Antony and Cleopatra

'This dotage of our general's O'erflows the measure' 

• Philo's opening line of monologue representing the Roman dissaproval of Antony's infatuation, structured so affair is seen from Roman perspective with Roman dissaproval
• Water imagery - Antony is seen to be caught up in a flood (flood is a destructive force, froeshadow) of emotions that cannot be contained - as such should be the case in a true Roman

'Then must thou needs find our new heaven, new earth'

• Suggests more then an affair of lust
• Their love is seen on a cosmic scale
• Romance shown under pressure from external sources that eventually destroy it, suggests more than an affair of lust 
• Love to great for this earth - not an idle overstatement - more then this world can hold, for their intense love will be the cause of their deaths (tragedy, foreshadow) 
• Gods promise to man in the book of revelation

'Scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent his powerful mandate to you, 'Do this, or this' Take in that Kindom and enfranchise that' 

• Implies lack of virility to Antony, as well as youth
• Allows Cleopatra to delight in equating the taking of whole kingdoms as being no more then a mere errand.

'Let Rome in timber melt and the wide arch of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.'

• Shirks his duties (audience question his position)
• Evokes the grandear of Rome even when rejecting 

'Sometimes when he is not Antony'

• Antony in Egypt is not himself, at least not the Roman Antony.
• He doesn't live up to his Roman reputation or name, but has transformed. 
• Can't measure up the former Antony.

'He was disposed to mirth; but on the sudden A Roman thought hath struck him'

• Cleopatra's observation of Antony's change of mood are characterized by her reference to Antony's 'Roman thought'
• In Elizibethen times, the term 'Roman' was often used because it believed that Romans as a nation were typically serious and devoted to duty (the theme of Virgil's Aeneid)
• Cleopatra may be suggesting that Antony's thoughts was consistant with that sort of character; another possibility is that Antony was reminded of buisness which had to do with Rome 
• Contrasts with Egypt - pleasure, banqueting, mirth.

'There's a great spirit gone'

• Demeanor is changed upon learning the death of his wife
• he regrets that he once wised for her dead
• sorrowfully remarks 

'No more light answers' /' I shall break the cause of our expedience to the Queen and get her leave to part' - Scene 3

• political dialogue
• change of tone 
• 'Light' - light-hearted subjects, such as love, suggests more important issues 
• Queen - more formal, remembers his position 
• 'break' suggests difficulty, shows sense of conflict 

'From Alexandria; this is the news he fishes, drinks, and wastes the lamps of the night in revel; is not more manlike than Cleopatra, nor the Queen of Plotemy's queen More womenly then he; hardly gave audience, or vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there a man who is the abstract of faults that all men follow.' - Scene 4

• Antony has become frivolous and self-indulgent as Ptolemy's queen
• he rarely attends to his duties who acknowledges he has partners to be considered 
• Here's a man who is the epitome of all vices known to man
• Antony's behaviour show him to a man of poor political judgement 
• The Roman view of his behaviour is confirmed and extended 

'If love by indeed, tell me how much'/ 'i'll set a bourn how far to beloved'

• Wants to know how much he loves her
• Tantalizes him still for more compliments - more verbal proof of his love 

'Do this, or this, take in that Kingdom and enfranchise that'/ 'Scarce bearded Ceasar'

• Mocks the messengers urgency, sarcastic tone, jests Ceasar 
• Delights in equating the taking of whole 'kingdoms' as being no more than a mere daily errand, ordered by the 'scarce bearded' ceasar.
• lack of manlihood, lack of virility compared to Antony, as well as youth. 

'I did not send you. If you find him sad, say I am dancing; if in mirth, report that I am sudden sick.'

• See Cleopatra in an unfavourable light
• Cleopatra uses all of her wiles to persuade Antony not to leave Egypt 
• Seems to be more of a scheming coquette than a women who sincereley loves Antony 

'I am sick and sullen'

• Dramatic irony - unfavourable light as audience are aware of this act
• Reveals herself as an actress of formidable range - feiging illness, turning Antony's word against him, taunting and misbelieving him, making false accusations 

'eternity was in our lips and eyes/bliss in our brows'

• Reminds Antony of his praise of their love, becomes ironic when she says 'play one scene' as if he's acting, yet that's what she's doing 

'Why should I think you can be mine, and true, though you in swearing shake the throned gods' who have been false to Fluvia' / 'Now I see, I see, In Fulvia's death how mine recieved shall be' - Scene 3

• Presents her insecurity - constant comparison with their situation with Fulvia
• Worries Antony will be equally unaffected by her death

'Your honour calls you hence'/'upon your sword' - scene 3

• She concludes he should go to Rome abd wishes him well
• Shows some dignity at the end when she aplogises and buds him triumph in victory 
• shows complexity of character

'That I might sleep out this great gap of time My Antony is away' Scene 5

• Presents her as a lovesick adolescent rather than a ruler of a country
• Cleopatra is at a loss of something to occupy her 
• Spends most of this time worrying and thinking of him
• desire to sleep - extent to which she doesn't want to be concious without him present

'Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits he? Or does he walk? Or is he in his horse? O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!' - Scene 5

• First utterance of the play
• Sexual connotations 
• aggrandisment of Antony

'How's my serpent of old nile'/ 'Delicious posion' - Scene 5

• melodramtic terms for the sleeping potion
• follows the image of the serpant 
• Serpant appropriate image to associate with Cleo, given its association with treachery, wisdom and mystery
• expresses the paradox she is indulging in conflicting emotions

'But all the charms of love, Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wanned lip!' 

• 'salt' - lustful, desireful 
• Suggests their relationship is only physical

'Tis time we twain Did show oirselves i'th field, and to the end Aseemble we immediate council. Pompey Thrives in our idleness.' - Scene 4

• Trans - It's time that we brought our armies into the field, Let's call a council of war immediately. Pompey is making the most of our absence.
• Ceaser thinks clearly and act's decisively (he makes no polictical mistakes in the play)
• Ceasar makes it clear that his condemnation is political rather then moral - contrasts with Antony

I must not think there are Evils enough to darken all his goodness. His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven, more fiery in by night's blackness' (Lepidus about Antony) / 'You are too indulgent' (Ceasar's response to Lepidus)- Scene 4

• Lepidus is more sympathetic to Antony than Ceasar
• Shows undertsanding of his complexity of Antony's character
• Astrology imagery 

Then thou needs find out new earth, new heaven'

• Suggests more then an affair of lust
• Their love is seen on a cosmic scale
• Romance shown under pressure from external sources that eventually destroy it, suggests more than an affair of lust 
• Love to great for this earth - not an idle overstatement - more then this world can hold, for their intense love will be the cause of their deaths (tragedy, foreshadow) 
• Gods promise to man in the book of revelation 

'Tonight we'll wander through the streets and note the qualities of people'

• Public display of affection
• 'we'll' - sense of unity 

'Our seperation so abides and flies that thou, residing here, goes yet with me, And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. 

• both promise they'll be with each other in spirit while they're physically apart (depth of love)

'That I may sleep out this great gap of time My Antony is away' - Act 1, Scene 5

• Beneath Cleopatra's whims and her girlish melodramatics over her absent lover, there is a hint that the very strength of her feeling protends a deeper affection that her behaviour would indicate.
• It is as if adveristy and tragedy must work their magi on this all-too-earthly pair before they and we, the audience, realize that the love in which they profess may, in fact, be almost supernatural love, a force ultimately more powerful yo Antony than the fate of the Roman Empire itself. 

'Then must thou find out new heaven, new earth'

• Suggests more then an affair of lust - Their love is seen on a cosmic scale
• Romance shown under pressure from external sources that eventually destroy it, suggests more than an affair of lust 
• Love to great for this earth - not an idle overstatement - more then this world can hold, for their intense love will be the cause of their deaths (tragedy, foreshadow) 
• Gods promise to man in the book of revelation

'You shall outlive the lady whom you serve'/'Oh, excellent! I love long life better then figs.'

• Contrasts the gaiety and liviliness of Cleopatra's court with a dour, soothsayer.
• Comic opening - women speak in prose - fortune teller does not offer them the bright future they wish for ]
• Dramatic irony - Chairmain is exceedingly pleased at the idea that she will live longer then her mistress; little does she realise that her mistress will soon be dead.
• Introduces theme, foreshadows 

Love and the world of politics and war belong in seperate spheres and can never merge. 

'have glowed like plated mars' 

• 'mars' - the virile Roman God of war (who nonethless had, himself, a debilitating affair with venus)
• Antithesis between Rome as place of soliders, to Eygpt as a place of pleasure and indulgence.

'Then must thou needs find our new heaven, new earth'

• Suggests more then an affair of lust - Their love is seen on a cosmic scale
• Romance shown under pressure from external sources that eventually destroy it, suggests more than an affair of lust 
• Love to great for this earth - not an idle overstatement - more then this world can hold, for their intense love will be the cause of their deaths (tragedy, foreshadow) 
• Gods promise to man in the book of revelation

'O'er flows the measure' 

• Water imagery - Antony is seen to be caught up in a flood (flood is a destructive force, froeshadow) of emotions that cannot be contained - as such should be the case in a true Roman

''Where's my serpent of old Nile!'  - Scene 5

• Snake imagery, association with treachery, wisdom and mystery
• Foreshadow, ironic 

'Ha, Ha! Give me me to drink Mandragora' - Act 1, Scene 5

• 'Mangragora' - Sleeping potion

'My salad days, when I was green in judgement, cold in blood.'

• 'Salad' unfullfilling, unappetizing

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Shakespare's chief source for Antony and Cleopatra was plutarch's 'lives of the noble Grecians' and 'Romones' translated by Thomas North

Plutrach mainly presented mark Antony as vain and a desolate character, juxtaposed against the heroism and virtues of his compatriots. 

Shakespeare plays down these attributes for a more dramatic effect, choosing to make Antony more complex, three-dimensional and flawed character.