Summary
Act 2, Scene 1. Cleopatra, Iras, and Alexas are in her chamber, where Cleopatra is mourning the fact that Antony plans to go with Ventidius and leave her. "He goes to fight for you," Alexas says, to comfort her, but she does not buy it. She describes how her love for Antony has rendered her somewhat insane, saying, "My love's a noble madness,/Which shows the cause deserved it. Moderate sorrow/Fits vulgar love, and for a vulgar man:/But I have loved with such transcendent passion,/I soared, at first, quite out of reason's view,/And now am lost above it."
Iras urges Cleopatra to forget Antony, but she refuses. Charmion, Cleopatra's maid, enters to report on what happened when she brought Cleopatra's message to Antony. She tells her that Antony said he would not be able to resist Cleopatra were he to see her, and so refuses to see her. He sends his "respect," a word which angers Cleopatra. She rails against the word respect, saying, "Respect is for a wife: Am I that thing,/That dull, insipid lump, without desires,/And without power to give them?"
Alexas tells Cleopatra that he thinks Antony wants to be rescued from Ventidius. He offers to convince Antony to come to Cleopatra, and they leave.
Antony, Ventidius, and some commanders enter. They discuss the fact that Antony recently challenged Octavius, and the fact that Octavius is not particularly brave. Antony tells Ventidius to give the word to the troops to march, and confirms that he plans to leave Egypt, when Alexas enters with a message from Cleopatra. "Smooth sycophant!" says a frustrated Ventidius, in an aside.
Alexas pulls out some jewels that Cleopatra wants the commanders to wear. Ventidius refuses, saying, "Not all the diamonds of the east can bribe/Ventidius from his faith. I hope to see/These and the rest of all her sparkling store,/Where they shall more deservingly be placed."
Alexas then presents Antony with a bracelet that Cleopatra has sent him. When Antony has a hard time tying it, Alexas says that only Cleopatra is fit to tie it. In spite of Ventidius' protestations, Alexas convinces Antony to see Cleopatra one last time, so that she can put the bracelet on his wrist. Ventidius is suspicious of this visit and tells Antony not to, but Antony ignores him.
Cleopatra enters and Antony is authoritative and strong with her at first, which makes Ventidius happy. Antony remembers when he first encountered Cleopatra, and the fact that Caesar was first to sleep with her. He says that he loved Cleopatra, which angered his first wife, Fulvia, who started a war to call him back to Italy. When Fulvia died, Antony says, he married Octavia, Caesar's sister, but was soon seduced back into her arms. "All this you caused./And, would you multiply more ruins on me?" he says.
Cleopatra makes an impassioned speech about her sadness, how ruined she is by his coldness towards her. She tells him that even if Caesar had her first sexually, she has only ever loved Antony. She tries to convince him to stay, even though he is sure he will perish if he does. She tells him that she is refusing an offer from Octavius to join forces and take control of both Egypt and Syria. "Oh, let me die but with you!" she exclaims, and makes a show of how she will perish if he leaves her. This wins Antony over, and he decides to stay with Cleopatra. Ventidius is furious and leaves saying, "O women! women! women! all the gods/Have not such power of doing good to man,/As you of doing harm."
Analysis
No sooner has Antony vowed to leave Egypt behind than the scene shifts to Cleopatra, who is completely heartbroken to learn about Antony's intention to leave. The primary conflict of the play emerges as the push and pull between Antony and Cleopatra, and between Antony's sense of duty to the woman he loves and his sense of duty to his country. The introduction of Cleopatra shows the ways in which the two lovers are well-matched; Cleopatra is just as prone to dramatics and self-doubt as Antony, and their affair is defined by both its passion as well as its melodrama.
Cleopatra is self-aware about her dramatic love for Antony, and knows that their love transcends political considerations. When one of her attendants urges her to exercise some presence of mind, she insists, "My love's a noble madness." She knows that she is being illogical by loving so fiercely, but she also knows that she is powerless to stop her feelings, and now is unable to reacquaint herself with reason. She cares only for the feelings in her heart, and is confident that Antony returns them.
A major influence in the conflict of the play—the push and pull between Cleopatra and Antony—is Alexas, Cleopatra's eunuch. In moments when Cleopatra is discouraged, he offers to go and find Antony for her and convince him to come to her. He offers to "work him first/That he may bend more easy," suggesting that he will be the one to soften Antony and weaken him. Dryden frames Alexas as an important meddler, someone who is able to strategize, identify weakness, and exploit it.
Cleopatra's earnest love for Antony, and his for her, quickly overpowers Antony's intentions to leave Egypt. As soon as Cleopatra proclaims her desire for him, and tells him that she has denied Octavius' offer to join forces, Antony is rendered powerless and decides to stay. Antony and Cleopatra have such a heated affair that they behave impulsively and emotionally, rather than thinking strategically or logically, much to the despair of Ventidius.
The play examines the ways that love and passion, while pure and simple from the perspective of the two lovers, is often much more complex and impure than meets the eye. In Cleopatra and Antony's eyes, their affair is unavoidable and pure-hearted, a connection so perfect that it cannot be denied. Yet, on the world stage, the affair is destructive and irresponsible, and threatens to completely unravel any power Antony has amassed as a general. The play examines the disorganizing and destructive implications of unchecked passion.
