The Complex Character of Antony: Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

This essay offers a comprehensive analysis of Antony's character in Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra.' It explores the multifaceted nature of Antony, highlighting his roles as a Roman soldier, a lover, and a man grappling with internal conflicts. The essay examines how his relationship with Cleopatra influences his decisions and actions, leading to a conflict between his duty to Rome and his personal desires. It discusses his struggles with societal expectations, his open-mindedness, and the impact of his love on his character, examining his strengths, weaknesses, and the ultimate consequences of his choices. The essay draws upon references to support its arguments, providing insights into the complexities of Antony's character and his place within the play.

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ESSAY
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The focus of this paper is solely and restricted only on Mark Antony, who is one the main
protagonist of the play other than Cleopatra. The character of Antony signifies many sides of a
man, from the firmness of a soldier to the weakness of a lover.
In the play, Antony is constantly grappling in the midst of his conflict between his duties
as a soldier to the Roman Empire and his love for Cleopatra. He occupies Cleopatra in a
discussion about the depth and purity of his love and nature and meanwhile he neglected his
duty, this can be seen in Act 1, scene I, ‘Let Rome in….empire fall’. However in Act 1, scene ii,
Antony fears of losing himself and that his wife’s death is one of the harms his ‘idleness doth
hatch’, which makes Antony struggle and torn among the Alexandria of his desire and the Rome
of his responsibility, which represents his deep-seated battles between his emotion and
accountability (Smith 2016).
According to Antony, he is first and foremost a Roman hero of his competence, and he
earned his position as worlds one of the three bests by vanquishing the treacherous, Cassius and
Brutus, who conspired to eliminate his precursor, Julius Caesar (Grams 2016), ‘My
powers….hope’, Act 2, scene i. Between all these heroic acts and of a soldier, he fell in love with
the Cleopatra, which drifted him away from his ideal self. His role as a soldier is about rigidness
following stereotypical views, while his love represents his emotional and human side as he
valued a strong woman going beyond the stereotype, however, this love made him selfish as he
neglected his duty and his wife.
Antony’s love for Cleopatra was much dominating his consciousness for his duty and his
wife Fulvia, as he is often under the control of Cleopatra, and this weak side of his personality
has caused considerable worry to his fellow soldiers about the fact that this love might cause him
to defeat at the hands of Octavius (Adinata 2017). Later his love turned into frustration after his

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loss, and he blamed Cleopatra; however, this he still remained dedicated to her and decided to
kill himself after knowing about Cleopatra’s suicidal decision, which shows the weakness of
Antony to an extent, ‘Upon her….eyes eat only’, Act 2, scene 2. Unlike other typical Roman
soldiers, Antony is different and open-minded enough to stay under the control of a strong
woman like Cleopatra and admiring her instead of showing his masculinity (Traci 2018).
Hence, there are many sides of Antony’s character that are shown in the play; the main
changes occurred when he fell in love with Cleopatra. His character represents firmness of a
soldier, dedication of a lover, neglecter as a husband, open-mindedness of a man beyond
societies stereotype.

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References:
Adinata, C.B., 2017. A Description of Characters in William Shakespear’s Play Antony and
Cleopatra.
Grams, T.N., 2016. Classical Masculinity in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra.
Smith, E., 2016. Character in Shakespearean Tragedy. In The Oxford Handbook of
Shakespearean Tragedy.
Traci, P.J., 2018. The Love Play of Antony and Cleopatra: A Critical Study of Shakespeare’s
Play (Vol. 64). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.