Antony and Cleopatra

I must say I am in love with Antony and Cleopatra! I loved loved this play! I cannot get enough of it. I have not read it upon reading it for this class. I read it and could not put my door stop book down! Can you feel the love and excitement that I have for this play yet? Shall I use more exclamation marks?

This will be for a long time, and perhaps forever my fav Shakespeare play. Having Dr. Minton come in and speak with us was a nice change of pace from the normal everyday go of things. she is quite inspirational. To me this is NOT the greatest love story in the history of literature. it is the exact opposite. I do not like how Antony is always following Cleopatra around, I do not like how she makes all of the decisions. It is safe to say that she wears the pants in the relationship. She will not let Antony make one decision. I wonder why is that? Then it got me thinking that Cleopatra has to be in charge of everything, that is she afraid that if Antony sees someone new and different and then he will leave her. But Cleopatra being the bold and strong personality that she is, shouldn’t it be easy for her to just move on and find someone else?

In this play Cleopatra is so selfish. She wants everything to be her way or no way. she wants people to work around her, she wants the perfect man. And if she doesn’t find him, she will find one and mold him into her perfect man. Which she does with Antony. Antony does not have a single say in this play at all. He does what Cleopatra tells him. and you know what, he seems just fine with being the one who is bossed around. Not once that I came across does he stand up for himself. He never says one thing to make Cleopatra think otherwise. He wants to make her happy yes, but does he know any different?

Like Matt had said in class this is your typical high school love story, yes, but these players are old! They are older people living in a teen age life. I think that Cleopatra is so in love with the idea of being in love, that she cannot be alone. Thus is the controlling of Antony. She will ensure that he will never leave her, if she gives him everything he wants. Sex and food. But how can they get it on if they are never alone on stage? I guess people back then were more open to the idea of sex.

High school girls should be taking tips from her. Because she put on her big girl pants and she courted HIM! she went after Antony to make him hers. She drew him in. not the other way around. Talk about an aggressive woman. And look what happens, he stays. He wouldn’t have it any other way. he thinks like is grand with her, which is probably is, but is Antony really in it for love like she “is” In act three scene 11 we see that they both are really in love with each other, but they know no other love with anyone else.

Being in love is a powerful thing. Different people portray love in different ways. For Cleopatra its keeping her boo on a thigh leash so that other girls don’t snag him up. I feel like she is consistently looking for something good. She is playing Antony. She is always on the lookout for someone new, but Antony doesn’t notice this because he is to at the hands and feet of Cleopatra. When Antony and Caesar go to battle I feel like it is a metaphor in a battle for Cleopatra’s heart. Well Caesar looses this battle, but can really see the true colors of Cleopatra and doesn’t want her, so he just gives her back to Antony. Then Antony gets to look like the hero of the story, when I feel like Caesar didn’t put up a very good fight. So it’s just handed over. But in the end it is what it is.

Then can we please talk about wanting to be remembered! We all want to be remembered and not forgotten. And let me tell you I’m going to remember Cleopatra for the rest of my life. her high school drama is enough to make you remember her. Her keeping Antony on such a tight leash is enough to remember her. Her being so freaking dramatic through the whole play is enough to remember her by. Cleopatra you’ve done your part on being remembered. But now lets go out with a bang! Got to leave the audience wanting more at the end of the play. When in all reality it’s the end of the play. Nothing more to do. Again that right there is enough for me to remember her by. She is done with the play and yet she still wants more! Of course she wants more. The audience is sitting there and she needs them to keep going with her story. But good ole Bill, in order to end the play, he will just kill off all the players. Done, and done. Plays done and everyone is dead.

As much as I have ratted on this play, I loved it. because it was so dramatic! I love drama, and gossip. And there is plenty of that. And I for some reason admire Cleopatra. I want to know more about her, and her ways. I would give anything to spend one more day on this play, but as always, time will not allow.