Cleopatra\'s death essay PDF

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How does Shakespeare present Cleopatra's death?...

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How does Shakespeare present Cleopatra’s death? Use the extract as the focus of your answer but make links to the wider play. Shakespeare presents the death of Cleopatra as a final ode to the romance of Antony and Cleopatra and also perhaps to Egypt, solidifying Cleopatra’s status as an Egyptian queen even in death. However, Shakespeare also heightens the dramatic significance of the scene through his exploration of paradox, using symbolism in her death as an opportunity to delve deeper into the complexities of Cleopatra’s character. In his depiction of Cleopatra’s death, Shakespeare pays homage to the tragic romance at the centre of Antony and Cleopatra, with Cleopatra’s dying declaration of ”husband, I come” in her final moments on the stage cementing their relationship within both the minds of the audience and history. Shakespeare subverts the roles of Antony and Cleopatra’s characters, as where throughout the play we have seen Antony follow after Cleopatra like a “doting mallard” (most notably in the Battle of Actium where his infatuation leads him to abandon his army), here we see Cleopatra follow Antony into the afterlife. Though Cleopatra is ultimately the cause of Antony’s suicide, her death does lend legitimacy to their love aside from her wishes to escape humiliation at the hand of Caesar. This is also the only time in the play that Cleopatra refers to Antony as her “husband” as opposed to her “lover”, perhaps suggesting that it is only in the tragic deaths of Antony and Cleopatra that they can exist in union. The audience is constantly reminded that the relationship between the titular characters plays out on Shakespeare’s stage as well as the world stage through the scenes in Rome, with this switch in location interrupting the theatricality and lethargy of Egypt that we become accustomed to. This performative aspect of their romance adds a further degree of ambiguity as the audience is left to decide what is contrived for the public eye and what is sincere. Cleopatra’s death is a stark contrast to the somewhat botched suicide of her lover, as she dies with elegance and dramatic flair that ultimately brings the play to a close, placing her in control to an extent both dramatically and structurally. Cleopatra’s death paradoxically presents the antithesis of Rome and Egypt that Shakespeare explores throughout Antony and Cleopatra, as she simultaneously rejects and personifies Egypt. Symbolism relating to Egypt is found throughout the scene with the Egyptian “asp” being what kills her. Before applying the snake to herself, Cleopatra addresses the asp calling it a “mortal wretch”. With “wretch” often used as a term of affectionate abuse, this highlights the paradoxical attitude her character has towards both Egypt and more generally death, harking back to Cleopatra’s mention of the “amorous pinches” of death. This romantic image of death is perhaps portrayed more vividly in Cleopatra’s description of “the stroke of death” as “a lover’s pinch”. In applying the asp to her breast and later mistakenly referring to it as “my baby at my breast”, Shakespeare presents Cleopatra as the mother and Queen of Egypt even in death. Cleopatra also makes reference to her elemental and

fluid character which directly opposes the structured presentation of Rome. However, in calling herself “fire and air”, Cleopatra rejects the “other elements” she deems “baser”, these being earth and water. In her rejection of the earth, Cleopatra distances herself from the terrestrial and from Egypt which has connotations of “filth” and “mud” which are recurring motifs in the play. A further conflicting idea presented by Shakespeare in Cleopatra’s death is the mortality of her character spawning her immortality in historic legend. At the beginning of the extract Cleopatra hints towards her suicide mentioning that she has “immortal longings in [her]”. In this way, Shakespeare alludes to the fact that Cleopatra’s iconic death is what seals her place in history. However, the imagery of Cleopatra’s eyes, here referred to as “downy windows”, closing as she dies counters the earlier line from the play “eternity was in our lips and eyes”. Cleopatra also mentions “no more the juice of Egypt’s grape shall moist this lip”, perhaps making a Biblical allusion as in Christianity, at the last supper before his death Jesus says he shall no longer drink wine till he reaches heaven. This potential religious symbolism in Cleopatra’s death serves to highlight her godly nature and ability to transcend the terrestrial, as she is glorified as the goddess Isis as well as being depicted as Fortune throughout the play. The idea that she will no longer require the fruits of Egypt too is important here in highlighting Cleopatra’s immortality as she transcends earthly needs and desires, whilst also succumbing to her arguably very human emotions of love and passion for Antony, crying out in her dying moments “O Antony!”. In conclusion, Shakespeare’s presentation of Cleopatra’s death celebrates the conflicting ideas and ambiguities explored throughout the play, as Cleopatra herself is an embodiment of such antitheses. She is both in control through her influence over Antony, and also controlled as Egypt is an annexed state of Rome, a mortal and a goddess. Shakespeare celebrates this in the theatrical death of Cleopatra, which appears sincere till undercut bathetically when Charmian fixes her crown which goes “awry” in a moment of metafiction as even in her Cleopatra’s death Shakespeare leaves the audience with further ambiguity surrounding her....