Antony and Cleopatra

Discuss the structure of the play. How do the quick scene changes affect the plot?
In
sheer number of scenes, Antony and Cleopatra outstrips all other
Shakespearean plays. Act V, scene ii, the longest scene in the play, is a
mere 356 lines, a modest length compared to scenes in Shakespeare’s
other tragedies. The shortness of the scenes compresses our sense of
both space and time. First, geographically speaking, the play shuttles
the audience from one end of the Roman Empire to another, from Rome to
Athens to Syria to Alexandria. The global span of the scenes mirrors the
play’s concern with the construction of an empire. Furthermore, the
rapidly shifting scenes quicken the pace of the play and, with it, the
audience’s sense of the passage of time. Although Antony and Cleopatra
covers a period of ten years, we feel that events follow one another
immediately. For example, Ventidius’s war against the Parthians takes no
more time than Octavia’s fateful journey from Athens to Rome. This
compression of time speeds us toward the play’s outcome, heightening the
tragedy’s sense of inevitability.

2. Contrast Cleopatra with Octavia. How is each representative of her civilization?
Cleopatra
and Octavia represent rival civilizations. Cleopatra’s beauty and
seductiveness are without question. Even Enobarbus, who resents the
queen’s command over Antony, acknowledges the undeniable strength of her
powers. In fact, his description of Cleopatra in Act II, scene ii
offers the play’s most complete picture of her beauty and charms. In a
world devoted to visual spectacles, Cleopatra’s command over her
physical appearance lends her a kind of power that the plainer Octavia
lacks. A single tear from Cleopatra can turn Antony’s anger into fawning
devotion, whereas nothing that Octavia does can bring him back from
Alexandria. Octavia’s unheralded arrival in Rome symbolizes her near
invisibility to her husband. Described by Cleopatra’s messenger as
physically unimpressive, Octavia possesses a temperament that, when
compared to the queen’s, is equally unimpressive. When betrayed by
Antony, Octavia summons none of the rage or indignation or sorrow that
one could easily imagine might come from Cleopatra. In her ability to
shift from one extreme emotion to another, the queen embodies the
unfettered passions that Caesar and the other disciplined Romans view as
a threat to their Western order. Octavia, who in contrast seems rather
passionless—after all, Antony’s abandonment brings only the meekest
tears—represents an easily contained and easily controlled type of
female sexuality that does not threaten men’s reason or rule. Thus, she
becomes, as Maecenas notes, the “love and pity” of every Roman heart
(III.vi.92).

3. What is the Roman perception of Egypt? Should we have the same perception?
Among
the Romans in the play, there is a definite consensus regarding Egypt.
Philo sets the tone for the West’s perception of the East in the opening
lines of the play, when he complains that Antony, the paragon of
Western military might and discipline, has been led to distraction by “a
gipsy’s lust” (I.i.10). Caesar seconds Philo’s opinion when he condemns
Antony for abandoning his “kingdom for a mirth” (I.iv.18). According to
the Romans, who pride themselves on the strength of their reason as
much as the strength of their army, Egypt is a land in which emotions
overshadow rationality, passions dominate and derail the intellect, and
pleasure takes priority over duty. Even Antony, whose love for Cleopatra
makes him much more sympathetic than his comrades to Egyptian culture,
considers Egypt a threat to his identity as a Roman: “These strong
Egyptian fetters I must break, / Or lose myself in dotage”
(I.ii.105–106).
We should not share this perception of Egypt,
however. For the Roman understanding of the East and, by extension, its
representative queen is exceptionally narrow. According to Caesar, for
instance, Cleopatra is little more than the whore for whom Antony has
sacrificed his kingdom and reputation. But just as Cleopatra is a
multidimensional character who plays the parts of lovesick devotee,
grief-stricken mourner, jealous harpy, and even, at the end, wife and
mother as convincingly as she dons the role of seductress, so too the
East contains more than simple base temptations. A homeland of sorts for
the passions, freedoms, and imagination that often escape the likes of
Caesar and Antony, Shakespeare’s East is best understood as a world
larger and more complex than reductive Roman thought allows