The Central Concerns of the Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

The Central Concerns of the Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

This essay will look at two of the central concerns in Antony and

Cleopatra, namely reason versus passion and the public versus private

domains. These two central concerns of the play are clearly

illustrated in the extract we are provided with. I will mainly focus

on the character of Antony in this essay as it is within him that

these two concerns of the play are most evident.

In the beginning of the play we see that Mark Antony has been

neglecting his duties as part of the triumvirate of Rome as he has

been staying with his mistress Cleopatra. His wife, Fulvia, dies and

Octavius Caesar and Lepidus request that he joins them to deal with

the threat of Pompey. When Antony becomes aware of Pompey’s threat and

Fulvia’s death, he realises that he needs to free himself from the

“enchanting queen” (1.2.125) or risk wasting away “in dotage”

(1.2.114) (Branco, 2003).

Antony goes to tell Cleopatra that he will be leaving Egypt. The

extract given refers to the discussion that occurs between Cleopatra

and Antony as he informs her that he will be returning to Rome.

Cleopatra is very distressed by the news and accuses Antony of

betrayal and being happy to return to Fulvia. She also accuses him of

not loving her and of lying to her with “those mouth-made vows”

(1.3.30) - if he has been so false to Fulvia how can he really love

her? She is upset that she thought he could ever love her and wishes

that she could take revenge on him.

Cleopatra’s reaction is very exaggerated and is one of jealousy. She

is reacting like a woman who is being abandoned by the man she loves...

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http://hudsonshakespeare.org/Shakespeare%20Library/Commentaries/comm_antony_and_cleopatra.htm

5. Johnston, I. (1999). The Triumph of the Lions? An Introduction to

Antony and Cleopatra. Received from the World Wide Web on 25th June

2005. Web address:

http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/eng366/lectures/antonycleopatra.htm

6. Shakespeare, William (ed. Richard Madelaine) 1998. Antony and

Cleopatra. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

7. Vignier, I (2004). Shakespeare: The Tragic in Antony and Cleopatra.

Received from the World Wide Web on 25th June 2005. Web address:

http://www.english-literature.org/essays/antony-cleopatra.html

8. Williams, M. 2005. “Anthony and Cleopatra” In Rabinowitz, I,

Weinberg, A & Williams, M. Society: A Literary Perspective (study

guide). Pretoria: University of South Africa.