The location turns to Rome for the fourth scene. Two of the three Roman rulers known as the Triumvirate are discussing the absence of the third. Octavius Caesar and Lepidus are discussing the absence of Antony. Octavius is upset that Antony lives his life in debauchery (wickedness or corruption) while he and Lepidus must deal with a very serious threat from the son of Pompey the Great. Octavius is worried. He knows that Antony is superior to both himself and Lepidus in matters concerning war, and he needs Antony’s help. Octavius is also perhaps emotional – angry – that Antony is away at such a crucial time.
Octavius criticizes Antony for his debauchery (suggested by lines 4-5: “wastes the lamps of night in revel”) and for not being manly (line 5). He is suggesting that Antony is being womanly or overly emotional. But he also later suggests that Antony and Cleopatra are like animals or beasts when he adds that neither one is entirely “womanly” in their actions or behavior (line 7). Men and women have reason; beasts do not. Thus, Octavius is criticizing Antony for being like a beast – he is composed entirely of physical appetite or desire. And, so, Octavius describes Antony as a “man who is the abstract of all faults” (9). A man without reason is capable of committing any fault or offense.
Octavius’ comments complement the words spoken by Philo at the beginning of the play. Philo, who is with Antony in Egypt, is not the only one who is aware of the transformation of Antony. But those living in Rome are also well aware of it. To Octavius, Antony’s transformation is one from man to beast. Lepidus feels that this broad criticism is too harsh and suggests that Antony’s good qualities outweigh his faults. But Octavius argues that even if one accepts such sexual pleasure as natural and common to all men, such behavior is not excusable when important and serious matters must be attended to. Octavius Caesar also feels that Antony’s behavior is personally insulting:
– yet must Antony
No way excuse his foils when we do bear
So great weight in his lightness. (23-25)
Octavius is stating that he, as well as Lepidus, bears the burden (or weight) of Antony’s faults (his foils or lightness). In other words, Antony’s faults hurt them and Rome directly. Octavius believes that Antony is like a bad boy who should be scolded or criticized (lines 30-31). He compares Antony to such
mischievous or troublesome …
… boys who, being mature in knowledge,
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure,
And so rebel to judgement. (31-33)
Octavius is declaring that such boys allow their emotions or desires (pleasure) to control themselves even though they are old enough to know better. They have the knowledge and experience to know when they are doing something wrong, yet they do the wrong thing anyway. They are rebelling against their own good sense and judgment, and the word judgment here is another way of saying reason. They behave irrationally and immorally for selfish and emotional reasons.
Octavius believes that Antony could control himself if he were not so selfish or stubborn. He believes that Antony is like a bad boy who just needs to be punished. Yes, it is true, Antony is being immature. However, Octavius does not understand that an emotion like love can be extremely powerful. Octavius, in his experience, has never experienced such a great passion. And, so, Octavius does not realize that Antony cannot truly control his behavior.
News from two messengers contributes to
Octavius’ worries and fears. The first messenger tells Octavius that many citizens of Rome are joining the forces of Pompey’s son (lines 37-39). And the second messenger informs Octavius that two deadly pirates named Menecrates and Menas have joined young Pompey’s side (lines 48-50).
After the messengers exit, Octavius presents a short speech that is almost like a prayer to Antony (lines 55-71). Octavius prays that Antony will return home and praises Antony by listing several great deeds that Antony performed as a soldier. Octavius notes how Antony survived long periods of hunger (line 59) and thirst (line 61) at such times when he and his soldiers were away in some wilderness and cut off from all provisions (food and supplies) and luxuries. Such a description is intended to be a direct contrast to the feasting and luxuries that Antony has in Egypt. Octavius is asserting that Antony is a man who can live without luxuries or even necessities. He is suggesting that Antony is stronger both inside and out than most other men. Antony is the ultimate soldier who can survive where most other men could not. This is the Antony that Octavius wants and needs. This is the Antony to whom Octavius prays for help.
The fifth and final scene of Act I brings the audience back to Egypt. Cleopatra is lonely without Antony. Her love consumes her. For her, life is Antony. So, when he is away, life holds no interest for her. She asks her attendant Charmian for a drug called mandragora (line 3). This powerful drug would cause her to sleep for a long period of time, and she desires to sleep all the time that Antony is away. The reader might also note that mandragora was a liquid made from the mandrake plant. The roots of the mandrake often looked like the body of a man, so it was often associated with having magical properties as well. Cleopatra wants to substitute the mandrake for her man.
Charmian is aware that Cleopatra is obsessive about Antony, and she warns her queen, “You think of him too much” (6). Obsession of any kind is usually harmful. But Cleopatra responds with, “O, ‘tis treason!” (7). Cleopatra is implying that it is impossible to think about Antony too much. Antony is her king and her country. Thus, to say anything against him or to undervalue him in any way is a crime.
Cleopatra is listless and bored. She calls forth her servant Mardian, but then realizes that she really does not need his service. She tells him that she does not want to hear him sing (line 9). She can derive no pleasure from him. Only Antony can give her pleasure, and he is away. So, instead, Cleopatra asks Mardian if he is capable of feeling love (line 12). Mardian is a eunuch. A eunuch is a man who was castrated, usually as a child, so that he can serve in a harem or attend on princesses. A king or ruler would not want a male servant attending his daughters or wives for fear that the servant might desire to have sexual relations with them. A eunuch, on the other hand, was sexless. He was sexually impotent. Although Mardian is incapable of being sexually active, he thinks about such sexual activity. He tells Cleopatra that he frequently imagines, for example, the sexual activity that took place between Venus (the goddess of love and beauty) and Mars (the god of war – line 18: the reader should also note that this is another allusion to Ovid and Roman mythology). Love is such a powerful emotion that even those who are sexually incapable cannot escape its influence.
The reference to Venus and Mars makes Cleopatra think about herself and Antony. Like Mardian, she is wandering through her imagination. She wonders if Antony is thinking about his “serpent of old Nile” (25). This is a nickname that Antony has for Cleopatra. Cleopatra is imagining and remembering words and scenes of her past. She describes this act of imagination with the following: “Now I feed myself with most delicious poison” (2627). This oxymoronic expression indicates that her thoughts are delicious to her. They do give her pleasure. But the thoughts are also like a poison.
They overwhelm her and make her weak. Cleopatra is also aware that her overwhelming passion for Antony is also harmful to her. Such a burning passion is a poison. Like Antony, the passion she feels makes her forgetful or neglectful of her duties as queen.
Thinking about the past brings forth thoughts about earlier times as well. Cleopatra remembers how, before Antony, she had a relationship with Julius Caesar (line 29). She was younger then, and she describes herself as “a morsel for a monarch” (31). In other words, she was a delightful treat that would please even a king. Cleopatra also recalls her relationship with Gnaeus Pompey (the oldest son of Pompey the Great). Then, too, she was younger; and Pompey could not take his eyes off of her (lines 3134). But Cleopatra realizes that she is older now, that she is “wrinkled deep in time” (29). She perhaps fears that her beauty and charms are no longer as attractive and desirable as they once were to the other great Romans.
Cleopatra’s imagination is interrupted with the arrival of Alexas (line 34). Alexas has just arrived from Rome with a gift and a message from Antony. The gift or present is a pearl from India (line 40). Pearls from India were more beautiful and more valuable than the pearls from Europe. But even more valuable than an Indian pearl is Antony’s promise or pledge to the queen. Antony promises to win many lands or kingdoms in Asia for her, and the people of those lands will all bow down and worship Cleopatra as their own queen (lines 44-46).
But Cleopatra, at that moment, cares about neither pearls nor Asian kingdoms. She cares only about Antony himself, and she asks Alexas if he was “sad or merry” (49). Alexas responds that he did not appear to be either. Rather, Antony was serious and unemotional. Cleopatra interprets this in a positive way. She explains – or perhaps rationalizes – that Antony remained cool and unemotional for the
benefit of his soldiers or others in Rome (lines 54-55). But Cleopatra firmly believes that Antony is thinking as much about her as she is thinking about him. She believes that “his remembrance lay in Egypt with his joy” (56-57). Cleopatra herself is Antony’s joy (joy is a metaphor here). Cleopatra is so obsessed with Antony, and she firmly believes that Antony is just as obsessed with her. There is some truth to that belief, but it is not entirely true. When Antony is away from Egypt and away from Cleopatra’s influence, he becomes more rational. He becomes more like the Antony that appears in Julius Caesar. He is then able to make wise and thoughtful decisions regarding politics and affairs of state. Cleopatra differs from Antony in this regard. She remains fully emotional whether he is present or not.
At the end of the scene, Cleopatra asks her attendant Charmian the following: “Did I, Charmian, ever love Caesar so?” (65-66). Charmian, perhaps to tease or joke with the queen, responds with, “O, that brave Caesar!” (66). Cleopatra is thinking that she never loved Julius Caesar anywhere near as much as she does Antony. So, she becomes angry with Charmian’s response and tells her to praise “brave Antony” instead (68). But Charmian praises Caesar again, making Cleopatra quite upset and even promising to punch out Charmian’s teeth (69). Charmian, however, defends herself by saying, “I sing but after you” (72). Charmian is suggesting that she is merely saying something that Cleopatra had said many times herself in the past. And she may also be suggesting that Cleopatra’s love for Antony may disappear just as Cleopatra’s love for Caesar has now disappeared.
Cleopatra, though, explains the big difference between her love for Caesar and her love for Antony: Cleopatra loved Caesar during her “salad days” when she “was green in judgement, cold in blood” (72-73). A salad is served cold with leafy green lettuce. Cleopatra is using this expression as a metaphor for the time when she was a young woman. The word green, even today, often means immature and inexperienced (like a young green plant in the spring, spring being the seasonal metaphor for the time of youth). But what makes Cleopatra’s statement unusual is that she suggests that, in her youth, she was “cold in blood.” More often, writers and poets say the opposite. Youth is a time when the blood is hot. In other words, youth is a time when the passions and emotions are extremely strong and active. But for Cleopatra, such was not the case. Her emotions were never so strong and vivid as they are now with Antony. Now she is, indeed, quite hot in blood. Now she is all emotion. Her love for Antony completely and utterly possesses her. This was not at all the feeling she had when she was with Caesar. Shakespeare is thus commenting in this scene that really strong passions and feelings are not exclusive to youth. Anyone, at any age, can experience and be overwhelmed by the powerful emotion called love.