Enobarbus may not be recognised as a key character in the play, in terms of importance compared to some of the others, especially in the early scenes. This is because while acting as a friend and promoter of Antony, Enobarbus explains and describes some of the myths and legends surrounding Cleopatra. In doing this he is very important to the audience and therefore to the play in describing and possibly exaggerating the key relationship in the play which is obviously the one between Antony and Cleopatra. Examples of this can be found throughout Act II. For example: ‘When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus. (II.ii.188-189) ‘the barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold; Purple the sails, and so perfumed that the winds were lovesick with them; the oars were silver,’ (II.ii.193-197) ‘And, for his ordinary, pays his heart for what his eyes eat only.’) ‘Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety....’ (II.ii.237-238)
In these above quotations, Enobarbus turns Antony’s and Cleopatra’s encounter into a fairy tale and leads the audience into believing the two are inseparable. The speeches which he makes in Act II are extremely important to the play in that this is how Shakespeare wants the audience to view Antony and Cleopatra. Cleopatra is described in the quotations by Enobarbus highly attractive. Enobarbus may be saying this because he is aware and understands that Antony has so much to loose by having her. Again this shows that Enobarbus has a vast understanding of the relationship between the two Characters. He seems to have been included in the play by Shakespeare as somewhat of a story telling character as he frequently is informing the audience about the two characters as well as others.
However, Enobarbus’ knowledge, understanding and his confident comments that he makes are not only limited to the two characters, Antony and Cleopatra, as Act 3 shows. In Act 3 scene II Agrippa and Enobarbus are discussing the character of Lepidus. In an example of Enobarbus showing understanding of the character of Lepidus, Enobarbus says ‘and Lepidus since Pompey’s, as Menas says, is troubled with the green- sickness.’ (II.ii.5-6) ‘Green sickness, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is an anaemic disease which mostly affects young woman at the age of puberty and gives a pale greenish tinge. However in this circumstance it has been used as a metaphor to describe the drunkenness of Lepidus which in turn is used to describe the fact that Lepidus is weak politically and personally. This is showing the understanding that Enobarbus has of Lepidus as a character. Later in the discussion between Enobarbus and Agrippa, Enobarbus says ‘His love to Antony! But as for Caesar, Kneel down and wonder! (III.ii.18-19) this again is showing that Enobarbus understands about Lepidus’s feelings towards Antony.
Above we can see that Enobarbus has a very good and clear understanding about the characters of Antony, Cleopatra and Lepidus. However to what extent does he understand himself? Towards the start of this essay I examined how he looked at the Cleopatra. He used a variety of flowery language which was highly roman romantic such as ‘her passions are made of nothing but the finest part of pure love.’ To come up with such vivid descriptions of Cleopatra could imply something that Enobarbus is not aware of. It could imply that he is in love with Cleopatra and he may not be aware of this but the language that he uses in describing her certainly suggests that this could be a possibility.
All in all, based on the quotations found in the play, I believe the statement: ‘It has been said of Enobarbus that he understands everyone but himself’ to be true. He certainly knows in depth about the relationship of Antony and Cleopatra and he also knows about Lepidus as well, but he still seems to lack knowledge about himself.
