Act One Scene Four of William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

Act One Scene Four of William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

This political scene, in some ways the first political scene begins

with Caesars criticism of Antonys behaviour despite his protest and

assurance to Lepidus that "It is not Caesars natural vice to hate our

great competitor", his contempt towards Antony is apparent in the

listing of his faults.

The use of the word competitor also prepares us for the later

antagonism between the two men, given that apart from associate also

means rival. Throughout the scene Caesar accuses Antony of many faults

and indeed states that he is "a man who is the abstract of all faults

that all men follow". Although Caesar professes that his condemnation

of Antony is based on political grounds, that is that Antonys

behaviour is imperiling the triumvirate, rather than personal ones,

there is clearly an element of personal distaste in Caesars personal

description of Antonys behaviour. Line 16 Caesars second speech.

Caesars moral and political outrage is ironically undercut by the

audiences' knowledge that Antony has already left Egypt. Caesars

description of Antony as a boy who deserves to be "chid" line 30.

Since he has allowed the "pleasant pleasure" to cloud his judgment

highlights how he perceives himself to be the leading figure of the

triumvirate.

The arrival of messengers with news of new dangers is a skillful way

of propelling the action forward. Caesar like Antony in act 1 scene 2

line 193 comments bitterly on the difficulty of establishing and

maintaining power over the populous. The sea imagery powerfully

conveys the inconstancy of the roman people. The lines cannot help but

remind us of Julius Caesars own violent fate.

The arrival of the second messenger with the news that the threat

posed by Pompey, Menecrates and Menas requires immediate military

action elicits a remarkable speech from Octavius, Adleman, a critic

points out the extreme contrast between the two eulogies on Antony,

the first delivered by Caesar in praise of the hardened soldier he

once was act 1 scene 4 lines 56-72, the second by Cleopatra in