Questions and Answers for Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
If someone were to interview Cleopatra, what questions should they ask her?
As someone who has done a significant amount of professional magazine writing, I would say that this depends entirely on the audience from whom you are interviewing her. If you were doing an...
Antony and Cleopatra
What are the differences between Dryden's "All for Love" and Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra," specifically, in...
The Characterization of Cleopatra. In Shakespeare's play, Cleopatra is characterized as an enigmatic, sensual, and charismatic figure. Shakespeare's Cleopatra dominates rather than submits to...
Antony and Cleopatra
Contrast the characters of Octavius Caesar and Mark Antony. What is the major theme of the play Antony and Cleopatra?
Shakespeare offers an excellent contrast between the characters of Octavius Caesar and Mark Antony in Act 2, Scene 3 of the play. Antony asks the Soothsayer whose fortunes will rise higher in the...
Antony and Cleopatra
Fleshpots Of Egypt
So, from the other answers provided to this question, you can see that "fleshpots" has more than just a sexual meaning; in the context of the Bible, it referred literally to bowls of cooked meat,...
Antony and Cleopatra
What are some tragic elements of the play Antony and Cleopatra?
In broadest terms, a tragedy ends in the death of a major character or characters; in a comedy, the major characters survive. Antony and Cleopatra's suicidal deaths are main tragic elements of this...
Antony and Cleopatra
In Act 1, Scene 5 of Antony and Cleopatra, what figurative devices are used to highlight the theme or message of the...
Although Shakespeare makes use of metaphor, personification, and apostrophe in this scene, his main element of figurative language proves to be hyperbole. Antony and Cleopatra, after all, is a...
Antony and Cleopatra
What is the setting in Shakespeare's play, Antony and Cleopatra?
Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra revolves around these actual characters from Roman and Egyptian history. This is the second of Shakespeare's trilogy of Roman plays—the first was Julius...
Antony and Cleopatra
Discuss Antony and Cleopatra as an historical play.
Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" is one of the more historically accurate of Shakespeare's plays. His original audience would have been quite familiar with the events presented in the plot, so...
Antony and Cleopatra
What is the importance of the contrasts between Octavius Caesar and Antony in Antony and Cleopatra?
Originally, Antony and Octavius Caesar were sharing power, with Lepidus. When Lepidus was expelled for supposedly being disloyal, that left Antony and Caesar. Caesar was cunning, farsighted, and...
Antony and Cleopatra
What are the symbolic differences between Rome and Egypt in Shakespeare's Antony And Cleopatra?
Nothing could be less Puritanical than the Roman Empire as depicted in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. In this play, Rome has fallen from its Republican public-spiritedness into imperial...
Antony and Cleopatra
Why are Antony and Cleopatra attracted to each other?
Cleopatra is initially attracted to Antony because he is a strong, handsome, virile man, but mainly because he has such great power. He is one of the rulers of most of the known world. Antony is...
Antony and Cleopatra
Favorite quotation from Antony and Cleopatra. The topic name says it all. What is your favourite quotation from this...
My favorite lines in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra come at the very end of the play, in Act V, Scene 2, when Cleopatra is committing suicide by applying two poisonous snakes, or asps, to her...
Antony and Cleopatra
Role of Octavia in 'Antony and Cleopatra'
Octavia is essentially caught in the middle of a political power struggle between Antony, her husband, and Caesar, her husband. She is a sympathetic character, though the audience mostly hears of...
Antony and Cleopatra
To what does Antony compare Lepidus?
In Act IV scene 1 Antony says the following of Lepidus: "ANTONY: Octavius, I have seen more days than you: And, though we lay these honors on this man, To ease ourselves of divers slanderous...
Antony and Cleopatra
What is A.C. Bradley's opinion of how Shakespeare portrays Cleopatra's character in Antony and Cleopatra?
To distill the opinion of A.C. Bradley, one of the most influential Shakespearean scholars of the late Victorian era, on the character of Cleopatra (as revealed in his Oxford Lecture on Antony and...
Antony and Cleopatra
Analysis on how Octavius Caesar developed as a character in Antony and Cleopatra.
Octavius does not really develop all that much as a character in Antony and Cleopatra. The main reason for this is because he has been seized by the utterly ruthless, single-minded pursuit of...
Antony and Cleopatra
Is Antony and Cleopatra written in verse form or prose?
Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra around 1605–1606, and it was first performed in London in 1607. Antony and Cleopatra is written in verse and prose, and the characters of Antony and Cleopatra...
Antony and Cleopatra
Discuss the role of Enobarbus as a chorus in Antony and Cleopatra.
The chorus, as a dramatic device, originates with the Greek theatre. As Enotes states: The Greek chorus comments on themes, and shows how an ideal audience might react to the drama. The chorus...
Antony and Cleopatra
How do I cite "Antony and Cleopatra" in MLA format?
If you are using eNotes and need to cite it, there is always a "Cite This Page" link atop each work you are using, for each section of the analysis: introduction, characters, themes, etc. For...
Antony and Cleopatra
What are the conventions of comedy and tragedy in Shakespeare or literature in general?
The conventions in Shakespearean tragedy are largely the same as those identified by Aristotle. In Shakespeare, as in Aristotle's Poetics, a tragedy has a sympathetic hero who is of noble birth, or...
Antony and Cleopatra
What are some examples of emotes in Antony and Cleopatra?
"Emote" means which emotions the actors would display on stage when exploring the characters. There are a lot of complex things going on in this play, and it is extremely emotional. We are...
Antony and Cleopatra
In Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, what are Antony's qualities as a general? How sound are his strategies?
Antony is portrayed as a distracted and rash general whose strategies are unsound. At the beginning of the play, Philo describes Antony's eyes as those "that o’er the files and musters of the war /...
Antony and Cleopatra
Compare Hamlet and Antony as tragic heroes.
To begin, both men are of elevated status, Hamlet is a prince and Antony ruler of one third of the evolving Roman Empire. Each man, it would seem, would have been much happier without their...
Antony and Cleopatra
What are some motifs in Antony and Cleopatra?
One of the key motifs, or recurring themes or structures, in this play is dominant female sexuality and its power over men. At various points in the play, male characters speak out against the...
Antony and Cleopatra
Discuss Antony and Cleopatra as a tragedy of heroic action in a post-heroic world. Please include the ideas of...
Antony is a hero of Rome. He stood up for Julius Caesar during his reign, and in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, he avenged Caesar and Rome against Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius. He is a hero...
Antony and Cleopatra
Can you talk please about the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra?
I recently answered a similar question regarding the clash between Egypt and Rome, which might relate somewhat to your question (see the answer on enotes in the Antony and Cleopatra group). Antony...
Antony and Cleopatra
To what extent is the sentiment attributed to Machiavelli that 'the ends justify the means' regarding the nature of...
A consensus with regard to the appropriate applications of Machiavelli’s The Prince to Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is likely to remain elusive. As with much of Shakespeare’s work, there...
Antony and Cleopatra
In the play "Antony and Cleopatra," does Cleopatra betray Antony?
In Act III of the play, Antony and Cleopatra are fighting Octavian, now called Caesar Augustus, for control of the eastern Roman Empire. Their fleet has been destroyed, and now they face...
Antony and Cleopatra
How would you describe Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare?
Octavius Caesar is self-assured and cunning, so he is able to take advantage of the weaknesses of others. Octavius Caesar lived up to his name. As the promising young heir to Julius Caesar,...
Antony and Cleopatra
How does Shakespeare represent women in "Antony and Cleopatra"?
Shakespeare uses imagery and diction to reveal Antony and Cleopatra. If you look at the words and images that are used to describe Antony, or man, they are typically structured and civilized words...
Antony and Cleopatra
In what ways does Shakespeare juxtapose the settings of Rome and Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra?
In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents a contrast between Western civilization, represented by Rome and symbolized by Octavius Caesar, and Eastern civilization, represented by Egypt and...
Antony and Cleopatra
In Act 1 of Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra is “cunning past man’s thought,” but Antony is aware and engages in many...
In the first scene, Antony and Cleopatra are arguing about Antony’s loyalties. Is Antony loyal to her, or to Rome? Antony is having an affair with Cleopatra, but he is married to Fulvia. He is...
Antony and Cleopatra
The final act (5) shows Cleopatra resolved to die. Explain why Cleopatra death becomes the climax of the play Antony...
I would content that Cleopatra's death is not the climax of the tragedy. Rather, the climax occurs when Antony's naval forces surrender to Caesar in Act 3.10. Furious at the loss and convinced...
Antony and Cleopatra
Can you explain Cleopatra's monologue in Act 1, scene 5 of Anthony and Cleopatra?
The first bit's reasonably easy, I think: Cleo is just imagining what Antony might be doing on the other side of the world. And, thinking that he might be on his horse, she envies the horse - as he...
Antony and Cleopatra
What quotes suggest Cleopatra's madness?
It's act 1, scene 3 and Antony and Cleopatra are having another of their legendary blazing rows. Antony is about to depart for Rome and his Egyptian queen's not too happy about it. She starts...
Antony and Cleopatra
Is Cleopatra a victim of love, or is she a wicked enchantress?
I think that Shakespeare portrays her as a character somewhat in the middle of victim and predator. One could call her a victim in that Shakespeare's Cleopatra truly cares for Antony and believes...
Antony and Cleopatra
In Antony and Cleopatra, can we say that Cleopatra's age and her past experience of love with Ceasar turned Antony's...
I don't think either her past experiences or age has anything to do with turning Antony's romance into tragedy. Antony is a man caught between his duty, which includes marrying Octavia, and his...
Antony and Cleopatra
In Antony and Cleopatra, why does Egypt dominate Act 1?
I'm not sure that Egypt dominates Act I, unless by Egypt, you mean Cleopatra, since she is Pharaoh and, as such, would have been seen as "Egypt" incarnate. However, it is certainly worth examining...
Antony and Cleopatra
Where are some instances of the fishing motif in this play? For instance, Cleopatra acts as a bait when she flees on...
One very direct example comes in Act 2 Scene 5. It begins at the opening of the scene, as Cleopatra seeks a partner in a game of pool (billiards), but momentarily changes her mind with this line:...
Antony and Cleopatra
Why are there so many scenes in "Antony and Cleopatra"?
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is a tale of epic proportions. It portrays numerous facets of humanity - lust, allegiance and betrayal. Then, there is love. The love of a man for a woman. The...
Antony and Cleopatra
Better to be Antony and lose than Ceasar and win: Do you agree that Antony's qualities, despite his disgrace, are...
This question needs to be on the discussion board, because it calls for an opinion rather than a factual answer. I thoroughly disagree with the premise that Antony's qualities are preferable to...
Antony and Cleopatra
How does Plutarch's view of Cleopatra and Antony differ from that of medieval Christian moralists? Does Shakespeare...
As for Shakespeare's Antony, I would have to say yes, he is responsible for his fall. At the beginning of the play, he is ruler of one third of the fledgling Roman Empire. He is "stationed" so to...
Antony and Cleopatra
What did Shakespeare mean by the letters 'T' 'H' of Scarus' wound? And did ENOBARBUS betray Antony or not?...
The relevant episode for Scarus is 4.8. Antony has just achieved an unexpected victory against Caesar. He and Scarus come on stage from the scene of battle; both have fought courageously. Scarus...
Antony and Cleopatra
Summarize the article "Antony & Cleopatra; Gorgon or Mars, Whore or Goddess" by Gillian M. E. Alban. What are...
Alban's main point in the article "Antony and Cleopatra; Gorgon or Mars, Whore or Goddess" is that Shakespeare presents an oxymoronic interpretation of the characters in this tragedy. Antony and...
Antony and Cleopatra
Silver oars? In describing Cleopatra's barge, Enobarbus says "the oars were silver." Would oars made of silver even...
I must admit I have to agree with #4 on this one. There does seem to be a deliberate attempt to exaggerate and this could be seen as an artistic hyperbole regarding how the wood of the oars and the...
Antony and Cleopatra
What is the character of Antony like?
I assume you are asking for an analysis of this character. Enotes provides a wonderful link for character explanation, which I have included below. In short, however, this character is the...
Antony and Cleopatra
Using four different points, explain how Enobarbus describes Cleopatra in a memorable way in Antony and Cleopatra.
Enobarbus describes Cleopatra as an extraordinarily enchanting and alluring woman who knows how to arrange herself in luxurious settings to produce the maximum effect. This self-possessed queen...
Antony and Cleopatra
Show how Shakespeare develops the contrast between the characters of Caesar and Antony in Act Two.
This difference is primarily illustrated in the first two scenes of this act. Antony has been called home from Egypt, where he has become enamored with Cleopatra. Caesar is far more concerned with...
Antony and Cleopatra
In Antony and Cleopatra, what symbolic meaning does the word "melt" hold in the lines "let Rome in Teiber melt"?
It isn't that symbolic, actually, but a set of meanings barely beneath the surface. This is Anthony talking to Cleopatra. These are famous lovers. He is Rome to her Egypt, a land related to and...
Antony and Cleopatra
How does Act 1, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra prepare the audience for what happens later in the...
The rising dramatic action of the first scene in Act I leads the reader to see that the Triumvirs are actually going to turn into competitors rather than colleagues. Eventually, an armed conflict...
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