Antony and Cleopatra William Shakespeare Notes, Lectures, Summary, Explanation

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Original Text
Modern Text
Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, ALEXAS, and IRAS
CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, ALEXAS, and IRAS enter.

CLEOPATRA
Where is he?
CLEOPATRA
Where is he?

CHARMIAN
                          I did not see him since.
CHARMIAN
I haven’t seen him recently.




5   CLEOPATRA
(to ALEXAS ) See where he is, who’s with him, what he does.
I did not send you. If you find him sad,
Say I am dancing. If in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick. Quick, and return.
CLEOPATRA
(to ALEXAS ) Find out where he is, who’s with him, and what he’s doing. Don’t tell him I sent you. If he’s sad, tell him I’m dancing. If he’s happy, say that I’ve suddenly taken sick. Hurry, and come back.
Exit ALEXAS
ALEXAS exits.



CHARMIAN
Madam, methinks, if you did love him dearly,
You do not hold the method to enforce
The like from him.
CHARMIAN
Madam, I think if you love him so much, you aren’t using the best way to get him to reciprocate.

CLEOPATRA
                                       What should I do I do not?
CLEOPATRA
What should I do that I’m not doing?

CHARMIAN
In each thing give him way. Cross him in nothing.
CHARMIAN
Always give him his way. Never contradict him.

10   CLEOPATRA
Thou teachest like a fool the way to lose him.
CLEOPATRA
You advise me like a fool. That’s the way to lose him.


CHARMIAN
Tempt him not so too far. I wish, forbear.
In time we hate that which we often fear.
CHARMIAN
Don’t push him too far. I wish you’d be patient. We come to hate that which controls us.
Enter ANTONY
ANTONY enters.
But here comes Antony.
But here comes Antony.

CLEOPATRA
                                               I am sick and sullen.
CLEOPATRA
I am sick and sullen.

ANTONY
I am sorry to give breathing to my purpose—
ANTONY
I’m sorry to have to say this—

15

CLEOPATRA
Help me away, dear Charmian! I shall fall.
It cannot be thus long. The sides of nature
Will not sustain it.
CLEOPATRA
Help me away from here, dear Charmian! I shall faint. I won’t be able to go on this way much longer. Human nature isn’t built to withstand this.

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Act 1, Scene 4

Original Text
Modern Text
Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, reading a letter, LEPIDUS, and their train
OCTAVIUS CAESAR enters, reading a letter, with LEPIDUS and their courtiers and attendants.





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10   CAESAR
You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know,
It is not Caesar’s natural vice to hate
Our great competitor. From Alexandria
This is the news: he fishes, drinks, and wastes
The lamps of night in revel; is not more manlike
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy
More womanly than he; hardly gave audience, or
Vouchsafed to think he had partners. You shall find there
A man who is th’ abstract of all faults
That all men follow.
CAESAR
Now you’ll see, Lepidus, that I don’t disdain our noble ally because of a personal whim. Here’s the news from Alexandra: Antony fishes, drinks, and celebrates all night. He’s become as frivolous and self-indulgent as Ptolemy’s queen, Cleopatra. He rarely attends to his duties or acknowledges he has partners to be considered. Here’s a man who is the epitome of all the vices known to man.






15   LEPIDUS
                                        I must not think there are
Evils enough to darken all his goodness.
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven,
More fiery by night’s blackness, hereditary
Rather than purchased, what he cannot change
Than what he chooses.
LEPIDUS
I can’t believe there could be enough vice in the world to outshine all the good in him. His faults stand out because they must be compared to all his virtues, like stars that shine brightly against the dark night sky. They’re more likely to be the result of inherited weakness than independent choice.





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CAESAR
You are too indulgent. Let’s grant, it is not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy,
To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit
And keep the turn of tippling with a slave,
To reel the streets at noon, and stand the buffet
With knaves that smell of sweat. Say this becomes him—
As his composure must be rare indeed
Whom these things cannot blemish—yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. If he filled
His vacancy with his voluptuousness,
Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones
Call on him for ’t. But to confound such time
That drums him from his sport and speaks as loud
As his own state and ours, ’tis to be chid
As we rate boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure
And so rebel to judgment.
CAESAR
You’re too forgiving. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that it’s not improper to fool around with Ptolemy’s wife, or to trade a kingdom for a joke. That it’s fine to engage in drinking matches with inferiors, or stumble drunkenly through the streets in the middle of the day, or get into fist fights with sweaty servants. Even if we said that this behavior suits him—though only a man with a perfect character could avoid being disgraced by such antics—there’s no excuse for the extra work we’ve had to take on while he’s been off amusing himself. If he’s been spending his leisure time in lustful pursuits, then he’ll be punished with venereal diseases, and that’s his business. But he’s wasting time and resources vital to our cause and endangering both his position and ours. He should be chastised, like any boy who knows what’s right but chooses to satisfy his desires regardless.

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Act 1, Scene 5

Original Text
Modern Text
Enter CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN
CLEOPATRA, CHARMIAN, IRAS, and MARDIAN enter.

CLEOPATRA
Charmian!
CLEOPATRA
Charmian!

CHARMIAN
Madam?
CHARMIAN
Madam?

CLEOPATRA
Ha, ha! Give me to drink mandragora.
CLEOPATRA
Ah, give me some mandragora to drink.

CHARMIAN
Why, madam?
CHARMIAN
Why, madam?

5
CLEOPATRA
That I might sleep out this great gap of time
My Antony is away.
CLEOPATRA
So I can sleep away the time while my Antony is gone.

CHARMIAN
You think of him too much.
CHARMIAN
You think about him too much.

CLEOPATRA
Oh, ’tis treason!
CLEOPATRA
That’s treason!

CHARMIAN
                                Madam, I trust, not so.
CHARMIAN
I hope not, Madam.

CLEOPATRA
Thou, eunuch Mardian!
CLEOPATRA
Eunuch! Mardian!

MARDIAN
                                                What’s your highness’ pleasure?
MARDIAN
What can I do for your highness?

10


CLEOPATRA
Not now to hear thee sing. I take no pleasure
In aught an eunuch has. ’Tis well for thee
That, being unseminared, thy freer thoughts
May not fly forth of Egypt. Hast thou affections?
CLEOPATRA
I don’t want to hear you sing. I’m not interested in anything a eunuch can do. It’s a good thing for you that, being castrated, you can better concentrate on my needs. Do you have desires?

MARDIAN
Yes, gracious madam.
MARDIAN
Yes, dear madam.

15   CLEOPATRA
Indeed?
CLEOPATRA
Indeed?




MARDIAN
Not in deed, madam, for I can do nothing
But what indeed is honest to be done.
Yet have I fierce affections, and think
What Venus did with Mars.
MARDIAN
Well, not in deed, madam, since I can’t do anything unchaste. But I do have intense passions—and I do think about what Venus did with Mars.


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35   CLEOPATRA
                                                        O Charmian,
Where think’st thou he is now? Stands he or sits he?
Or does he walk? Or is he on his horse?
O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse, for wott’st thou whom thou mov’st?
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men. He’s speaking now,
Or murmuring “Where’s my serpent of old Nile?”
For so he calls me. Now I feed myself
With most delicious poison. Think on me,
That am with Phoebus’ amorous pinches black
And wrinkled deep in time. Broad-fronted Caesar,
When thou wast here above the ground, I was
A morsel for a monarch. And great Pompey
Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow.
There would he anchor his aspect, and die
With looking on his life.
CLEOPATRA
Oh, Charmian, where do you think he is now? Is he standing or sitting? Or is he walking? Or is he on his horse? Oh, how fortunate that horse is to have Antony on him. Do well, horse. Do you know whom it is you carry? A man who carries responsibility for a third of the world on his shoulders. He’s speaking now, or perhaps he’s whispering, “Where’s my serpent of the Nile?” For that’s his pet name for me. I’m killing myself with this provocative speculation . . . Are you thinking about me? Even though I’ve been darkened by the sun and wrinkled with age? Caesar, with your broad forehead, when you were alive, I was the perfect young consort for a king. And powerful Pompey used to stare at me as if he were frozen in time.