He jeers that she will desert him for Caesar, just as some of his troops already have. He places the blame on Cleopatra, who fled with her ships. War begins, and Antony's forces are defeated the rest of the play focuses, thus, on the aftermath of this battle and its effect on the love between Antony and Cleopatra.Īntony is at first despondent over his defeat. Octavia's discovery that Antony is glorifying Cleopatra and her children, one of them the illegitimate son of Julius Caesar, provides enough of an excuse for Caesar to declare that both Antony and Cleopatra are traitors. Octavia's disgrace gives Caesar sufficient reason to hate Antony even more than he already does, and he vows revenge. Octavia accompanies Antony to Athens, but she returns to Rome alone after Antony decides to return to Cleopatra. But before long, he tires of the pursuit of power in Rome and decides to return to Egypt. It begins with the continued efforts on Antony's part to work on behalf of Rome and regain his stature in the world of politics and war. Most of the main events of the play have their beginnings in this act. In the meantime, even while Antony pledges his loyalty to Octavia, his thoughts have returned to Egypt and Cleopatra. But she resolves not to give up Antony so easily. When Cleopatra finds out that Antony has married, she is devastated by the news. Antony and Caesar decide to resolve the fighting among themselves this new "alliance" is to be cemented by the marriage of Antony and Octavia, Caesar's sister. Pompey, an insurgent force against Rome, has become enough of a threat to the Roman Empire that the triumvirs are forced to form a truce in order to present a united front. In this act, Shakespeare accelerates the inevitable final conflict between his primary characters. In short, this first act sets out what the relationships are among the main characters, and it establishes the basic conflicts that dominate the rest of the play: first, Antony and Cleopatra and their love for one another and second, Antony's rivalry with Caesar. We also have ample evidence in this act that Antony and Cleopatra are deeply in love, but Antony does not realize the tragic possibilities of their infatuation, yet he is torn by divided loyalties. In addition, his comments about Antony reveal a great deal about his own character. Caesar appears in a later scene, and we see how he perceives Antony and Cleopatra's relationship. The first scene is set in Alexandria, where two of Antony's men, Demetrius and Philo, describe the lovers' relationship. This act serves to introduce the main characters - Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavius Caesar it also outlines the main forces which motivate each of them.
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