Quote:
CLEOPATRA
Noblest of men, woo't die?
Hast thou no care of me? shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
No better than a sty? O, see, my women,
MARK ANTONY dies
The crown o' the earth doth melt. My lord!
O, wither'd is the garland of the war,
The soldier's pole is fall'n: young boys and girls
Are level now with men; the odds is gone,
And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon.
Cleopatra''s speech at Antony's death. I find this interesting for many reasons. Let me just concentrate on one for now. Where in the play have we seen Antony's brilliance? Not once. In fact he has screwed everything up from the very beginning of the play. Allowed his first wife to fight Ceasar while he was in Egypt, agrees to marry Octavia, sends Octavia back to Ceasar, loses the first navel battle, loses the second navel battle, and screws up his suicide. He even advices Cleopatra to trust Proculeius and not trust Donabella, when it turns out she should do the opposite. Is there anything that Antony does right in the play? I can't think of anything. So is he really as valiant and indomitable as Cleo makes him out? Yes, because others vouch for it too, even Ceasar himself. So why dos Shakespeare rhetorically praise his ability but continuously have him botch things? In other Shakespeare tragidies the fallen hero shows his greatness in the play: Othello, MacBeth, Hamlet. 