Infinite Virtue :: William Shakespeare Antony Cleopatra Essays

Infinite VirtueIV.viii of Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra is a mindless scene, less than 40 lines, and an entirely unexpected one. The preceding scenes of Act IV, such as Hercules departure and Enobarbus desertion, heavily foreshadow Antonys defeat. When Antony wins his battle against Caesar and returns to Cleopatra in IV.viii, the gaiety of their reunion contrasts with the despair of Act IV. Antonys victory is a strike against spate and a tri yete, albeit short-lived, to the power of Egypt.The association of royalty and divinity was a commonalty tradition not limited to the Elizabethans world picture. In this scene, Antony portrays Cleopatra as a goddess, revealing her connection not only to the macrocosm but in addition to the to a greater extent specific functions of the love goddess Isis. Cleopatra is a great fairy (IV.viii.12), adequate to bless (IV.viii.13) soldiers with her speech. As the day othworld (IV.viii.13) who will ride (IV.viii.16) in Antonys totality, she m ore particularly resembles a insolate deity, pictured by the Egyptians as move in a barge and by the Romans as in a chariot. Cleopatras association with the day continues up until her death Charmian recognizes that the bright day is make/and we are for the dark (V.ii.192-3) and Cleopatra sees that her lamp is spent (IV.xv.89). In Act V, the connection is morbid, but here it is vibrant and positive. Yet in both death and life, the abutting relationship of Cleopatra and Egypt to fire and the higher elements is omni turn in Antony swears by the fire/that quickens Nilus begrime (I.iii.69-70) Cleopatra before her death is fire and air (V.2.288) your serpent of Egypt is bred...by the operation of your sun (II.vii.26-7) That fire should so often be linked to life is unsurprising, given the common connection between heat and sex, just as the heart where Cleopatra will ride has long been a bellows (I.i.9). Also present is an idea of vital heat, as when Cleopatra invites Iras to take th e last eagerness (V.ii.290) of her lips before her suicide. Whether fortunate or not, Cleopatra is a spirit of vitality.Even Antony gets a taste of residual divinity, perhaps from Cleopatras having dressed him he is infinite righteousness (IV.viii.17) and lord of lords (IV.viii.16), echoing the prophecy that the Lamb shall overcome the ten kings, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 1714). In fighting for Egypt Antony momentarily wrests moderate fate from Octavius, whose statement that the time of universal peace is near.