As with many of his plays, Shakespeare introduces the central subject matter through a minor character. Such a minor character is more objective than the figures directly involved in the plot. In a way, then, such a character functions much the same way as an objective narrator in a novel. The audience should accept his words as fact, not just mere opinion. Philo and Demetrius are two friends and loyal followers of Antony. But they have not been pleased with the way that Antony has been behaving in recent months. Philo begins by telling Demetrius, “This dotage of our General’s o’erflows the measure” (1-2). The General he is referring to is Antony, and the word dotage suggests fondness for someone. But the word is used in a negative way. It suggests that Antony is behaving foolishly, like a schoolboy with a crush. The word suggests immaturity. By saying that it overflows the measure, Philo is suggesting that such feeling is going beyond all reasonable bounds or limits. He is telling Demetrius (and the audience) that Antony has lost his reason.
From that point on, then, the reader should expect a much different Antony than the one that appeared in Julius Caesar, when no such emotion had taken possession of him.
Antony has undergone a transformation.
Shakespeare, through the character of Philo, tells the audience this directly. Philo states that Demetrius (and the audience) shall see “the triple pillar of the world transformed into a strumpet’s fool” (12-13). Antony is one of the triple pillars (rulers) of the world. He, along with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, is one of the Triumvirate – one of the three leaders of the Roman Empire. Such a role demands the utmost of leadership abilities and cool reason. But Antony is no longer leading his men well or acting reasonably. Instead, he spends all of his time in pleasure with Cleopatra. The word fool indicates a clown or court jester; the word strumpet indicates a whore or prostitute. Antony, then, is not only acting like a fool or jester (a position that generally lacks any dignity or nobility), but he is a not even a jester for a king. In this metaphor, Antony is a jester for a whore. Thus, he is the lowest of all fools or jesters.
Philo is also criticizing Cleopatra in this line as well. He is calling her a strumpet or whore. She is the Queen of Egypt, but the Romans did not see the Egyptians as their equals. The Romans were prejudiced and viewed the inhabitants of Africa as lesser beings than themselves. Thus, her claim to royalty is meaningless to Philo and other Romans. In a conventional or traditional tragedy, the fall of the protagonist occurs in Act IV or Act V. Shakespeare, however, always liked to experiment with the dramatic form. He is doing so here. Antony has already fallen – he has lost his position of nobility or respect – before the main action of the play even begins. The remainder of the play, then, will reveal Antony’s struggle to rise from that fall – which he does manage to do for a short time. But then the fall becomes complete toward the end of the play.