of discipline. Discipline is seen in military terms, Antony’s decline being demonstrated by his neglect of his military obligations and his duty to Rome. In the play ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, the West meets the East, but it does not, regardless of Caesar’s triumph over the land of Egypt, conquer it.
