At the beginning of Scene 2, Proculeius (Octavius Caesar’s man) delivers Caesar’s false message to Cleopatra. Proucleius tells Cleopatra that Octavius will treat her well and honorably. Although Cleopatra thanks Proculeius for the message, she does not really believe him. She grabs a dagger (or knife) and tries to kill herself (line 38). Proculeius stops her, but she tells him that she will starve herself rather than become a prisoner of Rome. She tells him, “I will not wait pinioned at your master’s court” (5152). The verb pinion literally means to tie or clip a bird’s wings so that the bird cannot fly away. Cleopatra uses the word metaphorically to indicate that she will not be a trapped prisoner to suffer disgrace in Rome. She would rather die dishonorably in Egypt.
Dolabella, another man who serves Octavius, enters the stage and tells Proculeius to return to Caesar. After Proculeius leaves, the sad and despondent (downhearted) Cleopatra tells Dolabella that her life with Antony was just like a dream (beginning at line 75). She describes him metaphorically and depicts (or describes) him to be supernatural or godlike:
His legs bestrid the ocean; his reared arm
Crested the world. His voice was propertied
As all the tunèd spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
There was no winter in’t; an autumn ‘twas,
That grew the more by reaping. His delights
Were dolphin-like; they showed his back above
The element they lived in. In his livery
Walked crowns and crownets. Realms and islands were
As plates dropped from his pocket. (lines 81-91)
Cleopatra describes five principal features or qualities that Antony possessed: (1) Legs: The word legs metaphorically suggests his entire body. She describes Antony as a giant or like the Colossus of Rhodes (a statue of a figure so huge that ships could sail under its legs). Cleopatra is describing Antony like a giant to suggest that he was greater than all other men. All other men are like insects or small animals in comparison. (2) Voice: Antony’s voice was like the music of the spheres (or the music of heaven) when he speaks to his friends, but his voice is like that of Jupiter or Zeus, the god of thunder, when he speaks to his enemies. Both similes thus describe Antony in godlike terms. (3) Bounty: The word bounty indicates generosity. Antony is as giving or generous as the land at harvest time (in the autumn or fall season). But Antony is even superior to the land (or the nature goddess) because, in the winter time, the land gets too cold and stops providing fruit and vegetables and grains. Yet Antony is generous all year long. (4) Delights: The word delights suggests the ability to play and have fun. Antony is compared to the marvelous dolphins playing in the ocean. Antony was someone who
delighted in life. Cleopatra also had fun with him. (5) Livery: The word livery indicates service. It indicates the people who serve Antony. Cleopatra is stating that even kings and princes (“crowns and crownets”) serve Antony. Antony is a king among kings. He is greater than all other kings, who gladly serve him. Thus with the use of hyperbole (exaggeration) and metaphors to gods and godlike qualities, Cleopatra indicates the greatness and superiority of Marcus Antony to all other men.
Cleopatra asks Dolabella if a real man could be like this dream of Antony. Dolabella responds, “No” (93). But Cleopatra says that her dream of Antony is “past the size of dreaming” (96). In other words, her dream of Antony surpasses or exceeds any dream. It is too great to be a dream. So, it must be real. Cleopatra then adds the following:
Nature wants stuff
To vie strange forms with fancy; yet t’imagine
An Antony were nature’s piece ‘gainst fancy,
Condemning shadows quite. (96-99)
The word fancy here means imagination (and the verb wants means lacks). Cleopatra is describing a contest between Nature and Imagination. Usually, Nature lacks the right material to create something that is stranger or more wonderful than the creations of Imagination (or art). Generally, Cleopatra (and Shakespeare) is saying that most of the time Imagination is superior to Nature in creating such wonderful and inspiring objects or men. A man created by the imagination can be godlike, but a man created by nature is not at all godlike. Yet, Cleopatra describes Antony as the exception to this rule. She is asserting that the real Antony is superior to any man ever imagined or created in fiction or art. Nature thus proves, through the creation of Antony, that she is superior to Imagination. The word shadows in the last line refers to works of the imagination. The real Antony, in comparison to imaginary or fictional men, reveals Imagination’s weakness or lack of ability.
Imagination cannot create anything as wonderful as an Antony.
This description serves as a companion passage to the scene in the second act where Enobarbus describes Cleopatra (Act II, 2: 203-07) as surpassing both nature and art.
The description of Nature as a creation goddess who creates a superlative (or outstanding), magnificent, and remarkable man as a testament (demonstration) or proof to her superior ability may also remind the reader of Shakespeare’s earlier work, notably Sonnet 20 of the Young Man Sonnets. In that poem Shakespeare describes Nature as creating the most beautiful man in the world – so beautiful, in fact, that even Nature herself fell in love with him. But whereas the Young Man was remarkable only for his beauty, Antony is remarkable in every way possible.
The honest and honorable Dolabella (even though he serves Octavius Caesar) informs Cleopatra that Octavius intends to take her as a prisoner and parade her through the streets of Rome as his trophy. In fact, Dolabella tells her this twice: both before and after she speaks with Octavius herself (line 108 and lines 196-98). The repetition is necessary because Octavius, during his conversation with Cleopatra, again lies to her and tells her that he will treat her honorably and with respect. The reader should remember that Octavius does not wish for Cleopatra to kill herself because then he will not have his prize or trophy to show to the people of Rome.
Cleopatra is also capable of telling lies. She gives a paper to Octavius that lists all of her treasures that she would like to keep for herself (line 132). She tells Octavius that she has kept private only those treasures that appear on the list and nothing else. However, when her treasurer Seleucus appears, he admits to Octavius that Cleopatra actually has hidden more than twice the amount of treasures that appear on the list (line 144). Cleopatra feels shame because she is caught in this lie, but she also feels angry that her treasurer would betray her. The reader should, of course, remember that Enobarbus betrayed Antony and later felt so guilty and full of shame over that act of treachery that he killed himself (in Act IV, 10). Cleopatra comments that Selecus is basically without honor: he would just as easily turn against Octavius and serve Cleopatra should their positions be reversed (that is, if Cleopatra were the victor and Octavius the loser – lines 147-48). Seleucus is not only ungrateful, he is also self-serving. Octavius will know, then, not to trust him.
The reader should also recall that a theme concerning honor fills this play. Antony loses his sense of honor and dignity along with his rational way of thinking because of his emotional ties to Cleopatra. Cleopatra is also essentially an honorable queen in this play. But her emotions and worries and concerns often cause her to act in a wild and erratic and irrational fashion. Cleopatra thus becomes a counterpart or complement to Antony. Her lie to Octavius is caused both by necessity and her emotional state. There are, in a sense, actually two causes for the tragic falls of both Antony and Cleopatra – internal and external. Internally, the fall is caused by love and other emotions. Both Antony and Cleopatra lose their ability to think rationally because of their wild emotional states. Externally, the fall is caused by Octavius. Octavius, driven by his quest for power and control of the Roman Empire, sees both Antony and Cleopatra as threats to his goals. Octavius thus becomes an antagonist to both Antony and Cleopatra.
A little theater joke (or meta-theater joke) occurs after Dolabella leaves the stage. Cleopatra tells her servant Iras that Octavius intends to parade her through the streets of Rome, where the citizens will laugh at her and make jokes about her. She then imagines that she will become a primary character in the comedies written in the future. Cleopatra tells Iras, “I shall see some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness i’th’ posture of a whore” (215-17). Shakespeare makes Cleopatra the subject of a great tragedy, not a comedy. And Cleopatra is certainly not portrayed as a whore (even though there are some lines where she is referred to as a strumpet or whore). But there are some comic scenes in this play. And, of course, a squeaking (that is, high-voiced) boy did portray the part of Cleopatra during Shakespeare’s lifetime. So, Cleopatra’s prediction is not entirely inaccurate. Of course, Cleopatra will not allow herself to be the prisoner and prize of Octavius Caesar. She will commit suicide, and thus she becomes a tragic heroine rather than a clown in the dramatic performances of the future.
The humor of the tragic ending occurs when a clown brings a basket of figs to Cleopatra (line 237). The word clown here refers to a rustic, a man from the countryside. But the clown also speaks humorously. Inside the basket are asps (or aspics), small poisonous snakes like vipers or cobras. Their bites are deadly. Cleopatra intends to use these snakes not only because their bites are so deadly, but also because they produce an extremely quick and painless death. The clown refers to the asp as a worm, and the word worm also becomes a pun for the male penis. Cleopatra asks the clown if he has known anyone who has ever died from an asp. In the clown’s bawdy (or lewd) way of thinking, the word died also is a pun (or double entendre). It means having an orgasm. So, the clown talks about a woman who has died from the worm and then was able to talk or report about it later (lines 244-48). What he is really talking about is a woman who had sexual intercourse and talked about it later. The dialogue with the clown is used for comic relief. The audience has just witnessed the tragic death of Antony and will soon witness the tragic death of Cleopatra. The audience needs to take a breath before watching the second tragic event.
Toward the end of this final scene in the play, Cleopatra kills herself with the aid of the asps. In her final speech, Cleopatra hopes and imagines that she will meet Antony in the afterlife: “Methinks I hear Antony call. I see him rouse himself to praise my noble act” (274-76). Although Christians viewed suicide as a grave sin, Shakespeare does portray Cleopatra’s suicide as a noble and honorable act. Going to Rome as a prisoner in chains would have been a great disgrace and shame. That would have been an act of dishonor. Cleopatra also comments, in these final words, on how she is able to cheat Octavius out of his prize or trophy. She imagines that she hears Antony “mock the luck of Caesar” (276-77). And, later, she imagines that if the asp could speak, he might “call great Caesar ass unpolicied” (298-99). The word unpolicied here means outsmarted or tricked. Cleopatra has outsmarted Octavius and cheated him out of his prize.
Cleopatra thus dies nobly.
The final speech of the play is given by Octavius who speaks beside the dead body of the Queen of Egypt. Octavius Caesar accepts her death – and the loss of his trophy – nobly. And he comments that the story of Antony and Cleopatra is “no less in pity than his glory which brought them to be lamented” (352-53). The pronoun (his) refers to Octavius himself. Octavius is now the sole leader and ruler of the entire Roman Empire. He has achieved great glory in defeating Antony. Yet he also realizes and understands the significance and greatness of Antony and Cleopatra and their tragic tale. Octavius, then, speaks for Shakespeare at the end of this play. Shakespeare himself pitied the tale of Antony and Cleopatra and was thus able to create this great tragedy out of his own great feeling and emotion for them.
At the end of the play, Octavius Caesar plans a magnificent ceremony or funeral for Antony and Cleopatra. And Shakespeare’s play may serve as the epitaph.