This essay contains an in-depth exploration of the characters of Antony and Caesar. It also analyses the reasons that they could not rule the Roman Empire as equals. It has been marked and received 97%.
Antony and Cleopatra - Summary, Characters & Themes Analysis
Antony and Cleopatra Summary
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Kate Jones
Antony and Cleopatra Essay
Topic 5
The characters of Antony and Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra differ vastly. Antony, both a
soldier and a lover, is influenced by Roman as well as Egyptian values. A sagacious
politician, Caesar’s decisions are governed by Roman beliefs and his desire for power. The
conflicting dispositions of these two characters make it unlikely for them to be able to rule
the Roman Empire together.
Antony vacillates between his Roman duties and his love for Cleopatra. He is a respected
soldier, seen as “plated Mars”, however, his relationship with Cleopatra leads him to make
irrational decisions. He marries Octavia for “his occasion” in Rome, to strengthen his
relationship with Caesar, but he damages this alliance by returning to Cleopatra, his
“Egyptian dish”. His cowardly flight from Actium further demonstrates how his obsession
with Cleopatra clouds his reason, but his despair over having “offended reputation” reveals
that he still esteems the Roman value of honour. His tendency to “make his will / Lord of his
reason” is the cause of his downfall, but his suicide allows him to reconcile his Roman and
Egyptian beliefs by dying honourably, with the belief that in death he will be reunited with
Cleopatra.
Caesar, conversely, is a military strategist who respects the Western values of obedience,
duty and order, and disapproves of Antony’s “lascivious wassails” in Egypt. Caesar is power-
hungry and his desire to become sole ruler of the Roman Empire reveals his rapacity and
ruthlessness. He “[makes] wars upon Pompey”, deposes Lepidus and, following Antony’s
abandonment of Octavia and the donations of Alexandria, wages war against Antony,
revealing his aggressive determination to become “the universal landlord”. His impassive,
logical and ambitious nature is in stark contrast to Antony’s impassioned temperament.
The fragile relationship between Antony and Caesar means that their joint ruling of the
Roman Empire is unlikely. Caesar’s initial anger at Antony’s neglect of his public duties
lessens through Antony’s politically expedient marriage to Octavia, but reemerges when
Caesar discovers that Antony has “contemn[ed] Rome” by returning to Egypt. After the battle
of Actium, Antony’s shame over his “most unnoble swerving” and Caesar’s joy at becoming
“Lord of [Antony’s] fortunes” further diminish the possibility of their reconciliation. Moreover,
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