William Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra Essay -- Shakespeare Antony

William Shakespeares Antony and CleopatraThe triple pillar of the world transformed/Into a hussys fool. Be keep in line and arrest (I.1.12). I have eyes upon him (III.6.61). Shakespeares Antony invites speculation and a greedy voyerism that can only be instigated by a protagonist who, despite perpetu in ally being at the nitty-gritty of discussion, manages to elude classification.This impression of opacity of character is enhanced by the fact that his own idea of himself and of his uncontrollable infatuation with Cleopatra is constantly mutating. Antony oscillates between privation Would I had never seen Cleopatra (I.2.253), and admitting IthEast my pleasure lies (II.3.41). unitary moment he wails I have fled myself ... I have helpless command (III.11.7, 23), the next he reassures himself with a mantra- manage repetitiveness, Theres want int yet ... Theres sap int yet (III.13.175, 191). When the protagonist himself is never static, when the other characters define him in accordance to their own agendas or morbid curiosity, there is very small-scale for the audience to hold onto in the way of tangible evidence of unmatchable mental state as opposed to another. This common body, like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,/Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,/To rot itself with motion (I.4.44) Caesar says this about the disposal of the masses to wish for the ruler who isnt in power or is seen less, and then when he does come into the limelight, to lose interest and want somebody else. But taken out of context, these lines are a disturbingly earmark depiction of Antonys state throughout the play. For he is discussed and prodded as if he were common property, and shifts continuously between du... ...ity and littleness, an admission of his own weaknesses. The vagueness of Sometimes we see a cloud thats dragonish,/A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, ... That which is now a horse, even with a thought/The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct/As body of water is in water is juxtaposed against the profoundly personal, intrspective lines Here I am Antony,/Yet cannot hold this visible shape (IV.14.3-22). The result is the feeling that whether he has fallen or not, whether the Roman way is better than the Egyptian, whether the old Antony is a myth, his own self-disgust and deflated sense of self remains. Perhaps that is the closest we can wear to get to the real Antony the one he reveals when in the throes of self-doubt. Perhaps that is all we deserve to uncover for as Dantes Virgil would say, the desire to hear others dispute is a base desire (xxx.148).