Presentation of the Characters of Antony and Cleopatra in Act One of William Shakespeare's Play

Presentation of the Characters of Antony and Cleopatra in Act One of William Shakespeare's Play

The opulent backdrop of the palace at Alexandria provides Shakespeare,

his readers and

characters with the perfect scene with which to introduce a romance.

For a romance it

most certainly is, however at this junction it is apparent that all is

not as blissful as it

should be.

The Roman Mark Anthony we understand to be the archetypal macho hero.

Comparisons

with the Greek God of war Mars are purposeful. After all he is '…the

greatest solider of

the world'. Certainly he comes across as the strength but also well

mannered, quite the

gentleman. At times he can be stern, direct; one imagines he doesn't

suffer fools gladly,

this is apparent during the second scene a he momentarily looses his

patience with the

messenger whose thankless task is to inform Anthony of his wife's

death, 'Speak to me at

home, mince not the general tongue'. He is too much in love with

Cleopatra and it seems

consistently thrives to assure her of his feelings and impress on her

his intentions.

Shakespeare constantly invites comparison and contrast between Egypt

and Rome .The

Roman world seems to look with disapproval on Cleopatra and the

frivolous, sexualized

world of Egypt. A good example of this is in scene one when Philo a

Roman speaks of

Cleopatra, 'the office and devotion of their view. Upon a tawny

front'. Philo is speaking

of Cleopatra in a very derogative way, showing Roman prejudice against

Egyptians,

'tawny', meaning dark skinned.

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Anthony has fallen for a beautiful, exotic woman and he shouldn't

have, and we soon

discover that Rome is embarrassed by his indulgence, but as we as the

audience warm to

him the reason being because Shakespeare has brought to our attention

a great

bond between the couple. 'But stirr'd by Cleopatra. Now for the love