THE TRAGEDIE OF ANTHONIE AND

CLEOPATRA
BACKGROUND
 Antony and Cleopatra is
a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The
play was first performed, by the King's
Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or
the Globe Theatre in around 1607; its
first appearance in print was in
the Folio of 1623.
SETTING
 It was set from the time of the Sicilian
Revolt to Cleopatra’s suicide during the
Final War of the Roman Republic.

 The play takes place all over the Roman

Empire, from Parthia (modern-day Iraq),
Athens, and Syria to various battlefields in-
between. The main action, however, occurs
in Rome with Caesar and in Alexandria,
Egypt with Antony and Cleopatra.
CHARACTERS
 Mark
Antony –
Roman general
and one of the
three joint
leaders, or
"triumvirs",
who rule
the Roman
Republic after
CHARACTERS

 Cleopatra –
Queen of Egypt.
She was the
lover of both
Julius Caesar
and Marcus
Antonius.
CHARACTERS
 Octavius Caesar –
another triumvir.
The nephew and
adopted son of
Julius Caesar.
Octavius rules the
Roman Empire with
Antony and
Lepidus.
CHARACTERS
 Marcus
Aemilius
Lepidus -  The
third member of
the triumvirate
and the weakest,
both politically
and personally.
CHARACTERS
 Pompey -  The son of
a great general who
was one of Julius
Caesar’s partners in
power. Pompey is
young and popular
with the Roman
people, and he
possesses enough
military might to stand
as a legitimate threat
to the triumvirs.
CHARACTERS
 Antony's party
 Demetrius
 Philo
 Domitius Enobarbus
 Ventidius
 Silius – officer in Ventidius' army
 Eros
 Canidius– Antony's lieutenant-general
 Scarus
 Dercetus
 Schoolmaster – Antony's ambassador to Octavius
 Rannius (non-speaking role)
 Lucilius (non-speaking role)
 Lamprius (non-speaking role)
CHARACTERS
 Octavius' party
 Octavia – Octavius' sister
 Maecenas
 Agrippa – admiral of the Roman navy
 Taurus – Octavius' lieutenant general
 Dolabella
 Thidias
 Gallus
 Proculeius
CHARACTERS
 Sextus' party
 Menecrates
 Menas
 Varrius
CHARACTERS
 Cleopatra's party
 Charmian – maid of honour
 Iras – maid of honour
 Alexas
 Mardian – a eunuch
 Diomedes – treasurer
 Seleucus – attendant
CHARACTERS
 Other
 Soothsayer
 Clown
 Boy
 Sentry
 Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other
Attendants
SUMMARY
 ACT 1, SCENE 1
 Cleopatra's palace, in Alexandria.
Philo and Demetrius, two Roman soldiers, discuss how their general, Mark
Antony, has fallen in love with the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, and has
lost interest in his proper role as one of the three leaders (or triumvirs)
of the Roman Empire.
Cleopatra and Antony enter, the queen imploring Antony to describe just
how much he loves her, when a messenger from Rome greets them.
Antony says that he has little interest in hearing Roman news, but
Cleopatra tells him that he must listen. He says that his duty requires
him to stay in Alexandria and love Cleopatra. Although the queen
doubts the sincerity of his sentiment, her suggestions that Antony hear
the news from Rome go unheeded, and the couple exits together.
After the lovers have gone, Philo and Demetrius express shock and
despair at their general’s disrespect for Caesar and the concerns of the
empire.
SUMMARY
 ACT 1, SCENE 2
 Cleopatra's palace, in Alexandria.
 Cleopatra’s attendants ask a soothsayer, or fortune-teller, to
reveal their futures. The Soothsayer says that their fortunes are
the same: their pasts will prove better than their futures, and they
shall outlive the queen whom they serve.
 A messenger reports to Antony that Fulvia and Lucius, Antony’s
brother, have mounted an army against Caesar but have lost their
battle.
 Another messenger arrives to report that Fulvia is dead. Antony
comments that he long desired his wife’s death but now wishes
her alive again.
 Enobarbus arrives and tries to comfort Antony with the thought
that Fulvia’s death was an event that should be welcomed rather
than mourned.
 Antony decides to break away from Cleopatra and return to Rome.

SUMMARY
 ACT 1, SCENE 3
 Cleopatra's palace, in Alexandria.
 Cleopatra orders her servant Alexas to fetch Antony. When
Antony enters, Cleopatra feigns a fainting spell.
 Antony tells her of the volatile political situation in Rome
and of Fulvia’s death. Cleopatra notes how little he mourns
and predicts that he will grieve as little after her own
death.
 They argue about the depth and truth of his feelings, until
Antony finally departs, promising that distance will not
threaten their love.
 SUMMARY
 ACT 1, SCENE 4
 Caesar’s Palace in Rome
 Young Octavius Caesar complains to Lepidus,
the third triumvir, that Antony has abandoned
his responsibilities as a statesman and, in
doing so, has also abandoned the better part
of his manhood. Lepidus attempts to defend
Antony.
 A messenger arrives with news that
Pompey’s forces are both gathering strength
and finding support among those whose prior
allegiance to Caesar arose from fear, not duty.
SUMMARY
 ACT 1, SCENE 5
 Cleopatra’s Palace in Alexandria
 Cleopatra misses Antony to the point of
obsession. Alexas enters and presents her
with a gift from Antony: a pearl.
 Cleopatra asks if he appeared sad or
happy.
 Cleopatra orders Alexas to prepare twenty
messengers, so that she can write to
Antony on each day of his absence. She
promises, if need be, to “unpeople Egypt”
SUMMARY
 ACT 1, SCENE 5
 Cleopatra’s Palace in Alexandria
 Cleopatra misses Antony to the point of
obsession. Alexas enters and presents her
with a gift from Antony: a pearl.
 Cleopatra asks if he appeared sad or
happy.
 Cleopatra orders Alexas to prepare twenty
messengers, so that she can write to
Antony on each day of his absence. She
promises, if need be, to “unpeople Egypt”
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 1
 Messina, Pompey’s Palace
 Pompey discusses the military situation with his lieutenants,
Menecrates and Menas. He feels confident of victory against
the triumvirs not only because he controls the sea and is
popular with the Roman people, but also because he believes
that Antony, the greatest threat to his power, is still in Egypt
 . Menas reports that Caesar and Lepidus have raised an army,
and another soldier, Varrius, arrives to tell them that Antony
has come to Rome.
 Menas expresses his hope that Caesar and Antony’s mutual
enmity will give rise to a battle between the two triumvirs, but
Pompey predicts that the two will come together in order to
fend off a common enemy.
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 2
 Rome, Lepidus’ House
 Antony and Caesar enter with their attendants and sit down to talk. Caesar
complains of the rebellion that Fulvia and Antony’s brother raised against him.
He asks why Antony dismissed his messengers in Alexandria and accuses
Antony of failing in his obligation to provide military aid to the other triumvirs.
 Antony defends himself, and Maecenas, one of Caesar’s companions, suggests
that they put aside their bickering in order to face Pompey. Agrippa, another of
Caesar’s men, suggests that Antony marry Caesar’s sister, Octavia. This bond,
he claims, would cement the men’s affection for and alliance with one another.
Antony consents. Caesar and Antony shake hands, promising brotherly love,
and they agree to march together toward Pompey’s stronghold on Mount
Mesina.
 When the triumvirs disperse, Enobarbus tells Agrippa of the good life they lived
in Egypt. He describes how Cleopatra first came to meet Antony, comparing
the queen to Venus, the goddess of love. Antony, he maintains, will never be
able to leave her, despite his marriage to Octavia.
MEETING ANTONY FOR THE FIRST TIME
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 3
 Rome, Caesar’s House
 Antony promises Octavia that although his duties will often force
him to be away from her, he will avoid the sexual indiscretions of his
past. Octavia and Caesar depart.
 Antony is joined by the Egyptian soothsayer, who predicts Antony’s
return to Egypt. Antony asks whether he or Caesar has the brighter
future, and the Soothsayer answers that Caesar’s fortune will rise
higher. As long as Antony remains in Rome, the Soothsayer predicts,
he will be overshadowed by Caesar. He advises Antony to leave
plenty of space between himself and Caesar. Antony dismisses the
fortune-teller but agrees with his assessment, and he resigns himself
to returning to the East, where his “pleasure lies” (II.iii.38).
 Antony summons Ventidius, a soldier and friend, and commissions
him to go east to make war against the kingdom of Parthia.
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 4
 Street in Rome
 Lepidus speaks
with Agrippa and Maecenas as they
prepare to fight Pompey. They plan to
meet at Mount Misena. Lepidus says that
he has business that will delay him, so
he will arrive two days after Agrippa and
Maecenas do.
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 5
 Alexandria. Cleopatra's palace.
 Cleopatra reminisces about a fishing trip she took with
Antony. A messenger arrives from Rome. Cleopatra toys with
the poor man as a cat with a mouse, promising rich reward for
good news and punishment for bad news.
 When the messenger tells him that Antony has married
Octavia, Cleopatra beats him. The Queen grows more
enraged, threatening the poor messenger with a knife. When
she regains control of herself, she calls him back to confirm
the news. She dismisses him.
 Devastated, faint, Cleopatra has her ladies lead her off. As
she goes, she bids Alexas and Mardian ask the messenger
about Octavia's appearance and charms.
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 6
 Near Misena
 The triumvirate meets with Pompey. He tells them he wants to avenge his
father against Rome. [His father, also called Pompey, fled East during a conflict
with Julius Caesar, and was assassinated.] Antony points out that while at sea
Pompey is powerful, by land the triumvirate is supreme. The triumvirate has
made Pompey an offer: he can retain rule of Sicily and Sardinia, but he must
rid the sea of pirates and send shipments of wheat to Rome. Pompey says that
he would accept. When Octavius and Antony's brother were at war, Antony's
mother fled to Sicily and was generously received by Pompey. Antony thanks
him, the two men shake, and Pompey accepts the triumvirate's offer. The
tension is eased, and the men turn to talk of feasting together.
 All exit except Menas and Enobarbus. They exchange compliments, mixed with
a bit of boasting. Menas confesses displeasure at Pompey's decision.
Enobarbus, when asked about Cleopatra, informs Menas of Antony's marriage
to Octavia. He predicts that Antony will return to Cleopatra, and that Antony
and Caesar must eventually face off. They go to drink together.
SUMMARY
 ACT 2, SCENE 7
 Near Misena
 A group of servants discusses Pompey’s dinner party,
commenting on Lepidus’s drunkenness in particular.
 Pompey enters with his guests as Antony discusses the
Nile River.
 Menas pulls Pompey aside to suggest that they set sail and
kill the three triumvirs while they are still drunk and
onboard the boat, thus delivering control of the Western
world into Pompey’s hands. Pompey rails against Menas for
sharing this plan with him. Were the deed done without his
knowledge, Pompey says, he would have praised it, but
now that he knows, it would violate his honor.
 In an angry aside, Menas expresses his disappointment
with Pompey and swears that he will leave his master’s
service.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 1
 On a plain in Syria
 Ventidius, fighting for Antony, defeated Parthia
(modern Iran)
 One of Ventidius’s soldiers urges him to push on into
Parthia and win more glory, but Ventidius says he
should not. If he were too successful in war, he
explains, he would fall out of Antony’s favor and not
be able to advance as a member of Antony’s forces.
 Instead, Ventidius halts his army and writes to
Antony, informing him of his victory.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 2
 Rome
 Agrippa and Enobarbus discuss the current state of
affairs: Pompey has gone, Octavia and Caesar are
saddened by their nearing separation, and Lepidus
is still sick from his night of heavy drinking.
 A trumpet blares, and Lepidus, Antony, and Caesar
enter. Caesar bids farewell to Antony and his sister,
urging his new brother-in-law never to mistreat
Octavia and thereby drive a wedge between
himself and Antony.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 3
 Alexandria, Egypt
 Cleopatra’s messenger returns to report on Antony’s bride. He
tells Cleopatra that Octavia is shorter than she and that
Octavia has a low voice and is rather lifeless. This news
pleases Cleopatra, who delights in thinking that Antony’s
bride is stupid and short. She decides that, given Octavia’s
lack of positive attributes, Antony cannot possibly enjoy being
with her for long.
 She promises to reward the messenger for his good service,
showers him with gold, and asks him not to think of her too
harshly for her past treatment of him.
 She then tells Charmian that Antony will almost certainly
return to her.
OCTAVIA THE YOUNGER
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 4
 Athens, Greece
 Antony complains to Octavia that since departing Rome,
Caesar has not only waged war against Pompey but has also
belittled Antony in public. Octavia urges Antony not to believe
everything he hears, and she pleads with him to keep the
peace with her brother. Were Antony and Caesar to fight,
Octavia laments, she would not know whether to support her
brother or her husband. Antony tells her that he must do what
needs to be done to preserve his honor, without which he
would be nothing.
 Nevertheless, he sends her to Rome to make peace again
between Caesar and himself.
 Meanwhile, he prepares for war against Pompey.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 5
 Rome (while Antony and Octavia are in Athens)
 Enobarbus converses with Eros, another friend of
Antony. The two discuss Caesar’s defeat of Pompey’s
army and the murder of Pompey.
 Eros reports that Caesar made use of Lepidus’s
forces, but then, after their victory, denied Lepidus
his share of the spoils. In fact, Caesar has accused
the triumvir of plotting against him and has thrown
him into prison.
 Enobarbus reports that Antony’s navy is ready to sail
for Italy and Caesar.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 6
 Rome ( while Antony is in Egypt)
 Back in Rome, Caesar rails against Antony. He tells Agrippa and
Maecenas that Antony has gone to Egypt to sit alongside
Cleopatra as her king. He has given her rule over much of the
Middle East, making her absolute queen of lower Syria, Cyprus,
and Lydia.  He has also made his two small sons titular kings of
various lands which he has conquered. Caesar interprets Antony's
actions as being political ploys to usurp the authority of Rome;
thus, they are an insult to both the empire and to Caesar
personally.
 Caesar reports that Antony is displeased that he has not yet been
allotted a fair portion of the lands that Caesar wrested from
Pompey and Lepidus. He will divide his lot, he says, if Antony
responds in kind and grants him part of Armenia and other
kingdoms that Antony conquered.
 Octavia enters. Caesar laments that the woman travels so plainly,
without the fanfare that should attend the wife of Antony. Caesar
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 7
 Alexandria, Egypt
 Cleopatra plans to go into battle alongside Antony and responds
angrily to Enobarbus’s suggestion that her presence will be a
distraction. Enobarbus tries to dissuade her, but she dismisses his
objections.
 Antony tells his general, Camidius, that he will meet Caesar at
sea. Camidius and Enobarbus object, pointing out that while they
have superiority on land, Caesar’s naval fleet is much stronger.
-Antony, however, refuses to listen.
 Cleopatra maintains that her fleet of sixty ships will win the battle.
 Camidius complains that they are all “women’s men,” ruled by
Cleopatra. He comments on the speed of Caesar’s approach, then
goes to prepare the land defenses.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 8 TO 10
 Caesar orders his army to hold off its attack until
the sea battle ends.
 Antony instructs Enobarbus to set their squadrons
on a hillside, which will allow them to view the
battle at sea.
 Enobarbus describes the sea fight he has just
witnessed: Antony’s forces were winning the battle
until Cleopatra’s ship fled without warning and
Antony followed her. The fleet was thrown into
confusion, and the victory went to Caesar. Antony’s
soldiers are sickened by the sight, one of them
declaring that he has never seen anything so
shameful. Camidius defects to Caesar’s side,
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 11
 Alexandria, Egypt
 Anthony was filled with shame for
abandoning his troops.
 Cleopatra asked for forgiveness and he
forgives her so easily with just a kiss.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 12
 In a camp near Alexandria, Egypt
 Antony and Cleopatra sent the tutor of their
children as an ambassador to Caesar. He
requested to stay in Egypt or to live as a private
citizen in Athens.
 Cleopatra also asked that Egypt be given to her
children, particularly to Caesarion.
 Caesar rejected Antony’s request but considered
Cleopatra’s with a condition. That she drives
Antony out of Egypt or have him killed.
SUMMARY
 ACT 3, SCENE 13
 Alexandria, Egypt
 Enobarbus tells Cleopatra that the defeat was not her fault
since Antony could have chosen to follow reason rather than
lust.
 Antony declares that he will challenge his rival to one-on-one
combat.
 Enobarbus thinks that Caesar has destroyed Antony’s
judgement.
 Thidias arrives to tell Cleopatra that Caesar will show her
mercy if she will relinquish Antony. The queen claims that she
merely submits to antony out of fear.The queen concedes that
she embraced Antony more out of fear than love.
 Cleopatra allowed Thidias to kiss her hand which was seen by
Anthony and he flew in jealous rage. He ordered Thidias to be
whipped.
SUMMARY
 ACT 4, SCENE 1
 Caesar’s camp in Alexandria
 Caesar receives an insulting letter from
Anthony. He rejects Antony’s challenge
of to one-on-one combat and plans
on attacking him for the last time.
SUMMARY
 ACT 4, SCENE 2 to 3
 Cleopatra’s palace
 Antony decides on attacking Caesar by land and
by sea.
 He bids all the servants goodbye.
 The soldiers hear strange noises and eerie music
from under the ground and concluded that is an
ill omen from the god Hercules, from whom
Antony is believed to be descended. The soldier
fears that these events are a sign that the god
no longer favors Antony.
SUMMARY
 ACT 4, SCENE 4 TO 7
 Alexandria, Egypt
 Cleopatra helps prepare Antony for war futilely.
 Antony discovers that Enobarbus has deserted him.
He left his chest of treasures behind but Antony
orders Eros to bring it to him with a letter.
 More of Antony’s soldiers have deserted him. Caesar
orders Agrippa to place them in the front line.
 Enobarbus receives the treasures and fills with guilt.
He decides to die in a ditch.
 Antony wins the war of Actium with Scarus.
SUMMARY
 ACT 4, SCENE 8 to 13
 Alexandria, Egypt
 Mark Antony leads a triumphal parade around Alexandria
 Enobarbus dies.
 Antony prepares his troops to fight Caesar at sea.
 Caesar does the same.
 Scarus, in an aside, condemns Cleopatra’s fleet as weak, and
laments that the soothsayers refuse to share their knowledge
regarding the battle’s outcome.
 Cleopatra once again betrays Antony by abandoning him.
 Antony drives Cleopatra away threatening to kill her.
 Cleopatra hides herself in her tomb for fear of Antony’s wrath.
She sends a message to him that she has killed herself.
SUMMARY
 ACT 4, SCENE 14
 Cleopatra’s Palace
 Antony fills with despair. Without his honor, he becomes a mere
shadow of himself.
 Mardian enters and tells him that Cleopatra has killed herself.
 Anthony declares that he will join Cleopatra in death.
 He asks Eros to kill him. Horrified, Eros refuses but relents after
being reminded of an oath made to Antony before.
 He prepares to stab Antony but stabs himself instead.
 Antony falls on his own sword but fails to kill himself. A group of
guardsmen refuses to finish the task.
 Diomedes, a servant of Cleopatra, reports that the queen is alive
and well. It is too late, however, to save Antony’s life. Dying,
Antony commands his guards to bear his body to Cleopatra.
SUMMARY
 ACT 4, SCENE 15
 Cleopatra’s Tomb
 Diomedes appears below and calls up to her that Antony’s guard has brought
the wounded Antony. The lovers call to one another. Antony says that he is
dying and wishes to embrace her one last time. She replies that she dares not
come down from her monument, lest she be captured by Caesar and paraded
through the streets as a prisoner of war.
 Cleopatra asks the soldiers to heave Antony up to her. She pulls him to her
and kisses him. Antony advises the queen to cast herself upon Caesar’s mercy,
trusting in the honesty of Caesar’s friend Proculeius.
 He then recalls his own greatness and says that he will die gloriously, “a
Roman by a Roman / Valiantly vanquished”. He dies.
 Cleopatra curses the world as a suddenly very dull place. Without Antony, she
feels that neither life nor she herself is the least bit remarkable: she might as
well be a “maid that milks / And does the meanest chores” (IV.xvi.76–77). After
her maids revive her from a fainting spell, Cleopatra decides that they must
bury Antony in Roman fashion and then help her seek her own death.
DEATH OF ANTONY
SUMMARY
 ACT 5, SCENE 1
 Caesar’s camp in Alexandria
 Caesar weeps Antony’s death.
 Cleopatra sends a messager to Caesar
awaiting her fate.
 He tells Cleopatra that his intentions are
noble but he plans to bring her to Rome
as a captive and parade her around to
show his greatness.
SUMMARY
 ACT 5, SCENE 2
 Cleopatra’s tomb
 Proculeius arrives and asks Cleopatra’s terms of surrender. She tells
him she hopes the emperor will allow her son to rule Egypt.
Meanwhile, his soldiers move to seize Cleopatra. The queen draws a
dagger, hoping to kill herself before being taken captive, but
Proculeius disarms her. Dolabella arrives and admits the true plan of
Caesar for her.
 She gives Caesar a scroll which contains the inventories of all her
treasures. When Cleopatra asks her treasurer, Seleucus, to confirm
that she has given Caesar everything, Seleucus contradicts her.
 Cleopatra resolves to kill herself. She orders Charmian and Iras to
dress her in her most queenly robes. When they have done so, she
admits into her presence a clown, who brings her a basket of figs that
contains asps—poisonous snakes.
 Cleopatra kisses her maids goodbye. Iras falls dead, and Cleopatra
takes a snake from the basket and presses it to her breast. She
applies another asp to her arm, and dies. As the guards rush in to
discover the dead queen, Charmian presses the snake to herself and
DEATH OF CLEOPATRA
THEMES
 Ambiguity and opposition
 The relationship between Antony and Cleopatra can
easily be read as one of love or lust; their passion can
be construed as being wholly destructive . Cleopatra
might be said to kill herself out of love for Antony, or
because she has lost political power. Octavius can be
seen as either a noble and good ruler, only wanting
what is right for Rome, or as a cruel and ruthless
politician.
 A major theme running through the play is opposition.
Throughout the play, oppositions between Rome and
Egypt, love and lust, and masculinity and femininity are
emphasized.
THEMES
 The Struggle Between Reason and Emotion
 More than any other character in the play, Antony vacillates
between Western and Eastern sensibilities, feeling pulled by
both his duty to the empire and his desire for pleasure, his want
of military glory and his passion for Cleopatra. Soon after his
nonchalant dismissal of Caesar’s messenger, the empire, and
his duty to it, he chastises himself for his neglect and commits
to return to Rome, lest he “lose [him]self in dotage” (I.ii.106).
 He is, in the end, a man ruled by passion as much as by
reason.
 The play offers us a worldview in which one sensibility
cannot easily dominate another. Reason cannot ever fully
conquer the passions, nor can passion wholly undo reason.
THEMES
 The clash of East and the West
 Caesar, for instance, embodies the stoic
duty of the West, while Cleopatra, in all her
theatrical grandeur, represents the free-
flowing passions of the East.
THEMES
 The definition of honor
In Antony and Cleopatra, honor
seems less a function of Western or
Eastern culture than of the
characters’ determination to define
themselves on their own terms. Both
Antony and Cleopatra secure
honorable deaths by refusing to
compromise their identities.
THEMES
 Betrayal
  Almost every character betrays their
country, ethics, or a companion. However,
certain characters waver between betrayal
and loyalty. This struggle is most apparent
among the actions of Cleopatra, Enobarbus,
and most importantly Antony.
 Power Dynamics
 Antony and Cleopatra battle over this
dynamic as heads of state, yet the theme
of power also resonates in their romantic
relationship. The Roman ideal of power lies
in a political nature taking a base in
economical control. Rome takes its power in
the ability to change the world. Antony is
expected to fulfill certain qualities
pertaining to his Roman masculine power,
especially in the war arena and in his duty
as a soldier.
MOTIFFS
 Extravagant declaration of love
 Public display of affection/power
 Female sexuality
SYMBOLS
 Shape – changing clouds
 Cleopatra’s fleeing ships
 The asp
ELIZABETHAN THEATER CONVENTIONS

 The Play is composed of five acts

 Violation of classical unity; of time; of
place and action
 Medias res
 Presence of soliloquy
 Presence of dramatic irony
 Mingling of tragic and comic elements
 Violence/bloodshed is allowed on stage
WORLD VIEW
 Women are viewed as an instrument of
manipulation, distraction and sensual
creatures.
 Marital indiscretion is a prevalent issue
 Power struggle between East and West
 Power as a means to control the weak.
 The independence and strength of
women
SOURCES
 The principal source for the story is an
English translation of Plutarch's "Life of
Mark Antony," from the Lives of the
Noble Grecians and Romans Compared
Together. This translation, by Sir Thomas
North, was first published in 1579.
  Virgil's first-century Roman epic poem,
the Aeneid
QUOTABLE QUOTES
 CLEOPATRA
 If you really love me, tell me how much. 
 ANTONY
 My love for you could not be very great if I could tell
you how much I love you. 
 CLEOPATRA
 I'll mark off boundaries to see how far your love
extends. 
 ANTONY
 If you want to see how far my love extends, you'll need
to discover a new world, because my love extends
beyond this one. 
QUOTABLE QUOTES
 ANTONY:
Let Rome collapse into the Tiber River and the
whole extent of the wide empire fall. The only
empire I want is right here. Conquering foreign
lands is worthless. Land is just something that
animals feed off of, the same way humans do.
The noble way to live is like this when there are
two people like us who share the same greatness
and the same great feelings—and I order the
world to recognize, on pain of punishment, that
no one else comes close to our greatness. 
QUOTABLE QUOTES
 ENOBARBUS:
…When the gods decide to take a man's wife from
him, a man takes comfort from realizing that there
are tailors on earth who can make a new robe
when the old one is worn out. If there were no
other women but Fulvia, then you would really
have suffered a great loss, and your situation
would be terrible. As it is, you have a consolation
for your grief. In exchange for your old clothes, you
get new ones, and so it makes as much sense to
cry over losing Fulvia as to cry when you cut an
onion. 
QUOTABLE QUOTES
 CLEOPATRA
Oh Charmian, where do you think he is
now? Is he standing or sitting? Or is he
walking? Or he is on horseback? Oh what
a lucky horse, to have Antony on top of
him! Run with style and courage, horse,
for do you know who is riding you? The 
demi-Atlas of this earth, the champion
and guardian of humankind.
CLEOPATRA: FACT VS.
FICTION
 FICTION: She was Egyptian.
 FACT: Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian by
birth. Though her family lived in Egypt
for about three hundred years,
Cleopatra’s roots could be traced back to
the Greek Ptolemy I, who served under
Alexander the Great.
CLEOPATRA: FACT VS.
FICTION
 FICTION: She was drop dead gorgeous.
 FACT :

 Ancient writer Plutarch claimed that

while Cleopatra’s beauty was “not
altogether incomparable,” it was her
charisma (or, as he put it, “irresistible
charm”) that made her desirable.
CLEOPATRA: FACT VS.
FICTION
 FICTION: She died from an asp bite.
 FACT : There’s no proof to support that.
Poison, however, was most likely her
method of choice. Some believe she
pricked herself with a pin dipped into a
lethal ointment. (She was known to
conceal a poison in one of her hair
combs.)
MARK ANTONY FACTS
 He was married five times and had numerous children.
 Antony’s five wives were Fadia, Antonia, Fulvia,
Octavia and Cleopatra. He had several children with
Fadia, a daughter with Antonia, two sons with Fulvia,
two daughter with Octavia and two sons and a
daughter with Cleopatra. Through his daughters by
Octavia, he would be ancestor to the Roman
Emperors Caligula, Claudius and Nero. Through his
daughter by Cleopatra, Antony would become ancestor
to the royal family of Mauretania.
MARK ANTONY FACTS
 He loved wine and women.
 According to Plutarch, Antony had a thirst
for wine that bordered on alcoholism. While
other texts appear to confirm that the
commander did indeed enjoy his wine a
little too much, most of the accounts of
womanizing come from Plutarch who
usually brings it up in the context of his
drinking.
MARK ANTONY FACTS
 His father died when he was young and
his mother's second husband lost most
of his fortune, which left Antony and his
brothers to learn life on the streets of
Rome.
MARK ANTONY FACTS
 The fate Mark Antony's two sons with
Cleopatra is unclear, but his daughter,
Cleopatra Selene, was married to King
Juba II of Numidia at least five years
after the death of her parents.
MARK ANTONY FACTS
 Antony personally ordered the death of
Cicero in 43 BC.