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these characters, individually and
as a pair, in a rich and memorable
manner—audiences are shown the
good, the bad, and the ugly.
Cleopatra the seductress
Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare’s
greatest dramatic creations. She
can also prove for some people
one of his most exhausting and
irritating characterizations.
Shakespeare went to great lengths
to impress upon his audience
Cleopatra’s charm and vitality. We
hear throughout the play of how
men have fallen for her charms, and
even the priggish Roman, Octavius
Caesar, notes that in death she
looks “As she would catch another
Antony” (5.2.341). Men see her as a
powerful seductress, a witch even,
who holds them under her spell.
She is first described in derogatory
terms; she is, according to two
of Antony’s soldiers, a lusty
“strumpet” and “gypsy.” Angered
by their general’s newfound
domesticity, the soldiers speak of a
woman who can transform a former
“pillar of the world” (1.1.12) into a
“strumpet’s fool” (1.1.13). For them,
her allure is intoxicating and
dangerous, destroying Antony’s
sense of duty and commitment
to Rome. Other hardened soldiers
THE KING’S MAN
such as Enobarbus find themselves
reaching for the finest poetic
descriptions to communicate her
appeal to those who have not been
in her presence: “Age cannot wither
her, nor custom stale / Her infinite
variety. Other women cloy / The
appetites they feed, but she makes
hungry / Where most she satisfies.
For vilest things / Become
themselves in her, that the holy
priests / Bless her when she is
riggish” (2.2.241–246).
Enobarbus’s words serve
in some respects to justify
Antony’s obsession with this
“lass unparalleled” (5.2.310).
How could anyone fail to be
intrigued by a woman who
encompasses such infinite variety
of mood and behavior? It would
seem that everyone, from priests
to world leaders, finds something
extraordinary about Cleopatra.
She does not need to be in a scene,
or even on the stage to create a
lasting impression. From memory,
Enobarbus conjures her stately
appearance in one of the play’s
most richly poetic passages:“The barge she sat in, like a
burnished throne / Burned on the
water. The poop was beaten gold; /
Purple the sails, and so perfuméd
that / The winds were love-sick
with them. The oars were silver, /
Which to the tune of flutes kept
stroke, and made / The water
which they beat to follow faster, /
As amorous of their strokes. For
her own person, / It beggared all
description. She did lie / In her
pavilion—cloth of gold, of tissue—
O’er-picturing that Venus where
we see / The fancy outwork nature.
On each side her / Stood pretty
dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
/ With divers-coloured fans whose
wind did seem / To glow the
delicate cheeks which they did
cool, / And what they undid did”
(2.2.198–212).
Enobarbus’s speech serves like
a hymn to Cleopatra. The imagery
must have wooed Shakespeare
himself, for this speech owes much
to Shakespeare’s source, Thomas ❯❯I have offended reputation;
A most unnoble swerving.
Antony
Act 3, Scene 11Husband and wife Laurence Olivier
and Vivien Leigh took on the title roles
in a 1951 production. Olivier’s Antony
was reckless, while Leigh played the
queen as sensuous yet regally aloof.Give me some music—
music, moody food
Of us that trade in love.
Cleopatra
Act 2, Scene 5