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Shakespeare's Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-30 15:36:43
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

This is our post-play analysis for The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra.

You may wish to listen after your first reading of the play, using the lecture as an opportunity to reread. Or you may wish to listen as you make your way through the play in real time.

We have timestamps indicating the topics, with acts and scenes referenced throughout the video, so feel free to digest our discussion in the way that best serves you.

Timestamps

  • Act One
  • 0:00 introduction to Antony & Cleopatra
  • 3:20 the opening of the play
  • 4:00 the difficulties of this tragedy
  • 6:00 Mark Antony’s in love
  • 7:30 Cleopatra vs Juliet
  • 9:00 how to interpret these characters
  • 11:00 meeting Antony and Cleopatra
  • 14:00 mixing the domestic and political
  • 16:18 the creed of Cleopatra
  • 17:00 Shakespearean vs Greek tragedy
  • 19:30 meeting the comic Enobarbus
  • 20:20 “these strong Egyptian fetters”
  • 21:50 the death of Fulvia
  • 26:45 “thou teachest like a fool”
  • 28:00 high school politics
  • 30:00 “I would I had thy inches!”
  • 34:00 Octavius & Lepidus vs Antony
  • 35:54 “a vagabond flag upon the stream”
  • 38:20 Cleopatra’s daydreaming about Antony
  • Act Two & Three
  • 40:30 Antony’s marriage to Octavia
  • 42:30 Enobarbus describes Cleopatra
  • 45:00 “Age cannot wither her”
  • 47:00 Cleopatra’s infinite variety
  • 49:40 Cleopatra vs Messenger
  • 55:00 Shakespearean stage conventions
  • 56:00 Cleopatra learns of Octavia
  • 59:00 preparing for the battle of Actium
  • 1:00:00 Shakespeare’s heroines
  • 1:01:46 “we are women’s men”
  • 1:03:00 Antony flees from the battle
  • 1:06:40 “I am Antony yet”
  • Act Four & Five
  • 1:08:53 “transform us not to women!”
  • 1:10:00 “All is lost!”
  • 1:12:00 Cleopatra in the monument
  • 1:14:30 Antony stabs himself
  • 1:15:00 the phenomenon of pity
  • 1:17:00 Antony’s dying words
  • 1:19:00 the death of Cleopatra
  • 1:22:37 “I am fire and air”

Questions to Consider:

1) Where does Cleopatra rank among the Shakespearean characters you have met so far? Would you say she is inexhaustible? 

2) Does Cleopatra love Mark Antony? Does Antony love Cleopatra? 

3) How would you stage a production of Antony and Cleopatra? 

Bonus - What lines/scenes would you like us to focus on and appreciate together? Our next Antony and Cleopatra video is the third piece in our “three reads” approach, and will involve comparing different productions.

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

Shakespeare's Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

0:00 introduction to Antony & Cleopatra 3:20 the opening of the play 4:00 the difficulties of this tragedy 6:00 Mark Antony’s in love 7:30 Cleopatra vs Juliet 9:00 how to interpret these characters 11:00 meeting Antony and Cleopatra 14:00 mixing the domestic and political 16:18 the creed of Cleopatra 17:00 Shakespearean vs Greek tragedy 19:30 meeting the comic Enobarbus 20:20 “these strong Egyptian fetters” 21:50 the death of Fulvia 26:45 “thou teachest like a fool” 28:00 high school politics 30:00 “I would I had thy inches!” 34:00 Octavius & Lepidus vs Antony 35:54 “a vagabond flag upon the stream” 38:20 Cleopatra’s daydreaming about Antony 40:30 Antony’s marriage to Octavia 42:30 Enobarbus describes Cleopatra 45:00 “Age cannot wither her” 47:00 Cleopatra’s infinite variety 49:40 Cleopatra vs Messenger 55:00 Shakespearean stage conventions 56:00 Cleopatra learns of Octavia 59:00 preparing for the battle of Actium 1:00:00 Shakespeare’s heroines 1:01:46 “we are women’s men” 1:03:00 Antony flees from the battle 1:06:40 “I am Antony yet” 1:08:53 “transform us not to women!” 1:10:00 “All is lost!” 1:12:00 Cleopatra in the monument 1:14:30 Antony stabs himself 1:15:00 the phenomenon of pity 1:17:00 Antony’s dying words 1:19:00 the death of Cleopatra 1:22:37 “I am fire and air”

Comments

Alice

I could not put this play down! I loved it. For me it read much more like a novel than a play - it would be amazing transformed into a book. In fact, since reading it, I have been mesmerized, thinking about how one could write it as a “Shakespeare novel” maintaining the original poetry and atmosphere of Shakespeare. The entire play has the feel of an epic and I wanted more when I finished. Because of the number of events, changes in place and time, many scenes were needed just to explain the sequence of events or ground the story. I wanted more scenes with Antony and Cleopatra together, really mostly with Cleopatra. I wanted more beautiful descriptions of politics, like 1.3.47-55 “Equality of two domestic powers...” and the “vagabond flag” section. Politics are still the same. I think Cleopatra loved Antony. I think she tried through her flowing, swelling power to help grow the strengths of Antony. She also did this because it would help her. But is love ever truly selfless? I’m not sure Antony loved Cleopatra. His attraction towards her seemed more of an addiction, a willingness to be manipulated, to completely surrender himself without standing up as an equal, without being able to maintain his sense of identity. Act 4.14 with the descriptions of the changing clouds and “Here I am Antony, Yet cannot hold this visible shape,” sums up Antony’s character for me. And I just love that description. What defines a human’s life? We all think our lives are so individually important, we take them so seriously. But eventually, like drifting, changing clouds, we will blow away, evaporate. What will we be remembered for, if anything? Does it matter? What is the memory you leave behind? Is it even you?

Scott W

I did enjoy this one. A&C is definitely a favourite of mine. I find something very human in each of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and this is no exception. Like so many of us have experienced, A&C claim to love each other, yet it is a love that strains rather than pacifies, agitates rather than soothes; a love that seems more desperately needed than freely given. Here is every affair that was too passionate to contain itself, that could only burn out and consume those who loved. Cleopatra both needed and loved Antony, in that order. She needed him like any other Roman general or emperor before or after him; for her people's sake, for Egypt - and she won them and possessed them just as they put lesser nations to the sword - it was perhaps the only form of warfare these 'great' soldiers and statesmen were not equipped to win at. When Enobarbus says, 'Other women cloy / The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry / Where most she satisfies.”, he is (as he often is) spot on. No man Cleopatra admits into her heart or bed can ever get enough, nor stay away for long.. 'Her cunning is beyond male thought, and she is irresistible'. Antony was no match for the validation that Cleopatra's love brought with it, nor the heights of desire her mercurial impassioned nature drove him to. Yet Cleopatra loved him too, I think, in her way. Her ego was one that needed a very 'pillar of the earth' to love and be loved by, of course. If not Antony, who? He was the man's man of that triumvir, the general, the great soldier. He was the greatest man alive, supposedly.. and Cleopatra could only love the reflection of what she esteemed herself to be; the very greatest example of her sex. If not Antony, then who? She needed the validation his love and attention brought her as much as she and her people needed the safety it bought them, for a while. When Antony flees Actium because Cleo's ship leaves the fray, you can only shake your head. It's embarrassing; he leaves his post, his men, his duty, his responsibility, for a woman - by which I mean, for a single person, a romantic interest, an erotic association.. from that point on he is a 'noble ruin' of himself, and his ensuing rage shows that he knows it. I am with Cleo entirely when she points out that she hardly thought he would follow her. I feel she must be as disappointed in him as we are, but I can't recall now if that's manifest in the text? What do people think? Is this Antony's turning point? And does Cleopatra have one? Or is his downfall also hers, because of the way she has shackled herself to his reputation and fortunes? If she loved him, after all, for who he was as a person, she could go on loving him.. but since her love is for the validation his status brings, when he passes into ruin, is she also doomed? I don't think A&C would have settled down together, even if their public and political lives would have allowed it. Their love was one of lust, validation, passion.. and escape. With each other, they could cope with who they themselves were, who they had to be. One can only live for duty alone for so long before the heart demands more. But left alone, to each other, with a comfortable house on the edge of the Nile's flood plains perhaps, somewhere to watch their children grow and live out their days in peace.. I think they would have yearned for their former selves far more than for each other. I look forward to reading this one again. I did start to watch an adaptation but had to turn it off.. Cleopatra, for me, symbolises such erotic allure and unbridled femininity, that I don't want that image spoiled by the limits of any human actress. I don't think an actual person can contain how I imagine Cleo.. If I ever met her, I'd be doomed like Antony! No. I'm keeping Cleo all to myself. In my head! ;-)