Summary
Act 3, Scene 1. Cleopatra, Charmion, Iras, and Alexas enter from one door. Antony and the Romans enter from another. Trumpets sound on Antony's side, which are answered by timbrels on Cleopatra's. Charmion and Iras are holding a laurel wreath, and there an Egyptian dance and ceremony are performed. At the end, Cleopatra puts a crown on Antony's head.
Antony has just returned from battles in which he has fought well against Octavius. Antony speaks lovingly of Cleopatra, saying, "Enjoyed, thou still art new; perpetual spring/Is in thy arms; the ripened fruit but falls,/And blossoms rise to fill its empty place;/And I grow rich by giving."
Ventidius enters and stands apart, looking disapproving, which Alexas says has to do with his envy of Antony's success. Antony tries to avoid the general, but Ventidius pulls him by the robe. Antony manages to break free, and Ventidius gives a brief soliloquy about Antony's character.
Antony enters and tells Ventidius that his army has managed to defeat Octavius without the help of the legions in Syria. Ventidius worries that Octavius is keeping control of his main troops and asks if Antony might make an arrangement with some fellow Romans like Maecenas or Agrippa. Antony tells Ventidius that he knows "the bravest youth of Rome,/Whom Caesar loves beyond the love of women," a young man named Dolabella.
Ventidius tells Antony that Dolabella is now in Caesar's camp. Antony discusses the fact that he suspected Dolabella of loving Cleopatra and so forbade him from ever seeing her. Ventidius contends that Dolabella loves Antony and announces the arrival of a messenger that Dolabella sent with letters.
Ventidius brings Dolabella into the room, and Antony embraces him, overjoyed to see him. When Antony confronts Dolabella about his feelings towards Cleopatra, Dolabella contends that his affections were a symptom of his youthfulness, and jokes that Antony has no excuse. He then talks about the fact that Antony lost legions and the love of his family all for the sake of Cleopatra. He tells him that he has brought conditions from Caesar.
When Ventidius next leaves the room, he brings back Octavia, Antony's wife, and Antony's two young daughters. Octavia asks who she is to Antony and he responds, "Caesar's sister." She asks him to return to her, but he refuses. Still, she wants to reconcile, and tells him, "I have a soul like yours; I cannot take/Your love as alms, nor beg what I deserve./I'll tell my brother we are reconciled;/He shall draw back his troops, and you shall march/To rule the East: I may be dropt at Athens;/No matter where. I never will complain,/But only keep the barren name of wife,/And rid you of the trouble."
Antony asks Dolabella for advice, and Ventidius tells Antony that Cleopatra has offered him nothing but ruin, while Octavia has been ruined by him, but is offering mercy. When Octavia sends their children to hug Antony, he agrees to go with them.
Suddenly, Alexas enters and worries that he will die as a result of his queen's failure to hold onto Antony. When Cleopatra enters soon after, she mourns the fact that Antony has returned to Octavia. When Octavia comes into the room with Ventidius, Cleopatra remains there to confront her. Octavia insults Cleopatra for being immodest and practiced at sex, while Cleopatra belittles Octavia for not being able to keep her husband. When Octavia leaves, Cleopatra is hopeless and depressed about her fate.
Act 4. Antony and Dolabella discuss the fact that Antony has enlisted Dolabella to tell Cleopatra he is leaving. "I dare not trust my tongue to tell her so:/One look of hers would thaw me into tears,/And I should melt, till I were lost again," says Antony. Dolabella wants Ventidius to do it because of his rough nature, but Antony thinks Ventidius is too harsh. Dolabella then tells Antony that he worries that he is too soft for the job and will start crying. Antony insists that this makes him perfect for the job, and tells Dolabella to inform Cleopatra that he will try and preserve her throne by convincing Caesar to be merciful. He goes to leave, then comes back to tell Antony to deliver the message that his heart will break if he hears Cleopatra has taken another lover.
When Antony has gone, Ventidius comes in, then Cleopatra and Alexas. Alexas advises Cleopatra to seduce Dolabella as a way of making Antony jealous, a plot to which she hesitantly and remorsefully agrees.
Analysis
At the start of Act 3, we see that Antony, in his love for Cleopatra, is made stronger as a warrior. He returns to Cleopatra's court having had some minor victories in his battles against Octavius. This seems to disprove Ventidius and others' assessment that Antony's love for Cleopatra has weakened him in some way; indeed, it seems that the passion he feels towards the Egyptian ruler only motivates him to fight more fiercely and effectively.
Ventidius is the character who perhaps sees Antony the most clearly, as his old friend, and once again invokes the particularities of Antony's character in this act. In a brief soliloquy he says, "His virtues lie so mingled with his crimes, As would confound their choice to punish one, And not reward the other." In this, he once again raises the idea that the very qualities that make Antony such a good and virtuous man—his tendency to feel things so strongly and go for them with passion—are also what unravel his character and lead him to make such grave mistakes as a ruler.
Antony's fortune is changed in this act when Ventidius brings not only his dearest friend Dolabella, but his wife and children to the court of Cleopatra in order to try and convince Antony to give up his affair. Antony is very pleased to see Dolabella, but Dolabella soon makes it known that he is disappointed in Antony, as is the rest of Rome, for abandoning his family and sacrificing armies for the sake of his love. Soon after, Antony's wife and two daughters enter; Octavia requests that he returns home, but he refuses.
A major element of the conflict in the play is the fact that the other characters give Antony many different chances to right his wrongs and return to Rome. His army waits for him to join them and leave Cleopatra behind in the previous act. Then, in this act, both Dolabella, Antony's best friend, and his wife, Octavia, come to implore him to return to Rome. They ask him with open hearts and no sense of malice. While it seems as though, given his actions, Antony ought not to be given more chances to do right, characters keep appearing to do just that.
Even though Antony is given many opportunities to leave his mistress, Cleopatra and Alexas, the eunuch, devise just as many plots to keep him ensnared. When Antony is just about to leave again to go back to Rome and sends Dolabella to deliver the news, Alexas advises Cleopatra to seduce Dolabella as a way of getting Antony jealous. Just at the very moment when it seems that Antony is free, Cleopatra comes up with a new way to entice him to stay, no matter how deceitful. The queen and her eunuch attendant are framed as particularly scheming and nefarious figures in the dramatic arc of the play.
