Antony and Cleopatra Essay -- essays research papers

Joseph Innes How does Shakespeare present the sense of opposites or polarities And what is the importance of these to the play? William Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra around 1606, during the reign of King James  ². The play is a history, set in the time of the Roman Empire many centuries before it was written and based on the well-documented history of Octavius Caesar, Marc Antony and Cleopatra. These characters and their lives were contained in primarily one document: Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, which was translated by Sir Thomas North in 1579. In the creation of the play, Shakespeare kept very close to the plot of North’s history although some characters such as Enobarbus are largely Shakespeare’s creations. In the play, Shakespeare creates two completely different, conflicting worlds from which most if not all of the drama and tension is derived from, causing tension between those living in the two ideals of Rome and Egypt. From the very beginning one of the themes of the play becomes very evident to the audience, the conflict between Rome and Egypt. The two places represent a symbolic clash of ideals in the play. Rome is seen as a place of honor and duty and taken very seriously, this is shown through the actions and behaviour of Caesar, a man with huge responsibilities, and even when his associates are celebrating and getting drunk, he does not. As a contrast, Egypt is shown as a place of indulgence and pleasure, shown this time through Cleopatra’s court, where it seems the inhabitants do nothing but indulge themselves with games, wine and sex. These differences in ideals are so great that the people in Rome treat Antony’s indulgence in Egypt with Cleopatra as a taboo â€Å"this is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes / The Lamps of night in revel†(1.4.4-5). Caesar’s condemnation of Antony’s behavior is an example of how much he is despised for turning his back on Roman duty. This clash is in some ways an example of Elizabethan perceptions on the differences between East and West, an obstacle that is impossible for Antony and Cleopatra to overcome. Shakespeare personifies the two poles of the world as the people living there. Caesar is seen as the embodiment of Rome, with his rigid sense of duty and honour, and Egypt is presented through Cleopatra with her excessive and theatrical extravagance and free flowing passio... ... and charming towards Cleopatra, although she knows he is merely trying to avoid her committing suicide, so that she can be his trophy. After this meeting, Cleopatra resolves to follow her plan of death and although Rome may have triumphed at face value, the East is in fact presenting its true spirit, Cleopatra is refusing to become anything but herself. This conclusion to the conflict between East and West is needed to provide a satisfying ending to the play, although neither East or West wins, but is left at a stalemate. The West wins over reason and duty, and yet the East has won through emotion and love, the love between Antony and Cleopatra. The polarities between Antony and Cleopatra are huge and arguably impossible to overcome as the conflict and differences between Egypt and Rome would inevitably end in tragedy. Shakespeare uses this as the centre of his drama, and without it would lose its powerful and emotive realism that Shakespeare spent his life perfecting. In this way, the conflict between Egypt and Rome is the most important theme, as from it spawns the differences in honour, reason, emotion and ideals, thus forming the framework for much more drama beyond it.