Explore how Shakespeare develops Essay

Explore how Shakespeargon develops the themes of duty, responsibility, manage and fealty in the Antony and Cleopatra. Throughout the play Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare develops and explores the themes of duty, responsibility, love and loyalty from the very commence of the play Shakespeare places these themes in conflict with one another and these conflicts are incarnate in the most self-explanatory sense through Antonys rejection of the romish Empire and its ideals for the love of Cleopatra and a far more frivolous set(p) back life in Egypt.And in turn these differences in ideals are conveyed to the audience in the beginning of the first act when Philo and Demetrius come to the floor and discuss Antonys dotage over Cleopatra and how it Oerflows the measure. Philo laments at how Antony, one time a powerful warrior, triumvir of the Roman Empire and a triple tugboat of the terra firma has given up all this power and become the bawl and the fan that cool a gipsys longing. The lecture commitd by Shakespeare at this point in the play helps to plunge the antithetical nature of the Egyptians and the Romans Philo describes Antony with powerful hyperboles and metaphors, evoking potent superhuman, heroic imagery as he speaks of Antonys eyes that glowed like plated mars, passionately and long-windedly referring to his captains heart which was so powerful that it burst the buckles on his breast. The conviction with which Philo speaks brings the political and war faring nature of the Romans to the forefront and it becomes clear that the world Antony used to occupy is strikingly at odds with the world he now inhabits with Cleopatra who is derogatorily described as having a tawny front (highlighting the Romans potential racial prejudices) and whose gipsys lust has reduced Antony to a slatterns fool. Philo never once uses positive words or language to describe the love between Antony and his queen he unceasingly uses words that undermine the actual power s he has a queen.The potency of his disgust for Cleopatra is conveyed eloquently through his use of language Philo makes it obvious that in capital of Italy intangible emotions such as love are undervalued in comparison to the far more corporeal physicality of great fights and the musters of war. It is very obvious that Philo does not view the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra as a great or Romantic but one of blind and foolish lust which has distracted Antony from his responsibilities and his duty.Furthermore, when Antony himself speaks of his love for Cleopatra the contrast between his former Roman ideals and his sweet Egyptian way of thinking become clearer, his first line to Cleopatra as he enters the stage is Theres beggary in the love that can be reckoned, implying that his love for her is immeasurable and takes precedence above all, the situation this is powerful and Romantic statement is the very first thing Antony says as he enters the stage magnifies the sentime nt behind it.Further evidence of the immenseness of Antonys love for Cleopatra is given when she chides him about the messenger from Rome who whitethorn be carrying a message from Caesar or his wife Fulvia, both of whom maintain his responsibilities at home and both of whom he dismisses in his grand and prominent statements that he provides her in response to her teasing (let Rome in Tiber melt and the wide arch of the ranged empire fall), reassuring her that the twain of them and their love for each other stand up peerless. It is Antonys use of imagery here that really encapsulates the depth of his love for Cleopatra, his acknowledgment of the impressiveness of Rome has a paradoxical quality to it as he confirms the grandness of its wide arch in the same breath and sentence as he confirms it.