This is a paper I wrote for a Shakespeare class with David Bevington my fourth year at the University of Chicago. It is on the play "Antony & Cleopatra", and I hope you think it is as well-written as I do, and as my professor did.
Mark Antony is a noble Roman hero, one-third the triple pillar of the world. He has achieved stunning success on the battlefield in the past, notably helping defeat the Republicans at the battle of Philippi, and commands tremendous respect both from the soldiers under his command, and the adversaries he opposes. However, from the Roman perspective, the tale of Antony & Cleopatra is a tale of the downfall of this great man, and his failure to define an existence for himself without the noble traits he engendered as a warrior and a soldier of Rome. Antony has proven himself countless times on the battlefield, attaining stunning successes for the glory of Rome; ultimately though, Antony personally comes to the conclusion that his victory laurels aren't sufficient to satisfy him. What does provide him with a sense of completeness is the affections of Cleopatra, for whom Antony gradually chooses to sacrifice the Roman virtues he held as a soldier. When Antony believes that Cleopatra is dead, he falls into a despair. As a Roman, he created his identity through his role as a soldier. When he fell in love with Cleopatra and began to draw strength from her, Antony's Roman nature eroded, leaving Cleopatra as his primary source of self-identity. When he believes Cleopatra to be dead, and having already sacrificed his soldiery ideal, Antony's personal identity collapses along with his life.
Before he went to Egypt, Antony had been the model of Roman virtue: he is somewhat enviously described in the very opening of the play as once having such tremendous courage and bravery in his heart that "in the scuffles of great fights [his great heart] hath burst the buckles of his breast". Later in Act I, Lepidus declares that Antony is such that his greatness outshines all the evils in the world that might seek to obscure it; and Octavius Caesar praises Antony for bearing strongly adverse conditions of the battlefield with all possible gallantry of a noble warrior.
However, these notions of Antony's past glories are juxtaposed with the present reality that, from the Roman perception, Antony has slipped greatly. In the same opening speech of the play, Philo comments that the noble Antony is now a "strumpet's fool", while Caesar's comments come in the same breath that he criticizes Antony for his absence in helping defend the Empire against the advances of Pompey.
This erosion of Roman respect is not just a perception of Caesar's; it is a process willfully initiated by Antony. He has attained sufficiency in his military career, and now his desires have matured. Antony longs for fulfillment through other means than the battlefield, which he finds with Cleopatra. His affections for the Egyptian Queen are demonstrated repeatedly in Act I: in scene i, Antony declares that "Here [in Egypt, by Cleopatra's side] is my space"! and scene 2 that "These strong Egyptian fetters I must break or lose myself in dotage.", which carries an implicit statement of love, as Antony allows himself to be lost in his amourous affections for Cleopatra, rather than escaping her.
At the same time that Antony allows himself to be swept up by desire for Cleopatra, he also begins to slip in his virtue as a Roman soldier. This conflict becomes explicitly apparent by Act I, scene iii, when Antony is preparing himself to return to Rome and aid in the action against Pompey. While he tells her that he is leaving Egypt, Antony declares "my full heart remains in use with you.[Cleopatra]", attempting to assuage her that he leaves out of duty, not to desert her affections. Cleopatra continues to protest Antony's absence, which leads him to further state that "...know the purposes I bear, which are or cease as you shall give th' advice...I go from hence thy soldier, servant, making peace or war as thou affects." Seemingly abandoning his loyalties to Caesar and to Rome, Antony here states that while he prepares to depart Egypt, his desire to do so is at the whim of Cleopatra, and that his departure from her side will only occur if she chooses to permit it. This represents a sharp break between Antony the warrior and Antony the lover: the former is who he has been, and what he stands for in Rome; the latter is who he is now, and where he wishes himself to be in Egypt. This conflict will ultimately prove to be Antony's downfall, because of his inability to reconcile the external responsibilities of his occupation as soldier with the internal desires of his existence as a man.
The sacrifice Antony makes of his soldiery becomes further evident as the play progresses, and his conflict with Octavius escalates. In Act III, scene i, the audience is witness to the threat posed to Rome by the rival Parthian forces, which are beaten by Antony's subordinant, Ventidius. This matter of the Parthian threat is of a serious nature to the Roman Empire, and is one which Antony himself should be addressing; however, he is derelict in his duty by consequence of his presence in Egypt with Cleopatra, and it is left for his lieutenant to win the battle. Unfortunately, fearful of stealing too much from Antony's reputation, Ventidius is unable to secure as decisive a victory over the Parthians as might be possible, and certainly would have been probably had Antony's superb generalship been available, and his attention to duty put him on the battlefield. By forsaking his responsibilities to meet the Parthian threat himself, Antony neglects his soldierly duty as a member of the Roman Army, which he does for the sake of spending time with Cleopatra.
The negative influence which Cleopatra exerts on Antony the soldier manifests itself most where the Battle of Actium is concerned. This naval battle is a turning point in the conflict between Antony and Octavius and signals the decline of the Egyptian forces before Caesar's Rome. In Act III, scene vii, Enobarbus warns Cleopatra that her presence at the battle will prove a distraction from Antony's judgment and he will be that much a poorer general as a result, a prediction born true three scenes later in the actual battle, when Antony fled the field to follow the escaping ships of Cleopatra's fleet. This desertion from his forces in the middle of an epochal battle is the ultimate betrayal of soldierly faith; it is a violation of his covenant with his men that he runs before the Roman attack, abandoning his men when they need his leadership most.
It is a clear indication that Antony is no longer the noble warrior hero that Octavius lauds in Act I for drinking the "stale of horses". His supporters, previously unquestioning in their devotion to Antony, begin to call into question his fitness to command them. Enobarbus, as faithful and loyal a subordinant as any could ask for, openly wonders whether he should continue to support Antony. In Act III, scene x, Enobarbus recalls that "mine eyes did sicken at the sight [of Antony fleeing from the Battle of Actium]", and says that "I'll yet follow the wounded chance of Antony, though my reason sits in the wind against me." He who has previously been presented as the most loyal of any under Antony's command, admits to disgust at the conduct of his once-noble commander on the battlefield, and recognizes that he, Enobarbus, is probably supporting a losing candidate at this point. Indeed, it seems that Enobarbus' support continues for Antony only because Enobarbus recognizes the valientness he earns for himself by supporting Antony in a losing cause: in Act III, scene xiii, he observes "he that can endure to follow with allegiance a fall'n lord does conquer him that did his master conquer and earns a place i' the story."
However, Antony's shortcomings as a soldier continue to grow, and Enobarbus reaches the conclusion that Antony is too far gone for Enobarbus to gain anything from supporting his irrational action, even if only as a demonstration of loyalty. Antony makes an attempt to regain Enobarbus' confidence and buy his return to Antony's side, which causes Enobarbus to feel sufficient regret that Enobarbus dies. However, this is not a realization that Antony is any more worthy of Enobarbus' loyalty than he was before, or that Caesar is a less noble individual than Antony to follow, although that latter point is a secondary concern. Rather, Enobarbus' regret represents a return to his earlier view that there was value gained by the demonstration of undying loyalty to a lost cause. His dying gasps in Act IV, scene ix are not that Antony is a better man than Octavius, but rather his bemoaning that Enobarbus has stained his own personal reputation, and to the world is now only a "master-leaver and a fugitive". While Antony would have rewarded amply his service, it is concern over his reputation which Enobarbus utters, not his personal wealth; as a soldier, Enobarbus can bear no greater sobriquet than loyal, nor more heinous appellation than that of one who deserts his master; from this, one draws interesting parallels with Antony himself, who Enobarbus abandons because Antony deserted his followers. In each case, what is seen as the stain on the soldier's honor is the crime of desertion: for the general it is the abandoning of his troops in battle; for the lieutenant, it is leaving the side of his commander. In condemning himself for his failure as a soldier by his own desertion of Antony, Enobarbus reinforces the notion driving his split with Antony, that Antony himself had done wrong as a soldier in his leaving the battle at Actium.
Likewise, Antony's final moments reflect a similar attention to his standing as a soldier. His military defeats are mounting, and the realization finally becomes apparent even to Antony that this is at least in part due to Cleopatra; at the begin of Act IV, scene xxiv, he embitterly remarks "She [Cleopatra] has robbed me of my sword." Although he makes this statement while commenting on a belief that Cleopatra has betrayed him with Octavius, it holds constant with earlier indications of his soldiery's erosion, such as being absent from Ventidius' campaign, and his lapse at Actium. Furthermore, it addresses Antony's cognizance that his military prowess has become diminished since he has taken up with Cleopatra, which reflects his negligence in his duty as soldier while Antony was trying to fulfill his position as lover.
Later in this same scene, Antony resolves to die, and begs for his aide Eros to kill him. Although he has just recently been told that Cleopatra has taken her own life, Antony's main consternation at this point is that he imminently faces an ignominious defeat at the hands of Caesar; his inability to escape this has made him less courageous a soldier than Cleopatra was in her womanly suicide; she has, Antony believes, stolen victory from Octavius, and has thus defeated Caesar, a triumph the soldier Antony can no longer even accomplish in death, as he first begs Eros to deliver the blow for him, and then botches the fatal stroke himself.
Antony's conclusion that suicide possesses a strength, and restores a nobility to his soldierly identity is furthered when Eros commits suicide. This sense of honor is the driving concern for Antony now. His image on the battlefield has lost its luster, and if he is taken alive by Octavius, he faces the further disgrace of being turned into a live menagerie before jeering crowds in Rome. If he dies first, however, Antony robs Caesar of his prize to parade in the streets of Rome. Antony comments that:
What Antony views death as is an opportunity to reclaim lost honor. He is clearly stricken by Cleopatra's death, and in dying himself, Antony believes he dies with her, but he is choosing to die for other reasons as well, namely that his fallback position of being a valiant soldier is gone. From Cleopatra and Eros' suicides, Antony witnesses a reclaimation of nobility; in addition to that nobility, Antony sees death as a chance to be reunited with Cleopatra. Had he not had faced Octavius' troops pressing in around him, the urgency to commit suicide would not have been so great; Antony would have longed to join Cleopatra in the afterlife, but he might have lived for an appropriate period of mourning, paying homage to her memory and doting on her still, an act of loyalty enhancing to a soldierly identity.
This imminent threat posed by Octavius again surfaces when the dying Antony is brought before Cleopatra. As he is brought before her, Antony is uttering the triumph of his own valor over himself, denying that glory to Caesar, and again later in Act IV, scene xxv, he says:
This fear that Antony's greatness be overthrown by Caesar's victory is a manifestation of the belief that a soldier's greatest enemy is defeat, and that the worst possible of all defeats is an inglorious one. But Antony saves himself from this; he is dying as he had lived for so long: as a noble figure. His strongest fear is that he would have been branded a coward for his failure in battle, and that he would have been subject to the public humiliation of being returned to Rome as a trophy to be paraded through the streets. By committing suicide, Antony believes himself to have found an honorable way out, which allows him to restore the nobility to his persona that he'd lost, and prevents direct personal ridicule.
In mourning his passing, Cleopatra chooses to remember Antony as having become greater than he was through his attempt to find love. However, her recollection is presented in Act V in the context of a dream, which makes its link to reality much more subjective; indeed, when asked whether he believed Cleopatra's description of Antony, the Roman Dolabella denies that "Gentle madam, no.", there has never been one such as whose visage appeared in her dream. The Romans mourn Antony's passing as the loss of a "friend and companion in the front of war", a man whom Octavius acknowledged as "my brother, my competitor...my mate in Empire". In the Roman model, Antony's legacy had been, and for them forever would be, his exploits as a soldier. He drifted from Rome when he began to abandon that persona for a life with Cleopatra, which is when Rome made war on Antony; and it is the nobility of his suicide that recalls his earlier valiance to the Romans, and leads to their eulogizing his memory.
When he was youth building his reputation in Rome, Antony had initially formed an identity as a soldier; he sacrificed this to spend his affections with Cleopatra, and so instead drew an identity from her. When he believed her dead, Antony lost his primary means of self-identity, and could not recover his secondary means of identity as a noble soldier-warrior. With this complete lose of self-cognizance, Antony decided to terminate his existence. However, had he still been able to be a successful soldier, and inspire those under his command as he had at an earlier time, Antony would have been able to hold Octavius at bay; this would have permitted Antony to live a life dedicated to Cleopatra's memory, a devotion nobly served as a soldier, which could have been spent erecting monuments signifying the greatness of his lost love, and by solitary mourning that would have only enhanced a chivalric reputation. Antony made his decision to die based on the military situation; he made the decision how to die, so that he might join Cleopatra in death. A Roman does not characterize Antony in the idealistic state that Cleopatra does in Act V; it is quite plainly emphasized that her vision comes from a dream, and that dream, while beautiful, is in stark contrast to the reality of Caesar's legions in control of Egypt. For Cleopatra, the events of the play are a triumph for Antony, as his pursuit of love surpasses his soldiery; for Rome, the play is a tale of tragedy, of Antony's downfall from a great man, to a dead one. Caesar is the one who remains a pillar of the world at the play's end, so it is he who holds the last word, and his Roman perspective which has the final chance to define Antony.
This page's address is:
http://www.geocities.com/athens/agora/6880/anthony.html
http://www.geocities.com/mattuofc/anthony.html