ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA - Contextual Question 1
Write an essay on the following extracts stating, briefly, what importance it has in the development and structure of the plot, and commenting on such matters as:
· The revelation of character
· The use of language
· Verse and stage action
· The bringing out of themes.
Relate your answer, as appropriate, to other parts of the play.
1-ANTONY. I am dying, Egypt, dying, only
I here importune death awhile, until
Of many thousand kisses the poor last
I lay upon thy lips.
CLEOPATRA. I dare not, dear.
5-Dear my lord, pardon! I dare not,
Lest I be taken. Not th’ imperious show
Of the full-fortun’d Caesar ever shall
Be brooch’d with me. If knife, drugs, serpents, have
Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe.
10-Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes
And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour
Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony—
Help me, my women—we must draw thee up;
Assist, good friends.
ANTONY. O, quick, or I am gone.
15-CLEOPATRA. Here’s sport indeed! How heavy weighs my lord!
Our strength is all gone into heaviness;
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno’s power,
The strong-wing’d Mercury should fetch thee up,
And set thee by Jove’s side. Yet come a little.
20 Wishers were ever fools. O come, come, come.
[They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra.]
And welcome, welcome! Die where thou hast liv’d.
Quicken with kissing. Had my lips that power,
Thus would I wear them out.
ALL. A heavy sight!
ANTONY. I am dying, Egypt, dying.
25-Give me some wine, and let me speak a little.
CLEOPATRA. No, let me speak; and let me rail so high
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provok’d by my offence.
ANTONY. One word, sweet queen:
Of Caesar seek your honour, with your safety. O!
CLEOPATRA. They do not go together.
30-ANTONY. Gentle, hear me: None about Caesar trust but Proculeius.
CLEOPATRA. My resolution and my hands I’ll trust; None about Caesar.
ANTONY. The miserable change now at my end
35-Lament nor sorrow at; but please your thoughts
In feeding them with those my former fortunes
Wherein I liv’d the greatest prince o’ th’ world,
The noblest; and do now not basely die,
Not cowardly put off my helmet to
40-My countryman—a Roman by a Roman
Valiantly vanquish’d. Now my spirit is going;
I can no more.
CLEOPATRA. Noblest of men, woo’t die?
Hast thou no care of me? Shall I abide
In this dull world, which in thy absence is
45-No better than a sty? O, see, my women,
The crown o’ th’ earth doth melt. My lord!
0, wither’d is the garland of the war,
The soldier’s pole is fall’n! Young boys and girls
Are level now with men. The odds is gone,
50-And there is nothing left remarkable
Beneath the visiting moon. [Swoons.]
[Antony dies.]