Antony & Cleopatra (Act I-III): Charisma

I first flipped through this play when I was twelve. I decided that I didn't like Cleopatra. I wanted to read about strong women, and what kind of strong woman lounges on divans for an entire play waiting for her Antony to come back? Thomasina has a lovely line to that effect in Stoppard's Arcadia: "Everything is turned to love with her. New love, absent love, lost love – I never knew a heroine that makes such noodles of our sex. It only needs a Roman general to drop anchor outside the window and away goes the empire like a christening mug into a pawn shop. If Queen Elizabeth had been a Ptolemy history would have been quite different – we would be admiring the pyramids of Rome and the great Sphinx of Verona."

I read and loved Julius Caesar a few years later, but I hated Antony. I didn't know what he saw in Caesar worth avenging. As I saw it, Julius Caesar portrays Caesar as a self-important tyrant past his prime. Either Antony overthrew the Liberatores for love of Caesar (incomprehensible) or for his own ambitions (reprehensible). I've since changed my opinions about Caesar, but that can wait for a future post.

Anyway, these biases put me off Antony and Cleopatra for almost a decade. I've read up to the middle of the third act, and I have to admit that it's a delightful play. I'm enjoying myself a lot more than when I read Merchant of Venice. The dialogue's much snappier and more nuanced. Young Pomepey's got some particularly sharp quips, like when he's ribbing Antony for getting Caesar's sloppy seconds:

Pompey: No, Antony, take the lot: but, firstOr last, your fine Egyptian cookeryShall have the fame. I have heard that Julius CaesarGrew fat with feasting there.

The play deconstructs Antony's apparent invincibility in Julius Caesar. Cleopatra plays Antony exactly as he played the Romans. Here's her first jab, when Antony receives unwelcome messengers from Rome.

Cleopatra: Nay, hear them, Antony:Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knowsIf the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sentHis powerful mandate to you, 'Do this, or this;...As I am Egypt's queen, Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thineIs Caesar's homager: else so they cheek pays shameWhat shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds. The messengers!

"Scarce-bearded Caesar" digs at Antony: if he treats Octavius as a serious threat, then he's frightened of a boy. If he feels guilty for abandoning his responsibilities to Rome and Fulvia, then he's their slave rather than his own man. Cleopatra packs all these insinuations into so few words. I think these lines have to be spoken carefully. A little mocking, but not so sarcastic as to sound petulant. The words themselves are sharp enough.  

Reading their first interaction got me invested in these characters. I originally thought Antony was just an idiot succumbing to a pretty face. But he isn't; even I have to acknowledge that he's a brilliant strategist. Cleopatra's tricks shouldn't fool Antony. He used the same tactics in his "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech: if you hate Caesar, despite the peace and abundance that he's won, then you're fickle as well as jealous. Why does Antony swallow Cleopatra's bait so consistently? He knows what their relationship will cost him. He seems to believe himself when he resolves to leave. What draws him back?

I initially wondered if Antony considers Cleopatra a worthy adversary, but their relationship doesn't have the reciprocal element we see with Benedick and Beatrice. Antony never tries to manipulate Cleopatra. His other responsibilities simply become unimportant in her presence. Cleopatra spins such a lovely web that Antony, clever Antony, willingly binds himself in it. Why? Because she isn't lying, she's just artfully expressing her true emotions. Exactly as Antony did over Caesar's body. That's why he's so attracted to her.

Mark Antony:  Fie, wrangling queen!Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh,To weep; whose every passion fully strivesTo make itself, in thee, fair and admired!

That's what makes tragedy compelling, after all: the charisma that propels Antony to power tears him back down when he encounters it in Cleopatra. Antony genuinely grieves for Caesar, so he channels his pain and anger into his funeral oration. Cleopatra loves Antony. She may have ulterior motives when she tells him that she'll fall sick without him, but she's telling the truth. Both of them derive their power from following their impulses, from guiding rather than repressing their emotions. Contrast them with Octavius and Brutus, and the distinction becomes clear. Unfortunately, Antony's impulses are dead wrong when it comes to Cleopatra. He knows this. 

I'm not quite sure what to make of her. She'd be Taylor Swift if she were alive today, selling and curating her private dramas for a captive audience. She runs an impeccable Instagram. If you don't text her back immediately, she sends you twenty texts in as many minutes. I don't think I'd like this Cleopatra. But she demands respect, in this century or her own, for how beautifully she's mastered her craft. I've not yet seen an adaptation (granted, I've only seen two) that captures her imperiousness with her coquettishness. It's too easy to make her merely petulant. She is petty, vindictive, vain, and short-sighted [1], but she enchanted both Caesar and Antony nonetheless. A good production ought to show us why. 

[1] She devotes a whole scene to ascertaining whether Octavia's taller, prettier, more majestic, etc. than she is. I think this scene would've been annoying to read if anyone else had written it, but weirdly enough it was charming in a catty sort of way. Cleopatra doesn't pretend that she isn't catty, after all, and her simplicity here makes her sympathetic.