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| Antony
and Cleopatra
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The world literature knows a lot of different interpretations
of a sad life story of Cleopatra and her love to a Roman Antony.
One of the most skillfully written plays, depicting the story
of love of the Egyptian queen and the Roman is the play by
William Shakespeare “Antony and Cleopatra”.
This play presents a particular view of the author on the
love of Antony and Cleopatra and events that happened at that
time. A particular feature of this work of W. Shakespeare
is the importance the author paid to each character, especially,
Cleopatra, Antony and Julius Ceasar.
However, unlike many other writers who researched this problem
and attempted to describe the story of Antony and Cleopatra,
William Shakespeare underlines the importance of every character
he creates in his play. In fact the major characters, which
have been just mentioned, seem to be helpless without minor
characters, which constitute an essential part of the whole
work.
Among the minor characters, particularly important roles play
Enorbabus, Charmian, Octavius Ceasar, and Octavia. All of
them produce a great impression on a reader and it seems as
if they are as important as major character at least a reader
feels their presents near the major characters at the most
significant moments of the play.
Obviously in order to better understand the role of minor
characters mentioned above it is necessary to analyze each
of them in details.
Probably it would be better to start with the characters which
were the most close to Antony and consequently to Cleopatra
and who dramatically influenced the final outcome of their
life and love story.
First of all a few words should be said about the best friend
of Antony, Enobarbus. At first glance Enobarbus is quite a
good person and he is a friend of Antony. The relations between
friends are quite good and faithful they seem to be quite
tolerant even despite some contradictions. In fact it is quite
surprising that they are so good friends, since Enobarbus
is just a lieutenant in the army of Antony and he is not a
kind of person who could easily live within the atmosphere
of the Queen Cleopatra court as well as any other royal court
because he is quite a rude person in actuality that is quite
typical for soldiers and probably the author of the play wants
to depict a typical Roman soldier through the character of
Enobarbus.
Anyway, this character produce quite a dubious impression
because on the one hand he is a blunt, rough-spoken man while,
on the other hand, he possesses a degree of humorous wisdom
and probably due to this fact a reader understands that he
is not a bad person in fact and why he is one of the best
friends of Antony. Such a wisdom of him becomes obvious when
he gives a famous description of Cleopatra in her barge coming
down the Cydnus.
Gradually, on reading the play, a reader understands that
Enobarbus is a typical Roman soldier and he cannot ignore
his nature neither can he overcome it. He cannot rebel against
Rome, against his motherland, against legal emperor and he
betrays Antony that is particularly tragic in the context
of the bosom friendship that used to be lasting for so long
time. In the same time, he is a good person in the depth of
his soul since he cannot bear the betrayal and eventually
he dies because of remorse when Antony sends his treasure
after him.
So, Enobarbus is a symbol of Roman soldier who is loyal to
his motherland and in the same time he is noble and hate evil
and dirty tricks, especially when they are played at his best
friends.
Not less significant and less symbolic is Octavia, a sister
of Julius Ceasar and a wife of Antony. As Enobarbus is a symbol
of a Roman man, or to put it more precisely of a Roman soldier,
so Octavia is a symbol of a Roman woman. She has absorbed
the best qualities a Roman woman is supposed to possess, she
is chaste and virtues sister of the emperor and she is ready
to serve to Rome and its interests she puts higher than her
personal once, since even her marriage on Antony is mainly
politically motivated as a means of achieving the power by
her brother, Julisus Caesar and she seems to be just an instrument
in a political play of Caesar and Octavian against their opponents.
IT is probably she and Enobarbus whom Antony addresses first
in his words:
What’s brave, what’s noble
Let’s do’t after the high Roman fashion
And make death proud to take us
(Shakespeare act 4, sc.15,1. 86-8)
Probably only real Romans, such as Octavia and Enobarbus really
know what ‘the high Roman fashion’ in such a context
means.
Furthermore, to a certain extent Octavia may be treated as
an antipode of Cleopatra. For Romans it is Octavia who is
a real and legal wife of Antony and only her they are ready
to accept as his wife, while Cleopatra, being a Queen, will
never achieve such an acceptance that is supposed to be particularly
hurting for her self-esteem. On the other hand Octavia will
never be as beloved by Antony as Cleopatra is. In such a way
the author reveals the split between social acceptance and
personal happiness represented by Octavia and Cleopatra and
without the former it would be practically impossible to make
such a conclusion.
Among noble Romans, such as Octavia and even Enobarbus are,
a dark figure of Octavius Caesar seems to be particularly
striking. He is a kind of ‘evil genius’ of the
play. Probably the author wants to warn readers about the
next generation or even generations of Romans since Octavius
is a young, adopted son of Julius Caesar but despite his young
age he readily marries off his foster sister Octavia to Antony,
in order to rid himself of Lepidus, the other triumvir and
to get more power. Moreover, to achieve this goal and to satisfy
his self-esteem and unlimited desire of power he breaks the
civil war on Antony after Caesar’s death. In such a
way the author underlines that it is he who really starts
the civil war where a Roman will kill a Roman.
Furthermore, he is deprived of any nobility and he can betray
without any remorse, which led to the death of Enobarbus.
On the contrary he easily betrays Octavia goes to Egypt, where
he defeats Antony, which used to be a friend of his foster
father, Julius Caesar, and consequently a friend of him. Quite
symbolically that such an unfair, power-thirsty person remains
the only ruler of the huge Roman empire after the suicides
of Antony and Cleopatra and it is hard to rid of impression
that the author in such a way attempts to foretell the ruin
of Roman empire because such people as Octavius have started
to come to power.
And, finally, the only Egyptian that is in the list of the
minor characters that are discussed in terms of this paper
is Charmian, a Cleopatra’s favorite waiting-woman. In
fact like Octavia is a symbol of a Roman woman, so Charmian
is a symbol of an Egyptian woman, fully devoted to her Queen.
Obviously on comparing Octavia and Charmian, a reader understands
the difference between a woman that used to live in a relatively
democratic republic (Octavia) and a woman that used to live
in a kingdom (Charmian), where the power of a king or queen
is unlimited. She possesses faithfulness and wisdom since
it is she who advises Cleopatra to give in to any wish of
Antony and it is she who in the end commits suicide after
her Queen’s death. So, she incorporates all positive
qualities an Egyptian woman was supposed to possess and she
is not a passive character who obeys to her Queen, on the
contrary she plays important role in decisions, or at least
some of them, Cleopatra takes.
Thus, taking into consideration all above mentioned, it is
possible to conclude that every character in the play “Antony
and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare is important and
symbolic in the same time that makes this work particularly
interesting for reading and research.
References:
1. Shakespeare, W. Antony and Cleopatra. New York: Penguin
Classics, 1998.
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