Antony and Cleopatra – “Eternity was in our lips and eyes.”

Antony and Cleopatra  – “Eternity was in our lips and eyes.”

Storms seemed to lash England for most of the first half of 1606. Floods and storm surges made it impossible to travel much out of London and food prices rose. Shakespeare was lucky with the extra land he had bought in Stratford-upon-Avon and the extra grain he had stored (hoarded more like) meant that he was able to make a pretty profit by waiting for April to offload much of his grain. He knew in the lead up to the summer season, he would need more than ‘Macbeth’ in the mix of plays. Some of his company, the King’s Men, probably thought a revival of the history plays might work or ‘Julius Caesar’ but Shakespeare knew that with the heads of the traitors of the Gunpowder Plot still openly displayed in metal cages and not yet fully decomposed, that a tale of treachery might not prove tasteful.

As the rain continued to fall hard, Shakespeare probably took out his copy of Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ and toyed with the idea a play using Virgil’s Dido and Aeneas. At some point he opened his copy of his Thomas North 1579 translation Plutarch’s ‘Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Compared Together’ and he turned specifically to ‘The Life of Marcus Antonius’ and was probably struck by the poetry and the potential of a play about Antony and Cleopatra. He could see that it could be a wonderful story about love and loss but also a story about moral and ethical ambiguity, egos, governance, waste and stupidity. The story still resonates even more strongly today. 

By the time Shakespeare had finished Anthony and Cleopatra in about July of 1606, the plague numbers had risen again in London and the theatres were closed. Because the next time the theatres were reopened was for a brief time in April 1607 and because many plays from early 1607 onwards are influenced by this play, it is likely that Anthony and Cleopatra had its premiere by the King's men at a court performance sometime in October or November of 1606 when entertainments were vetted for court season for the holiday season.

‘Antony and Cleopatra’ opens in the court of Cleopatra in Alexandria in Egypt around 40BC. Antony's men talk loosely about how Antony seems to have lost his zest for leadership now that he dotes on Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra enter. Messages have arrive from Octavius Caesar, Julius Caesar's foster-son, but both Anthony and Cleopatra do not even hear the news from Rome. Cleopatra teases Antony about his marriage and demands to know how much he loves her. He declares his love and shows he is distracted from his duties:

“Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch

Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.

Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike

Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life

Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair

And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,

On pain of punishment, the world to weet

We stand up peerless…

But stirr'd by Cleopatra.

Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours,

Let's not confound the time with conference harsh:

There's not a minute of our lives should stretch

Without some pleasure now.”

Cleopatra continues to tease Anthony and calls him a liar in love before they leave. Demetrius and Philo are left to ponder where the great Antony has gone.

We cross to another room in Cleopatra’s palace where Cleopatra’s lady attendants Charmian and Iras are getting their fortunes told by a Soothsayer. Charmian is told that she will be “… yet far fairer than you are… more beloving than beloved…” and that she “… shall outlive the lady whom you serve.”  Iras is told that her fortune is similar to Charmian's.

Enobarbus enters and it becomes obvious that he has been able to get Antony talk to the messenger after all and that the news is not good. Cleopatra enters and then leaves before Antony enters with a messenger and we hear about the bad news from Rome. Firstly, Antony’s wife Fulvia and Antony’s brother Lucius, are arguing and they tried to attack Caesar’a forces and lost the battle. The second bad news is that Parthian forces have attempted to invade Roman territories in the Near East and have succeeded. Antony accepts some of the blame for this. Antony decides that he must distance himself from Cleopatra for his own good and that of Rome. Then a second messenger enters and tells Antony that his wife Fulvia is dead from some sickness. Antony mourns her death and again reinforces that he should leave Cleopatra:

“There's a great spirit gone! Thus did I desire it:

What our contempt doth often hurl from us,

We wish it ours again; the present pleasure,

By revolution lowering, does become

The opposite of itself: she's good, being gone;

The hand could pluck her back that shoved her on.

I must from this enchanting queen break off:

Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know,

My idleness doth hatch.”

Antony tells Enobarbus that he'll have to make a trip to Rome. Enobarbus ironically jests that Cleopatra will be upset. They exit.

Cleopatra enters with her ladies and sends Alexis to find Antony and see what his mood is. Charmian suggests to Cleopatra that she should be more amiable to Antony but Cleopatra says that that is a sure way to lose a man and that to keep a man a woman has to hide her affections. Antony enters and tells Cleopatra that his wife Fulvia is dead and that he will have to leave soon. He also suggests that the other reasons he should leave are that Rome is losing territories and in a state of war. Cleopatra ridicules Antony, then uses flattery and self-pity, but eventually asks Antony’s forgiveness and allows him to go:

“Tis sweating labour

To bear such idleness so near the heart

As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me;

Since my becomings kill me, when they do not

Eye well to you: your honour calls you hence;

Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly.

And all the gods go with you! upon your sword

Sit laurel victory! and smooth success

Be strew'd before your feet!”

We cross to Rome, where the young Octavius Caesar is talking to Lepidus, the third triumvir about how Antony has abandoned his duties in the “bed of Ptolemy”. Lepidus defends Antony, suggesting that his weaknesses are merely for fishing, drinking, and partying. Caesar is dismissive and thinks that should not be himself in Egypt when such a crisis looms.

A messenger enters telling how Pompey’s forces are gathering strength and support from some factions. Caesar wishes he had Antony with him now since now he must raise an army against Pompey.

“Antony,

Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once

Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slew'st

Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,

Though daintily brought up, with patience more

Than savages could suffer: thou didst drink

The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign

The roughest berry on the rudest hedge;

Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets,

The barks of trees thou browsed'st; on the Alps

It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,

Which some did die to look on: and all this--

It wounds thine honour that I speak it now--

Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek

So much as lank'd not.”

We cross back to Cleopatra’s Palace in Alexandria where Cleopatra is missing Antony and wondering if he is missing her. Alexas enters with a gift of a pearl from Antony. Cleopatra is told that Antony kissed this pearl before leaving Egypt and has sent it to Cleopatra as a symbol of his love for her. Cleopatra asks how Antony appeared when he left and Alexas states that Antony was neither sad nor merry. Cleopatra reveals that she has asked for twenty messengers, so that she can send a message to Antony each day of his absence and even says that she would make all the people of Egypt into her messengers:

“My salad days,

When I was green in judgment: cold in blood,

To say as I said then! But, come, away;

Get me ink and paper:

He shall have every day a several greeting,

Or I'll unpeople Egypt.”

Antony and Cleopatra Act Two – “The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,
 burnt on the water; the poop was beaten gold…”

We cross to Pompey’s house in Messina where Pompey reasons that his popularity with the people of Rome, his naval superiority and the fact that he believes Antony will not return from Egypt, all make his victory more certain.

“I shall do well:

The people love me, and the sea is mine;

My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope

Says it will come to the full. Mark Antony

In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make

No wars without doors: Caesar gets money where

He loses hearts: Lepidus flatters both,

Of both is flatter'd; but he neither loves,

Nor either cares for him..”

Menas then relates the fact that Caesar and Lepidus have been able to raise an army. Just then Varrius enters to tell Pompey that Antony has just arrived in Rome. Menas hopes that rivalry between Caesar and Antony will cause disharmony however Pompey thinks that:

“I know not, Menas,

How lesser enmities may give way to greater.

Were't not that we stand up against them all,

'Twere pregnant they should square between

themselves;

For they have entertained cause enough

To draw their swords: but how the fear of us

May cement their divisions and bind up

The petty difference, we yet not know.

Be't as our gods will have't! It only stands

Our lives upon to use our strongest hands.”

The scene then shift to Lepidus’ house in Rome where Lepidus tells Enobarbus that Antony should be cautious in his approach to Caesar and he entreats Antony to use “soft and gentle speech”. Enobarbus replies that he will entreat Antony to:

“… To answer like himself: if Caesar move him,

Let Antony look over Caesar's head

And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter,

Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard,

I would not shave't to-day.”

Antony and Caesar then enter. Lepidus prefaces the conversation with a word of warning. Caesar starts the conversation by mentioning that Fulvia and Antony’s brother have raised a rebellious army against him and the fact that Antony had blatantly disregarded the messages he had sent to Alexandria. Antony defends himself. One of Caesar’s men Agrippa, suggests that Antony should now marry Caesar’s sister, Octavia because his own wife is dead. Antony agrees to this and Caesar and Antony shake hands in brotherly love and agree to attack Pompey.

Upon the exit of Caesar and Antony, Enobarbus relates to Agrippa life in Egypt and he describes Antony’s first meeting with Cleopatra. of the good life they lived in Egypt. He describes how Cleopatra first came to meet Antony.

“ I will tell you.

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,

Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold;

Purple the sails, and so perfumed that

The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made

The water which they beat to follow faster,

As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,

It beggar'd all description: she did lie

In her pavilion--cloth-of-gold of tissue--

O'er-picturing that Venus where we see

The fancy outwork nature: on each side her

Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,

With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem

To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,

And what they undid did…

Upon her landing, Antony sent to her,

Invited her to supper: she replied,

It should be better he became her guest;

Which she entreated: our courteous Antony,

Whom ne'er the word of 'No' woman heard speak,

Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast,

And for his ordinary pays his heart

For what his eyes eat only.”

Enobarbus remarks that thinks that Antony will never really give up Cleopatra.

In another part of Caesar’s house, Anthony promises Octavia that although the world and his duties might divide them that he will remain true to her. Then Octavia and Caesar exit and an Egytian Soothsayer enters and tells Antony that he will return to Egypt in the future. When Antony asks the Soothsayer whether his own or Caesar’s fortunes shall rise higher, the Soothsayer answers:

“Caesar's.

Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side:

Thy demon, that's thy spirit which keeps thee, is

Noble, courageous high, unmatchable,

Where Caesar's is not; but, near him, thy angel

Becomes a fear, as being o'erpower'd: therefore

Make space enough between you.”

Antony dismisses the Soothsayer and then contemplates the potential truth of the Soothsayer’s words and makes a decision to leave Rome and return to the East (Egypt):

“He hath spoken true: the very dice obey him;

And in our sports my better cunning faints

Under his chance: if we draw lots, he speeds;

His cocks do win the battle still of mine,

When it is all to nought; and his quails ever

Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds. I will to Egypt:

And though I make this marriage for my peace,

I' the east my pleasure lies.”

Antony then tells Ventidius, to make preparations to make war against the kingdom of Parthia in the East.

Outside in the street, Lepidus commands Maecenas and Agrippa to get into their soldier’s uniforms and prepare to go to Mount Misenum to battle the army of Pompey.

The scene then shifts across the Mediterranean to Alexandria in Egypt, where Cleopatra makes merry with her servants Charmian and Mardian, and a eunuch. She thinks of Antony and compares him to a caught fish. Then a messenger enters bringing news from Rome. Cleopatra initially thinks that Antony is dead but reveals the news that Antony has married Octavia. She strikes and puts a knife to the throat of the messenger and says she does not believe him. Cleopatra eventually dismisses the messenger and then commands that Octavia’s beauty and other features are reported to her:

“Report the feature of Octavia, her years,

Her inclination, let him not leave out

The colour of her hair: bring me word quickly…

Bring me word how tall she is. Pity me, Charmian,

But do not speak to me. Lead me to my chamber…”

We then travel back to Misenum where Pompey and the triumvirs hold a war meeting with Caesar, Lepidus, Antony and others. Antony informs Pompey that he cannot win even though he has naval strength. Pompey is offered a deal that allows him to rule over Sicily and Sardinia if he is able to control the pirates in these areas and make tax payments to Rome. Pompey says that he was prepared to accept these conditions until Antony offended him by not acknowledging the gracious hospitality that Pompey hospitality gave to Antony’s mother on her journey to Sicily. Antony shakes hands with Pompey and thanks him. Pompey invites them all to join him on his ship for dinner. They exit and Enobarbus and Menas linger and discuss military matters, political machinations and Enobarbus insists that he thinks Antony will go back to Egypt.

At Pompey’s dinner party, some servants make comments about Lepidus’s drunkenness. Then Pompey enters with his guests as Antony plays expert tourist and discusses the curious habits of farming from Nile River region.

“They take

the flow o' the Nile

By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know,

By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth

Or foison follow: the higher Nilus swells,

The more it promises: as it ebbs, the seedsman

Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain,

And shortly comes to harvest.”

Lepidus repeats the popular belief that crocodiles are spontaneously made out of a combination of mud and the sun and he asks Antony for a full description to which Antony ironically replies:

“It is shaped, sir, like itself; and it is as broad

as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is,

and moves with its own organs: it lives by that

which nourisheth it; and the elements once out of

it, it transmigrates.”

Menas talks secretly to Pompey suggesting that while they are drunk, they should kill the three triumvirs. He points out that this would make Pompey “lord of the world”. Pompey rejects this and says that if the deed done without his knowledge he would have praised it:

“Ah, this thou shouldst have done,

And not have spoke on't! In me 'tis villany;

In thee't had been good service. Thou must know,

'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;

Mine honour, it. Repent that e'er thy tongue

Hath so betray'd thine act: being done unknown,

I should have found it afterwards well done;

But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink. “

In an angry aside, Menas says that he will leave Pompey’s service. The revelers drink to one another. A song is played and people stumble out drunk, presumably to go to bed. 

Antony and Cleopatra Act Three – “Men’s judgments are
 a parcel of their fortunes…”

We start Act Three of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ on the plains of Syria where Ventidius, fighting for Antony, has defeated the Parthians and even killed the King of the Parthian’s own son. A soldier says that Ventidius should go further and do more for glory to which Ventidius calmly replies that soldiers should not try to do too much when their leaders are away as they may fall out of their commander’s favour and men should always stop while they are ahead:

“O Silius, Silius,

I have done enough; a lower place, note well,

May make too great an act: for learn this, Silius;

Better to leave undone, than by our deed

Acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away.

Caesar and Antony have ever won

More in their officer than person: Sossius,

One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,

For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he achieved by the minute, lost his favour.

Who does i' the wars more than his captain can

Becomes his captain's captain: and ambition,

The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss,

Than gain which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,

But 'twould offend him; and in his offence

Should my performance perish.”

Ventidius decides to halt his army’s advances and write to Antony (who he thinks is in on his way to Athens) to inform him of this victory in Syria.

We cross the Mediterranean to Octavius Caesar’s house in Rome where Agrippa and Enobarbus converse about the latest news both domestic and political. Pompey has left, Caesar and his sister Octavia are upset at their impending separation and Lepidus is still has “green sickness” from his night of heavy drinking at Pompey’s feast. They mock Lepidus, who seems to be eager to ‘suck up’ to both Caesar and Antony. Then Caesar, Antony, Lepidus and Octavia enter. Caesar says his farewells to his sister Octavia and Antony, urging Antony to look after Octavia.

“You take from me a great part of myself;

Use me well in 't. Sister, prove such a wife

As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest band

Shall pass on thy approof. Most noble Antony,

Let not the piece of virtue, which is set

Betwixt us as the cement of our love,

To keep it builded, be the ram to batter

The fortress of it; for better might we

Have loved without this mean, if on both parts

This be not cherish'd.”

Antony gives his assurances and Antony and Octavia depart.

“You shall not find,

Though you be therein curious, the least cause

For what you seem to fear: so, the gods keep you,

And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends!

We will here part.”  

We move back to Alexandria in Egypt and to important matters. Cleopatra finds out from her messenger that Octavia is short, not particularly feminine, not filled with as much life as Cleopatra, about thirty, brown haired, round faced and with a low forehead. Cleopatra is pleased and thinks that Antony will soon tire of Octavia and that she will have Antony once more for herself.

Antony has indeed moved onto Athens, where he complains to Octavia that Caesar seems to have lost his appetite for war since Antony left Rome and that Caesar has also mocked Antony. Octavia tells Antony not to believe rumours and she urges him not to fight with her brother since she does not want to take sides. Antony reinforces that he must do what he can to preserve his own honour and that when the time comes she will have to choose sides:

“Gentle Octavia,

Let your best love draw to that point, which seeks

Best to preserve it: if I lose mine honour,

I lose myself: better I were not yours

Than yours so branchless. But, as you requested,

Yourself shall go between 's: the mean time, lady,

I'll raise the preparation of a war

Shall stain your brother: make your soonest haste;

So your desires are yours…

When it appears to you where this begins,

Turn your displeasure that way: for our faults

Can never be so equal, that your love

Can equally move with them. Provide your going;

Choose your own company, and command what cost

Your heart has mind to. “

Still in Athens Enobarbus talks to Antony’s friend Eros, discussing Caesar’s defeat of Pompey’s army, the death of Pompey and how after their victory, Caesar backstabbed Lepidus, accused him of treachery and threw him in jail. Enobarbus then reports that Antony is ready to sail for Italy and Caesar.

We move a little into the future and back to Caesar’s house in Rome where Caesar is angry with Antony who has gone back to Egypt to become Cleopatra’s king.

“Contemning Rome, he has done all this, and more,

In Alexandria: here's the manner of 't:

I' the market-place, on a tribunal silver'd,

Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold

Were publicly enthroned: at the feet sat

Caesarion, whom they call my father's son,

And all the unlawful issue that their lust

Since then hath made between them. Unto her

He gave the stablishment of Egypt; made her

Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia,

Absolute queen…

His sons he there proclaim'd the kings of kings:

Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia.

He gave to Alexander; to Ptolemy he assign'd

Syria, Cilicia, and Phoenicia: she

In the habiliments of the goddess Isis

That day appear'd; and oft before gave audience,

As 'tis reported, so.”

Caesar further reports that Antony does not think that Caesar gave him a far proportion of the ‘war spoils’ from Pompey and Lepidus estates. He says he will give Antony more if Antony gives Caesar parts of Armenia and other lands Antony took. Maecenas says that Antony will not give in so easily. Then Octavia enters and it is revealed that hearing that Caesar had prepared for war, she had requested Antony to allow her to return to Rome. She reveals that she thinks that Antony is till in Athens. Caesar reveals the truth to her that her husband has joined with Cleopatra in Egypt and challenges Rome itself.

“No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra

Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire

Up to a whore; who now are levying

The kings o' the earth for war; he hath assembled

Bocchus, the king of Libya; Archelaus,

Of Cappadocia; Philadelphos, king

Of Paphlagonia; the Thracian king, Adallas;

King Malchus of Arabia; King of Pont;

Herod of Jewry; Mithridates, king

Of Comagene; Polemon and Amyntas,

The kings of Mede and Lycaonia,

With a more larger list of sceptres..”

Octavia is upset and she is comforted by Maecenas who tells her that all of Rome is behind her.

“Each heart in Rome does love and pity you:

Only the adulterous Antony, most large

In his abominations, turns you off;

And gives his potent regiment to a trull,

That noises it against us.”

Near the city of Actium in Greece which is under Roman control, Cleopatra wants to stay with Antony as they prepare for the battle. Antony and Enobarbus try to convince Cleopatra to leave but she will not stay behind: “Sink Rome, and their tongues rot

That speak against us! A charge we bear i' the war,

And, as the president of my kingdom, will

Appear there for a man. Speak not against it:

I will not stay behind.”

Antony asserts that he will meet Caesar at sea but Camidius and Enobarbus say that a land battle would be better since Caesar seems to have naval superiority and their ships are manned by peasants, “muleters” and “reapers”. Antony is supported by Cleopatra who says her sixty ships can win at sea. Antony is determined to fight at sea and as he and Cleopatra exit, Camidius laments that they are all “women’s men” under Cleopatra’s control.

We cross to Caesar on a plain near Actium who wants to not attack by land until the sea battle is decided.

“Strike not by land; keep whole: provoke not battle,

Till we have done at sea. Do not exceed

The prescript of this scroll: our fortune lies

Upon this jump.”

On the other side of the stage we hear Antony tell Enobarbus to put his army on the hillside to watch the sea battle.

“Set we our squadrons on yond side o' the hill,

In eye of Caesar's battle; from which place

We may the number of the ships behold,

And so proceed accordingly.”

Enobarbus, Scarus and Canidius tell of the sea battle where Antony’s forces were initially winning the battle until Cleopatra’s ship turned and fled and Antony followed her. Then panic and confusion set in and Caesar’s forces won. The land army were appalled by this cowardace and Camidius says he will now side with Caesar. Enobarbus, decides to stay aligned to Antony.

“I'll yet follow

The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason

Sits in the wind against me.”

Back in Alexandria in Egypt, Antony is ashamed at his cowardice and orders his servants to abandon him because he has abandoned himself: “Hark! the land bids me tread no more upon't;

It is ashamed to bear me! Friends, come hither:

I am so lated in the world, that I

Have lost my way for ever: I have a ship

Laden with gold; take that, divide it; fly,

And make your peace with Caesar…

I have fled myself; and have instructed cowards

To run and show their shoulders. Friends, be gone;

I have myself resolved upon a course

Which has no need of you; be gone:

My treasure's in the harbour, take it. O,

I follow'd that I blush to look upon:

My very hairs do mutiny; for the white

Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them

For fear and doting. Friends, be gone: you shall

Have letters from me to some friends that will

Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad,

Nor make replies of loathness: take the hint

Which my despair proclaims; let that be left

Which leaves itself: to the sea-side straightway:

I will possess you of that ship and treasure.

Leave me, I pray, a little: pray you now:

Nay, do so; for, indeed, I have lost command,

Therefore I pray you: I'll see you by and by.”

Cleopatra enters and tries to sooth Antony by reminding him of his honorable past exploits. He blames Cleopatra for leaving the battle and she says that she never dreamed that he would follow her. Antony says he must now seek Caesar’s forgiveness. Antony asks Cleopatra not to cry and he kisses her:

“Fall not a tear, I say; one of them rates

All that is won and lost: give me a kiss;

Even this repays me. We sent our schoolmaster;

Is he come back? Love, I am full of lead.

Some wine, within there, and our viands! Fortune knows

We scorn her most when most she offers blows.”

Caesar has moved his forces to a camp in Egypt. Caesar is with Dolabella when an ambassador arrives from Antony asking that Antony asks to be allowed to live in Egypt or move to solitude in Athens. Caesar disregards Antony’s requests and wants Cleopatra to betray her lover and expel Antony or execute him.

“For Antony,

I have no ears to his request. The queen

Of audience nor desire shall fail, so she

From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend,

Or take his life there: this if she perform,

She shall not sue unheard. So to them both…

From Antony win Cleopatra: promise,

And in our name, what she requires; add more,

From thine invention, offers: women are not

In their best fortunes strong; but want will perjure

The ne'er touch'd vestal: try thy cunning, Thyreus;

Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we

Will answer as a law…

Observe how Antony becomes his flaw,

And what thou think'st his very action speaks

In every power that moves.”

We cross back to Cleopatra’s palace in Alexandria where Enobarbus tells Cleopatra that a man like Antony should have known to followed reason rather than the “itch of his affection”. Mark Antony and the ambassador enter with Caesar’s reply. Antony wants challenge Caesar to man on man, sword on sword single combat. Antony exits. Enobarbus thinks about his options if such combat eventuates. Then Thidias arrives to tell Cleopatra mercy will be granted by Caesar to her if she hands over Antony. Cleopatra replies that she will concede to Caesar:

“Most kind messenger,

Say to great Caesar this: in deputation

I kiss his conquering hand: tell him, I am prompt

To lay my crown at 's feet, and there to kneel:

Tell him from his all-obeying breath I hear

The doom of Egypt.”

Antony enters and in furious that Cleopatra would betray him.

“You have been a boggler ever:

But when we in our viciousness grow hard--

O misery on't!--the wise gods seel our eyes;

In our own filth drop our clear judgments; make us

Adore our errors; laugh at's, while we strut

To our confusion…

I found you as a morsel cold upon

Dead Caesar's trencher; nay, you were a fragment

Of Cneius Pompey's; besides what hotter hours,

Unregister'd in vulgar fame, you have

Luxuriously pick'd out: for, I am sure,

Though you can guess what temperance should be,

You know not what it is…

To let a fellow that will take rewards

And say 'God quit you!' be familiar with

My playfellow, your hand; this kingly seal

And plighter of high hearts! O, that I were

Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar

The horned herd! for I have savage cause;

And to proclaim it civilly, were like

A halter'd neck which does the hangman thank

For being yare about him.”

Antony claims that he is reassembling his forces to fight Caesar once more. Cleopatra is pleased that Antony seems himself again and she declares that he is her lord and they are reconciled and exit. Enobarbus is left alone and decides the time is ripe to leave Antony:

“Now he'll outstare the lightning. To be furious,

Is to be frighted out of fear; and in that mood

The dove will peck the estridge; and I see still,

A diminution in our captain's brain

Restores his heart: when valour preys on reason,

It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek

Some way to leave him.” 

Antony and Cleopatra Act Four – “All strange and terrible events are welcome,
 but comforts we despise.”

In his camp outside Alexandria, Caesar, scorns Antony’s challenge when he receives it. Maecenas says that Caesar should use Antony’s anger against him:

“Caesar must think,

When one so great begins to rage, he's hunted

Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now

Make boot of his distraction: never anger

Made good guard for itself.”                                                                Caesar makes plans to crush Antony now that his army even has those who have deserted Antony.

Inside Cleopatra’s Palace, Antony receives news from Enobarbus that Caesar has refused to fight him and Enobarbus points out that on the battlefield Caesar has a twenty to one advantage. Declaring he will fight the next day anyway, Antony thanks his servants for their service and points out that tonight might be his last night. They weep and Enobarbus, chastises Antony for his pessimism. They all go off to one last feast together. But later that night in Cleopatra’s Palace some of the soldiers of Antony hear strange music and believe that it is the music of the God Hercules who is signaling that he is abandoning Antony for good. 

The next morning we see Eros preparing Antony for battle. Antony exudes overconfidence and tells Cleopatra:

“He that unbuckles this, till we do please

To daff't for our repose, shall hear a storm.”                                                 A soldier enters telling Antony that a thousand men are ready to receive Antony’s commands. Antony says goodbye to Cleopatra with a kiss as he leaves Cleopatra’s Palace to confront Caesar.

A little while later, Antony prepares for battle and regrets that he chose to make his last battle with Caesar on water instead of on land. A soldier happens to mention that had it done this he would have not had Enobarbus. Antony is shocked and it is obvious that this is the first he has heard of Enobarbus’ desertion to Caesar. Antony asks for Enobarbu’s fortune to be taken to him and he prepares himself for battle.

“Go, Eros, send his treasure after; do it;

Detain no jot, I charge thee: write to him--

I will subscribe--gentle adieus and greetings;

Say that I wish he never find more cause

To change a master. O, my fortunes have

Corrupted honest men! Dispatch. Enobarbus!”

Over at Caesar’s camp, he is confident and sends Agrippa to open the campaign, putting those soldiers who have deserted Antony on the front line. When Enobarbus is alone, he receives a messenger who says that Antony has brought Enobarbus’ treasure over, even though he is a traitor. He decides that he would rather die than take up arms against Antony:

“I am alone the villain of the earth,

And feel I am so most. O Antony,

Thou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid

My better service, when my turpitude

Thou dost so crown with gold! This blows my heart:

If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean

Shall outstrike thought: but thought will do't, I feel.

I fight against thee! No: I will go seek

Some ditch wherein to die; the foul'st best fits

My latter part of life.”

On the battlefield, Caesar’s forces commanded by Agrippa are in retreat as they seriously underestimated Antony and his army. Then we hear that Antony’s men have won the battle and Alexandria has been taken back. Caesar commends the valour of his men and specifically that of Scarus.

A little later, under the walls of Alexandria, Antony glotes and vows that the next day he will totally destroy Caesar’s forces. Then Cleopatra enters and Antony says he loves her and that she is the only thing that could pierce his armour and penetrate his heart.

“To this great fairy I'll commend thy acts,

Make her thanks bless thee.

O thou day o' the world,

Chain mine arm'd neck; leap thou, attire and all,

Through proof of harness to my heart, and there

Ride on the pants triumphing!”                                                             Antony then tells Cleopatra to praise Scarus, for his bravery and Cleopatra says that Scaris will get a suit of armour made of gold which was once worn by a king himself. Antony and his troops triumphantly march into the streets of Alexandria.

Back at Caesar’s camp, the sentries discuss the coming battle as Enobarbus berates himself nearby. Unaware that he is being watched, Enobarbus rails against his life, wishing for its end and hoping that history will mark him as a traitor and a fugitive. After he collapses and dies and the sentries take his body back to Caesar.

Antony determines that Caesar means to attack him by sea and declares himself ready. He wishes his enemy were equipped to fight in fire or air, swearing he would meet him in those places if he could. This is true because next we cross to Caesar who holds his armies back, as he does indeed prepare to attack Antony at sea.

We cross to Anthony who is with Scarus about to watch the naval battle. Scarus says that  Cleopatra’s fleet as weak, and laments that the soothsayers refuse to share their knowledge regarding the battle’s outcome. Antony watches as the Egyptian fleet betrays him and defects to Caesar. Antony then tells Scarus to disband his own army and give permission for his soldiers to leave. Alone, Anthony blames Cleopatra and her mystical charms for his demise.

“All is lost;

This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me:

My fleet hath yielded to the foe; and yonder

They cast their caps up and carouse together

Like friends long lost. Triple-turn'd whore!

'tis thou

Hast sold me to this novice; and my heart

Makes only wars on thee. Bid them all fly;

For when I am revenged upon my charm,

I have done all. Bid them all fly; begone.

O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more:

Fortune and Antony part here; even here

Do we shake hands. All come to this? The hearts

That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave

Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets

On blossoming Caesar; and this pine is bark'd,

That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am:

O this false soul of Egypt! this grave charm,--

Whose eye beck'd forth my wars, and call'd them home;

Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,--

Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,

Beguiled me to the very heart of loss.

What, Eros, Eros!”

Then Cleopatra enters and Antony is angry at her betrayal and threatens to kill her. Cleopatra leaves.

A little later, Cleopatra tells her maids of Antony’s fury and Charmian suggests that Cleopatra lock herself in her monument and that word is sent to Antony that Cleopatra killed herself due to his anger. Cleopatra agrees and word is sent to Antony.

Antony prepares to kill Cleopatra for her betrayal. Then Mardian arrives with his news that Cleopatra is dead. Antony is distraught that he would have thought Cleopatra false:

“Unarm, Eros; the long day's task is done,

And we must sleep.

That thou depart'st hence safe,

Does pay thy labour richly; go.

Off, pluck off:

The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep

The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides!

Heart, once be stronger than thy continent,

Crack thy frail case! Apace, Eros, apace.

No more a soldier: bruised pieces, go;

You have been nobly borne. From me awhile.

I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and

Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now

All length is torture: since the torch is out,

Lie down, and stray no farther: now all labour

Mars what it does; yea, very force entangles

Itself with strength: seal then, and all is done.

Eros!--I come, my queen:--Eros!--Stay for me:

Where souls do couch on flowers, we'll hand in hand,

And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze:

Dido and her AEneas shall want troops,

And all the haunt be ours… Since Cleopatra died,

I have lived in such dishonour, that the gods

Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword

Quarter'd the world, and o'er green Neptune's back

With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack

The courage of a woman; less noble mind

Than she which by her death our Caesar tells

'I am conqueror of myself.' Thou art sworn, Eros,

That, when the exigent should come, which now

Is come indeed, when I should see behind me

The inevitable prosecution of

Disgrace and horror, that, on my command,

Thou then wouldst kill me: do't; the time is come:

Thou strikest not me, 'tis Caesar thou defeat'st.

Put colour in thy cheek… Eros,

Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome and see

Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down

His corrigible neck, his face subdued

To penetrative shame, whilst the wheel'd seat

Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded

His baseness that ensued?”

Then Cleopatra’s servant Diomedes, arrives and tells that Clepatra is alive. But all is too late, Anthony is dying and he asks that he is taken to Cleopatra:

“Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides;

'Tis the last service that I shall command you…

… do not please sharp fate

To grace it with your sorrows: bid that welcome

Which comes to punish us, and we punish it

Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up:

I have led you oft: carry me now, good friends,

And have my thanks for all.”

On top of a monument, Cleopatra says that she will never leave this monument. The dying Antony is brought below Cleopatra. Cleopatra calls down to Antony, and Antony calls up to her. Antony is heaved up to Cleopatra. They kiss. Antony asks Cleopatra to ask mercy of Caesar but Cleopatra says that she will die by her own hand. Antony reminisces about his own glory days as he dies:

“The miserable change now at my end

Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts

In feeding them with those my former fortunes

Wherein I lived, the greatest prince o' the world,

The noblest; and do now not basely die,

Not cowardly put off my helmet to

My countryman,--a Roman by a Roman

Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going;

I can no more.”

As Antony dies, Cleopatra curses the world and then faints:

“Noblest of men, woo't die?

Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide

In this dull world, which in thy absence is

No better than a sty? O, see, my women,

The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord!

O, wither'd is the garland of the war,

The soldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls

Are level now with men; the odds is gone,

And there is nothing left remarkable

Beneath the visiting moon.”

When Cleopatra comes around again, she then decides that they must bury Antony in Roman fashion and then she must seek out death herself.

“No more, but e'en a woman, and commanded

By such poor passion as the maid that milks

And does the meanest chares. It were for me

To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods;

To tell them that this world did equal theirs

Till they had stol'n our jewel. All's but naught;

Patience is scottish, and impatience does

Become a dog that's mad: then is it sin

To rush into the secret house of death,

Ere death dare come to us? How do you, women?

What, what! good cheer! Why, how now, Charmian!

My noble girls! Ah, women, women, look,

Our lamp is spent, it's out! Good sirs, take heart:

We'll bury him; and then, what's brave,

what's noble,

Let's do it after the high Roman fashion,

And make death proud to take us. Come, away:

This case of that huge spirit now is cold:

Ah, women, women! come; we have no friend

But resolution, and the briefest end.”

Antony and Cleopatra Act Five – “The breaking of so great a thing should make a greater crack.”

Act Five shows Cleopatra to be one of the most complex of Shakespeare’s woman. If Antony dominates Acts One to Four, the end of the play belongs to Cleopatra. The play, however, starts with Caesar sending a demand to Antony to surrender. When Dolabella leaves to deliver the message, one of Antony’s men, comes in bearing Antony’s sword bringing the news that Antony had died. Antony shows genuine remorse at the loss of Antony and declares that all should mourn his death:

“O Antony!

I have follow'd thee to this; but we do lance

Diseases in our bodies: I must perforce

Have shown to thee such a declining day,

Or look on thine; we could not stall together

In the whole world: but yet let me lament,

With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts,

That thou, my brother, my competitor

In top of all design, my mate in empire,

Friend and companion in the front of war,

The arm of mine own body, and the heart

Where mine his thoughts did kindle,--that our stars,

Unreconciliable, should divide

Our equalness to this. Hear me, good friends--

But I will tell you at some meeter season…”

A message comes from Cleopatra to ask what Caesar will do with her. Caesar says that he will treat her well, bring her no shame and take her Rome where she will have a triumph. He sends meesages to her and Proculeius and others to make sure that Cleopatra does not kill herself.

When Proculeius comes to Cleopatra, he is trusted because Antony in life had said that Proculeius was a good man. Cleopatra says that she hopes that Caesar will allow her son to rule Egypt after she leaves. Cleopatra takes out a dagger to commit suicide but Proculeius takes her knife away from her. Cleopatra declaims:

“Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir;

If idle talk will once be necessary,

I'll not sleep neither: this mortal house I'll ruin,

Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I

Will not wait pinion'd at your master's court;

Nor once be chastised with the sober eye

Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up

And show me to the shouting varletry

Of censuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt

Be gentle grave unto me! rather on Nilus' mud

Lay me stark naked, and let the water-flies

Blow me into abhorring! rather make

My country's high pyramides my gibbet,

And hang me up in chains!”

Dolabella then enters and takes care of the ‘suicide watch’ of Cleopatra, Cleopatra is able to get Dolabella to reveal that Caesar does indeed plan to display her as a war prize. Enter Caesar, who says that he will treat Cleopatra and her children well to which Cleopatra responds by giving Caesar a scroll which she says bequeaths her many great riches over to Caesar. Seleucus, Cleopatra’s treasurer seems suitably cautious to confirm and says that he would “…rather seal my lips, than, to my peril, speak that which is not.”

Cleopatra says that Seleucus is ungracious and not too be trusted. Caesar exits and Cleopatra tells her maids that Caesar is not to be trusted and when Dolabella also exits Cleopatra reveals that she will kill herself. She asks to be brought her best attire:

“Now, Charmian!

Show me, my women, like a queen: go fetch

My best attires: I am again for Cydnus,

To meet Mark Antony: sirrah Iras, go.

Now, noble Charmian, we'll dispatch indeed;

And, when thou hast done this chare, I'll give thee leave

To play till doomsday.”

Cleopatra then asks for a clown to bring in a basket of figs which has poisonous snakes in it so that she can embrace death. She bids her maids farewell and kisses them. Cleopatra’s death is the most moving and strange performance of any of Shakespeare’s characters. With Cleopatra adorned in her most magnificent costume, placed in the setting of her monument and then Cleopatra is given deadly asps as her props. She then lifts the asps like babies to her breast:

“Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have

Immortal longings in me: now no more

The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:

Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hear

Antony call; I see him rouse himself

To praise my noble act; I hear him mock

The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men

To excuse their after wrath: husband, I come:

Now to that name my courage prove my title!

I am fire and air; my other elements

I give to baser life. So; have you done?

Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.

Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell.

Kisses them. IRAS falls and dies

Have I the aspic in my lips? Dost fall?

If thou and nature can so gently part,

The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch,

Which hurts, and is desired. Dost thou lie still?

If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world

It is not worth leave-taking…

This proves me base:

If she first meet the curled Antony,

He'll make demand of her, and spend that kiss

Which is my heaven to have. Come, thou

mortal wretch,

To an asp, which she applies to her breast

With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate

Of life at once untie: poor venomous fool

Be angry, and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak,

That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass

Unpolicied…

Peace, peace!

Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,

That sucks the nurse asleep…

As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle,--

O Antony!--Nay, I will take thee too.

Applying another asp to her arm

What should I stay -

(Cleopatra Dies)

Caesar’s  guards enter to find Cleopatra dead. Then Charmian picks up an asp applies it to herself and also dies. Dolabella and Caesar enter. When it is suggested to Caesar that Cleopatra probably died by poisonous asps, he agrees and commands that she be buried with Mark Antony:

“Most probable

That so she died; for her physician tells me

She hath pursued conclusions infinite

Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed;

And bear her women from the monument:

She shall be buried by her Antony:

No grave upon the earth shall clip in it

A pair so famous. High events as these

Strike those that make them; and their story is

No less in pity than his glory which

Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall

In solemn show attend this funeral;

And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see

High order in this great solemnity.”

There have been many incredible performances of this play over the years. The original 1606/07 performance at Blackfriars Theatre or The Globe probably starred Richard Burbage. Later in the 17th Century Thomas Betterton and Elizabeth barry performed in the roles. In the 18th Century, David Garrick apparently did an excellent production in 1759 at Drury Lane. John Philip Kemble's 1813 production was noteworthy and William Charles Macready did a superb production also at Drury Lane in 1833. Samuel Phelps' 1859 production is described as rich while Chatterton's 1873 Drury Lane production seemed huge and sumptuous. The Harcourt Williams production at the Old Vic in 1930 with John Gielgud as Antony, Dorothy Green as Cleopatra and Ralph Richardson as Enobarbus is considered by many the best production. 

A number of people ranked Vivien Leigh's performances as Cleopatra amongst the greatest. She played the role many times including with her husband Laurence Olivier as Antony (1950-52) and again with the great Australian actor Peter Finch as Antony in the early 1950's. Vanessa Redgrave's 1973 performance in Tony Richardson's production was superb and there is footage of this production. She played it 13 years later for Theatr Clwyd. Many people believe that Peter Hall's 1987 production at the national Theatre in London with Judi Dench as Cleopatra and Anthony Hopkins as Antony was one of the best modern productions. Another great production and interpretation of 'Antony and Cleopatra' was Peter Zadek's Brechtian interpretation done in German in 1994 starring Gert Voss as Antony and Eva Mattes as Cleopatra which featured Voss in an Arab headers and Mattes at one point in a pith-helmet.

Shakespeare returns to France in the comedy 'All's Well That Ends Well'.