Antony and Cleopatra - Analysis of the first two scenes

The title of this play is Antony and Cleopatra, so the intelligent reader can understand that it is an history play because the protagonists are historical figures: Antony belonged to the Roman culture while Cleopatra belonged to the Egyptian culture. The tragedy is organized into five acts; the first one’s function is to introduce the characters and to present them in their psychological aspects. The first scene opens with some stage directions, which give the reader the information that the speakers are Demetrius and Philo, two Antony’s friends and followers. At first Philo is speaking and Demetrius is listening. The information that the reader or the audience receive is an impression about Antony. It is a contradictory opinion, because on the one side Antony is described as a motivated and an energetic leader, who fought in battle with his goodly eyes; in addiction, to underline Antony’s qualities and to describes the way Antony fought , Philo compared his general to Mars. On the other side Philo describe Antony as if he has been turned from a mighty warrior into a “strumpet’s fool”: he’s totally fallen in love with Cleopatra, and this is why he can’t concentrate in military and politics affairs. This negative aspect is underlined by the words “dotage” and the verb “overflows”, that means something in excess. Roman generals, on the contrary, were expected to have balance, to have a sense of measure. The contrast between past and present is highlighted by the use of Present Perfect. Going on with the analysis, it emerges from the text the bad opinion that Philo and Demetrius have about Cleopatra. The speaker uses some negative metaphors to refer to the Egyptian queen, for example “tawny front”. Antony and Cleopatra enter, with the queen's ladies-in-waiting, and they start talking about their love, whose strength is unknown. In the dialogue between Antony and Cleopatra, they use a typical lover language( “my love”) and they discuss about their love, whit some rhetorical questions. But this love, that seems to be more intense than any other feeling, will be the cause of the protagonists’ death. Shakespeare knew he had to capture the audience’s attention and interest right from the beginning of the play. In order to do that in the first scene he introduced the contrast among love and war, war that will turn in death in the second scene of the tragedy, when a messenger enters and gives Antony a letter telling him that his wife, Fulvia, is dead. Shakespeare decided to create an opening scene using this conflict, because it is what keep the audience “on the edge of their seats”, curios to know what will happen next. In the second scene, which is set in a room of Cleopatra’s palace in Alexandria, the speakers are Charmian, Iras and Alexas, three Cleopatra’s attendants. They have an appointment with a soothsayer, who makes predictions on the future of the three Cleopatra’s attendants. In my opinion Shakespeare introduced in this scene the theme of magic to refer to the Renaissance empiricism: this is the period in which man conquer a central position, and he tries to dominate nature whit the studies of math and physic, and the practices related to alchemy. In addition in the second scene there is an explicit reference to the cultural and historical period in which the play is set, namely a period of civil wars in Rome. So Shakespeare uses this tragic image to anticipate the coming catastrophes.