Antony & Cleopatra

Act 4, scene 15 - lines 19-70

Question 1. “Eros outwits him, and his own attempt is clumsy. Cleopatra then quite literally upstages him.” (Cicely Palser Havely). What evidence is there to suggest that Antony is dominated by Cleopatra at the moment of his death?

Find quotations from the passage to support the following points:

Cleopatra puts her needs above Antony’s.
Cleopatra controls the dialogue.
Cleopatra does not accept Antony’s advice.

Cleopatra puts her needs above Antony’s

Cleopatra controls the dialogue.

Cleopatra does not accept Antony’s advice.

Click here to read one critic’s view of the situation.

Although on one level it is fear that prevents her leaving her monument, the hauling up of Antony to join her is a spectacular coup de theatre, which demonstrates not her timidity but her flair, her willpower, her strength and ingenuity. That she hardly lets him speak his dying words also suggests a greater command of the histrionic moment.

(Cicely Palser Havely in Shakespeare: Texts and Contexts, ed. Kiernan Ryan, Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2000, p.152)

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