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Harris Westminster Sixth Form Literature in English Assessment 2: ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ – thematic question Key instructions:  Please write your name on your work  Submit your answer within the stated time period given  You may allow +2 minutes to save and submit typed work  You may allow +5 minutes to photograph, upload and send handwritten work  In exceptional circumstances where you cannot upload your response, please photograph your entire work (all pages) to create a ‘time stamp’ of your essay. Send us both the essay and the photos as soon as possible. Key information:  This assessment is worth [25] marks  You have [60] minutes. Extra time students have [75] minutes TURN OVER THE PAGE

Question: To what extent can ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ be called a history play? [25]

Caroline Poovamnilkunnathil Though it does adhere to historical accounts, with Shakespeare having used Plutarch’s writings primarily, the play also exhibits elements that appear to have been written with the Jacobean audience in mind, for example the allusions made towards witchcraft and the supernatural with regards to Cleopatra’s character, which would have been especially interesting given James I’s interest in such things. This appreciation for the mythical side of the play as well as its tragicomic nature, with Shakespeare often using bathos and sexual imagery in order to undercut the tense and tragic current that runs through the play, reduces the extent to which Antony and Cleopatra can only be called a history play. In some ways, Antony and Cleopatra is in fact a history play as from the offset of the play, Shakespeare charts the fall of the Roman Empire, with the gradual dissolution of the triumvirate’s power shown through the imagery of destruction (for example Philo’s initial observation of Antony: “the triple pillar of the world has become the strumpet’s fool”) and marks the beginning of the Roman Republic and Caesar’s rise to power. The play opens media res, and even in this small detail Shakespeare is able to transport the audience back in history as we feel as though we are privy to Antony and Cleopatra’s conversation, Caesar reflects that, “the death of Antony/is not a single doom; in the name loy/A moiety of the world is lost” his words resonate with the wider issues of the play, particularly Shakespeare’s conscious references made to the historical significance of Antony and Cleopatra. Antony’s death becomes symbolic of the end of an era, with the Roman Empire waning and the Roman Republic beginning with the rise of Caesar, thus Antony’s death being “not a single doom” becomes an all the more poignant line that resonates with the wider play. The idea of Antony as a man of the people, “enthroned in the marketplace”, is also referred to here with his character never being a “single” one, always reliant on the opinions of others, ironically even in his death as he chooses to die by suicide so as to maintain his masculinity and Roman honour. In his death, a “moiety” of the world is lost as he loses his kingdom and he also loses his sense of self, becoming towards the play’s end like “a cloud that’s dragonish” as a result of his reliance upon the opinions of others. Caesar overall emerges victorious in the play, constructing history in the moment and beginning his own era as he ultimately has the last word in Antony and Cleopatra as Shakespeare highlights that in a sense therefore, history is written by the victors. In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare leaves the audience with more questions than answers, having dramatized Plutarch’s interpretations and combined them with his own, and this is particularly true of Cleopatra – arguably the most ambiguous character of the whole play. Cleopatra’s enigmatic vulnerability and cunning encapsulate the hierarchy and chaos of the natural world, as though at this point in the play Egypt is an annexed state of Rome (the valuable bread-basket of the Empire), she manages to enslave Antony with her love; knowing his former military glory and his power as a member of the triumvirate, which in itself exemplifies the extent of her power. Yet, Cleopatra, the embodiment of Rome, dies by committing suicide. This scene in itself is paradoxically both the peak of Roman culture declaring before her death that she will “do after this high Roman fashion” (as suicide was considered to be a noble act in Rome) whilst also cementing Cleopatra’s legacy as an Egyptian queen as the scene is rife with symbols of Egypt, with the very “asp” that kills her

being Egyptian. Shakespeare also highlights Cleopatra’s ability to orchestrate power over the world around her as shown within Enobarbus’ account of Cleopatra on a barge in Egypt. The water is described as beating in order to follow the queen faster and as “amorous of their strokes”, showing the transcendent power of nature that Cleopatra possesses. Her ability to control the winds and tides also connote her association with the goddess Fortune, which is a recurring theme throughout the play, and also links back to the wider Egyptian context as Cleopatra was thought not simply to be a queen, but also. goddess; Isis. Cleopatra is also referred to as Isis at the beginning of the play in act one, scene one by Antony as he mentions the “fertile ground” (Isis being the goddess of fertility). This perhaps relates to Cleopatra as a channel of the goddess Isis with there also being Biblical illusions as ‘kingdoms are clay’ as ‘man is clay’; there is a sense that just as he can raise kingdoms, he can destroy them. The constant imagery of fire within Cleopatra, surrounding this kingdom of clay suggests that she is what will strengthen and harden the otherwise malleable empire that can be manipulated.

Cleopatra’s performative nature makes her a spectacle, just as nature inspires awe and acts as a muse, she is able to do the same as the scene shows through Enobarbus’ developed and hyperbolic account of her. The use of the word ‘beating’ also has undertones of violence, serving to acknowledge the more violent aspects of Cleopatra’s character, seen as she later goes on to make vivid threats towards and physically hurt the messenger who brings her news of Antony’s proposed marriage to Octavia. Alternatively, the semantics of musicality also allow for the ‘beating’ to be seen almost as a drumroll for the spectacle that is Cleopatra, pairing with the “tune of flutes” in a cacophony of sound. This scene that Enobarbus describes becomes a sensory overload, with sound, sights and “perfumed” winds accompanied by “amorous strokes” described as being too much, yet also hypnotising and captivating, just as Cleopatra herself is. Enobarbus’ continual failure to ‘define’ Cleopatra who “beggar’d all description”; this is a call-back to earlier on in the play, the opening scene where Antony tells Cleopatra “there’s beggary in the one that can be reckoned”. Comparing the amorous ramblings of Antony to those of Enobarbus, it becomes apparent to the audience the effect that Cleopatra has on the men in her life. This is particularly important considering the stagnancy and lethargy of Egypt, where Cleopatra is simultaneously trapped and thrives. Thus, Shakespeare highlights the truly paradoxical nature of Cleopatra, who is both conquered by Antony and Caesar whilst also being unknown and ambiguous. In conclusion, Antony and Cleopatra can be called a history play to a limited extent as though Shakespeare does portray his own take on the titular characters’ story (as told by Plutarch), the play’s overriding ambiguity leaves the audience with the historical task of interpretation. Shakespeare does to some extent narrativize the history of Antony and Cleopatra and the fall of the Roman Empire, paying homage to their legacies, whilst also utilising the drama of the story and presenting it to the Jacobean audience. There is an idea that they transcend all others, they are sublime, not just in a Romantic sense as these characters really have transcended history and moved into the Shakespearean period. Those who are more concerned with the dung-earth such as Caesar, are destined to dwell within it, where Antony and Cleopatra live on in myth and in history. Thus the historical, mythical and Shakespearean come together in Antony and Cleopatra in beautiful ambiguity....