While Antony is in Rome getting ready to combat (to battle against) the army of Pompey, Cleopatra is listless and bored in Egypt. She cannot stop thinking about Antony. She cannot take pleasure in anything as long as Antony is away. Cleopatra asks her servants to play billiards (this, incidentally, is an anachronism: the game of billiards originated in France circa 1470), but quickly changes her mind (lines 3-9). She then thinks about going fishing, but she decides against that as well. Instead, she just imagines that she is going fishing and imagines each fish she catches as being Antony (lines 10-14). Cleopatra wishes to have Antony in her hands again. And she wants him “caught” as surely as a fish fastened firmly on a hook (14). She does not want to let Antony escape from her a second time.
The talk about fishing causes Charmian,
Cleopatra’s attendant, to recall an incident in the past in which Cleopatra and Antony bet against each other to see who could catch the biggest fish. As a joke, a diver who serves Cleopatra places a large salt-water (ocean) fish on Antony’s hook even though they are fishing at a lake or river where there are only freshwater fish. Antony gets very excited about catching the fish, and Cleopatra then laughs at him (lines 1519). Cleopatra has fun with Antony. But there is no fun without him.
Cleopatra also recalls another funny occasion when she and Antony stayed up all night and became quite drunk. Cleopatra then puts her own clothes on Antony while she herself wears Antony’s sword (lines 19-23). Some psychoanalytic critics view this role-reversal incident as Cleopatra’s attempt to control the relationship, to hold sovereignty over Antony. Other, perhaps less kindly, critics suggest that Cleopatra emasculates Antony. That is, she makes him weak and effeminate (overly emotional like a woman). However, there is some truth to this idea. When Antony is near Cleopatra, he does become too emotional. He cannot think rationally. And since he cannot think rationally, he cannot command his troops well or effectively. Thus, he is weak and powerless when he is near Cleopatra. The readers should keep this idea in mind when they read the third act. Cleopatra insists on joining Antony when he becomes involved in a conflict against Octavius. The results are then disastrous for Antony.
The light and humorous aspect of the beginning of Scene 5 becomes downright (or completely) comic when a messenger appears. The humor of this scene is enhanced (or increased) because the audience will also contrast it to a similar messenger scene in the first act (I, 2: 84-88)). In that earlier scene, a messenger is reluctant and even afraid to bring bad news to Antony – the news concerning the death of his wife Fulvia. The messenger is afraid that Antony will become angry and blame the messenger. Antony, however, remains quite calm, almost stoical; and he tells the messenger that only a foolish or cowardly man would be afraid to deliver such a message.
But that is not the case with Cleopatra. In this scene she becomes angry with the messenger even before he delivers the message. The messenger has a look of fear on his face – “so tart a favour” (38). Cleopatra worries that perhaps Antony has experienced some accident, but she becomes relieved when the messenger tells her that Antony is well (line 46). Part of the humor in this scene comes from Cleopatra’s constant interruptions. She will not let the hesitant messenger complete his message. And the longer he must wait, the more worried and fearful he becomes. Finally, he delivers his message, although not very subtly or carefully. But he finally tells Cleopatra that Antony is married to Octavia (lines 58 and 60). Cleopatra, as expected, becomes livid (furious, enraged, angry). Antony, the only person who is important to her, now belongs to someone else.
The humor of the scene turns into downright slapstick (broad physical comedy, like that of a circus clown). Cleopatra starts hitting the messenger (at line 62) and then grabs him by the hair and drags him across the stage. Although not stated in the stage directions, the frightened messenger would be screaming all the while. And during all of that time, Cleopatra is threatening the messenger: “Thou shalt be whipped with wire and stewed in brine” (65). Brine is salt water, and salt poured or rubbed on a wound would be quite painful. Cleopatra then tells the messenger to take his message back, to state that the marriage did not occur (line 68-72). She even tells the messenger that she will reward him if he states that no marriage occurred. The foolish messenger, though, tells her the truth and repeats his message that Antony is indeed married (line 72). A great comic actor is needed for the role of the messenger. Facial gestures and body actions contribute greatly to the humor of the situation.
Cleopatra becomes so angry when the messenger repeats the news that she grabs a knife and chases after the poor messenger (line 73). Although the stage direction and dialogue only take up one line of text, the talented Renaissance actors could make this comic business last for several minutes. Cleopatra would chase the messenger several times around the stage, and the messenger would be looking for people to shield him or places to hide before finally running off stage (line 74). This is the type of scene that would also work extremely well in a Renaissance comedy.
The scene provides comic relief in the tragedy, but it is also important in establishing the emotional quality of Cleopatra. The audience once again realizes what Antony means to Cleopatra. They realize that Cleopatra’s love for Antony is emotionally intense, and such intensity makes her completely wild and irrational.