Antony & Cleopatra

A detailed Summary of Antony & Cleopatra

Life's events often cause an individual to re-evaluate what his or her priorities are. In Antony and Cleopatra, Antony is constantly examining his priorities through experiences as he changes or affirms what is truly important in his life. Antony is forced to decide between the Roman lifestyle which he found great success with as a political leader and the frivolous Egyptian lifestyle of the East. After his experiences in battle, Antony makes an initial priority adjustment as he leaves his political success for his emotion dominated relationship with Cleopatra in Egypt. Soon he recognizes, through his experiences in Egypt, that his relationship is playing a negative role in his political involvement, and his strong Roman qualities are losing effect in his character. When he begins to fail in his role as a leader of the Roman Empire, he begins to doubt his priorities are where they should be. Antony finally reassess his life and his values after he has gone to battle ag!

ain, and in turn, he accepts that his priorities are no longer found in politics, but are with Cleopatra; and so Antony proceeds to makes the ultimate sacrifice for what he found to be truly important in his life.

Antony's initial priority adjustment i

This statement in the fist scene of the play, sets a viewpoint of Antony's tragic hero characteristics as his potential in his role as part of the 'triple pillar' is wasted while his priorities remain in the East. Antony pursues his relationship with Cleopatra after he has gained so much experience from battle as a Roman leader; these experiences cause a reassessment which proved to lead him to his time spent in Egypt. Thus, at the start of the play Antony's priorities were set in Egypt while he is still attempting to act as a Roman leader. Furthermore, Caesar expresses further dimension of Antony faults stating that Antony is the abstract of all faults that men follow. Thus, Caesar acknowledges that Antony's priority adjustment has lead him astray from the Roman way of life. These statements all reveal as Antony re-evaluated his life he found a greater value for his relationship than his responsibilities, and he adopts emotion centered priorities over his reason centered!

"When thou once wast beaten from Modena...

Thus, Antony is again questioning and examining his values, as he see the evidence of his lost Roman traits. Antony made his decision to fight at sea due to Cleopatra's response and offer of support, when this falls through Antony is left feeling betrayed and questioning the value of Cleopatra's love. After confronting Cleopatra, Antony confesses in despair to Scarus:

s the most drastic, as he abandons his political responsibilities as a member of the Triumvirate for his passionate relation with Cleopatra. Caesar states about the Antony who was a great leader:

When Antony begins to fail in his endeavors against Caesar, he begins to question which is of more value in his life between war and politics and his emotions. While in battle against Caesar, Cleopatra's ships turned and fled. Antony feels a deep loss from this and he confronts Cleopatra:

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Approximate Word count = 1558
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels