The inferior characters however play more key roles in the play than first appears. The servants are known to talk in prose; it is here used to distinguish the insubordination of the servants such as Charmian and Eunobarbas. In Act 1 Scene 2 the maid servant Charmian:
Good now, some excellent fortune! Let me be married
to three kings in a forenoon, and widow them all:
let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry
may do homage: find me to marry me with Octavius
Caesar, and companion me with my mistress.
In contrast to the comedic role of the servants, the inferior characters also take on another role – they act at times as a voice of reason in the play. As Act 1 sc3 begins the relationship between the main characters Antony and Cleopatra begins to become complicated as Cleopatra tells her servant to report to Antony that Cleopatra is in a contrasting mood to him in order to see his reaction. As the main characters begin to play games with each other Shakespeare uses great irony to point out how Cleopatra maidservant Charmian, who is clearly the insubordinate, has the common sense to contrast the imprudence of Antony and Cleopatra with a rational perspective. Charmian tells Cleopatra to ‘cross him in nothing…in time we hate that which we often fear’. The use of wise words from insubordinate characters especially Charmian and the fact that she wins the minor argument she has with Cleopatra could be significant as she was told by the soothsayer that ‘you shall outlive the lady whom you serve’.
Shakespeare uses the inferior characters in order to explore new themes in the play. Charmian’s phrase ‘give him way in everything, cross him in nothing’ allows Shakespeare to explore the subservient view at the time of traditional women. Women were seen as strong people and dominant figures but were always known to be submissive to their husbands. By using Charmian to help explore this theme Shakespeare indicates that the traditional view of women is not a negative approach as Cleopatra ignores this approach and consequently suffers fatally.
Shakespeare to an extent expands the personalities of some of the inferior characters. The reader learns that Charmian has a forceful personality and an independent spirit. She is Cleopatra's most trusted servant.
When she thinks the queen's treatment of Antony is unfair or misguided, she tells her so. Charmian is on familiar terms with her mistress and can tease her about her past life and former lovers. Shakespeare did this to help stress their importance.
Shakespeare also expands the language connotations of the inferior characters to help emphasize their importance. The servant of Antony named Enobarbas is seen immediately in the play as dislikable character that uses a lot of bawdy humor ‘she makes a shower of rain as well as Jove’. However Enobarbas when speaking to Antony about whether they must leave due to Fulvia’s death answers ‘the business that you have broached here cannot be without you especially that of Cleopatra, which wholly depends on your abode.’ This again shows how the inferior characters show how the main characters have lost an element of rationale – that if Antony leaves Egypt he is in effect leaving Cleopatra forever.