The “infinite diversity” of modern life and political change was a familiar experience for the original audience. Shakespeare uses the imagery of water to illustrate the idea of paradox. He then goes on to subvert his own claim that wild contradictions come naturally by giving all the characters a human quality.
Cleopatra is a complex character because of her constantly changing personality and the imagery that surrounds it. She is able to show a wide variety of emotions. Cleopatra, in later acts, expresses that Antony’s portrayal is contradictory. “One way it is a Gorgon/The other is Mars”. The audience is forced to struggle with how they view her, trying to find her authentic moments while also being led into believing in her convincing performances.
Cleopatra’s imagery is a mixture of images that are violent in their nature. This illustrates her paradoxes. She is followed by both food and serpents throughout the play. The “strange snake” represents her cunning, sly nature, while the “moody” food suggests her decadent sensuality. Each image has multiple interpretations. Images of “feeding”, on the other hand, could be used to emphasize that Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship is ultimately fragile despite its apparent cosmic grandeur. Cleopatra’s suicide highlights and contrasts her antiquity, a fixed, eternal quality. She is a “serpent” of the old nile, an image which is linked to a number of unstoppable forces in nature. For example, the barge she rides on “burned over the water” while she declares just moments before death that she’s “fire” and “air”. The dash at the end of her last words “What should i stay-” suggests the transcendent and heavenly virtue within Cleopatra. Her death, however, proves that she is mortal and shakes humanity.
Water is an important image that runs through the entire play. The “ebbs” & “flows” in human nature are captured by this element. The unpredictable nature of “water” can be both life-giving and fertile, but it is also capable of harming through flooding or drowning. The sea can be seen in many forms and in endless variations. Humans are able to replicate these qualities through their personalities. The sea plays a major role in the paradoxical battle of Egypt and Antony. Antony seems both devoted to Caesar and valiant when he insists that they battle “at sea, in sea” upon Caesar’s order. His bravery is indicated by his monosyllabic repetition. Later, he “kisse(s) away/Kingdoms/Provinces”, as he steers his fleet from battle to follow the Egyptians. Cleopatra, in this case, is also contradictory. First, she shows her love to Antony by pooling all of her nation’s resources, and then abandons him during battle.
Antony’s inner turmoil reflects how opposing ideologies can have a powerful impact on an individual’s personality. Act Two: After he “claps” hands with Caesar (a gesture that shows that they are politically bound by “fair” Octavia), he declares he will “go to Egypt”, where he finds “pleasure”. His sense of responsibility is “melting” quickly. In his language, he also has a polar nature. When he talks to Caesar about a “Roman Thought”, he uses iambic, while when he talks with his “Egyptian Dish”, he uses prose. It’s possible that his unstructured first line and its languid tone foreshadows the eventual consumption of Antony by the “East”. Similar to Cleopatra’s imagery, Antony’s is paradoxical. The play compares him to many gods, but Mars is the one that stands out as a symbol of his mythological power and status. Ironically, the dialogue of the play is filled with “melting”, an image that shows the instability of both Cleopatra’s relationship and his political position.
Caesar is consistently more careful in his decisions than his peers, and argues that while human nature always has contrasts, these are sometimes of a small magnitude. He often appears to base his relationships on his ability to strategically maneuver. Pompey’s party is attended by him in order to gain their support and reduce any traces that he poses as a threat. He uses a disapproving attitude when reminding the heavily intoxicated triumvirate of “graver issues” they should attend to. He laments to Lepidus that he does not hate Antony, but Lepidus was “too indulgent” when describing his “lascivious wails” in Act 1. The use of full-stops at the end of each sentence suggests his bluntness and his rigidity. In the majority, his language is written in strict iambic, emphasizing his rigidity. Act Three does have a moment of warmth, as he bids her farewell three times quickly, suggesting he truly cares and is worried about her. When he describes the “tears”, that many will shed over Antony’s death, he briefly departs from the rigid, cold style of his dialogue. In the last lines of the play, he bravely declares “Cleopatra shall be buried by Antony”, acknowledging their monumental love and tragedy. Caesar may have a different personality from these examples. However, they may also represent a calculated plan to attain absolute rule.
The play’s array of contrasts illustrates how humanity is constantly changing and evolving. Cleopatra, who is engrossed in “mandragora”, as she passes lonely hours in Act One, changes the haze to Roman anxiety with the soldiers in battledress at Scene Two. The rush of events creates chaos and confusion, which reflects the constant contradictions in one’s own mind. The fact that both settings of the play are so different in terms of their fundamental ideals is a similar representation. The Romans, who are very censorious, condemn everything that “o’verflows the measures”, a phrase which alone shows their rigid political constructs and fear of unpredictable water. Egypt, in contrast, focuses on hedonism. The Egyptians’ dialogue is full of hedonistic, sensual, and garish extravagance. This is not an isolated instance of comedy. In Antony & Cleopatra both comedy and drama are interwoven. They show the humanities’ contradictions in their response to external and internal pressures. Demetrius & Philo label Antony as “the common lie” and then the scene changes to Charmian & Iras laughing at the soothsayers trying to tell them about “nature’s infinitive book of secret”.
The play has polar opposites that are often seen in the characters. However, certain traits are what binds them together. They show that, although contradictions will always exist, humanity remains the same, even though they may be paradoxical. Although their surface differences are stark, the political strategies of Cleopatra and Caesar are strikingly similar. Cleopatra, for example, can switch from threatening a messenger with “melting and pouring” gold down his “ill-uttering” throat to lamenting that she’s “pale” of weakness when he tells her the news. Act five sees Caesar go from grieving for his “friend and compatriot” to plotting the capture of Cleopatra in seconds. Both Caesar and Cleopatra use similar mechanisms to further their ambitions in politics, carefully structuring their interactions.
Antony and Cleopatra have a lot in common. They both see their love through a cosmic lens. They both compare the relationship they share to “Venus and Mars”, but at different times in the play. They also blur the boundaries between femininity and masculinity. Cleopatra manipulates Antony, a conflicted and flustered character, often. This is evident in Act One, when Antony struggles to find the right words to express his love for Cleopatra. Both characters share characteristics that are usually only associated with the East and West. Antony lives the exotic, hedonistic East lifestyle but returns to the pursuit of military success when “a Roman Thought has Hit Him”. Cleopatra is a woman of hedonistic decadence who has an impressive political mind.
Egypt and Rome, too, are presented in Antony & Cleopatra paradoxically. While they share many differences, you can draw parallels. Egypt and Rome, both of which have comedy interwoven with tragedy, are not unique. In Act Two, the awkward exchange between Antony and Caesar as they ask each other to sit is similar to Cleopatra’s clown’s innuendo during her dying moments. Both are examples of comedy interjecting high drama. Cleopatra’s army is a major part of Antony’s battle at sea, while Cleopatra in the west has a more relaxed approach. Both regions have a rigid hierarchy. Antony, Cleopatra, and their servants are all there to serve them.
Shakespeare challenges this notion, proving that it is impossible to neatly categorise humanity. Shakespeare explores a myriad of paradoxes that are accompanied by similarities. These similarities intertwine into a complex, multifaceted world which cannot be described in a single feature.
