Summary
Cleopatra approaches Dolabella and he flatters her. Cleopatra replies, "You flatter me./But, 'tis your nation's vice: All of your country/Are flatterers, and all false." As Dolabella begins to give her the news, she begins to seduce him. "Some men are constant," Dolabella says, alluding to the fact that he is steadfast in his affections and would make a truer lover than Antony. This frustrates Ventidius, who flees the room to plot how to stop the seduction.
Dolabella, overcome with feeling, tells Cleopatra that Antony had harsh words for her, and she begins to faint. He quickly clarifies that he lied, and that Antony had only kind words to send to her. This leads Cleopatra to reveal that she was inviting his love by being gentle and trying to make Antony jealous.
As Cleopatra begs for more time with Antony, Ventidius and Octavia enter. Dolabella takes Cleopatra's hand, then tells Ventidius that he must find Antony. When Dolabella and Cleopatra exit, Octavia and Ventidius discuss the fact that Antony still feels tenderness towards Cleopatra.
Octavia is angered by this realization and is prepared to try and break the connection. When Antony enters, he pulls Ventidius aside and asks about Dolabella's message. Ventidius intimates that Cleopatra was not especially saddened to hear of his departure. Octavia joins the conversation to confirm that Dolabella and Cleopatra seemed very intimate in the moment the message was transmitted. Antony does not believe them, insistent that she would never do such a thing. When Alexas enters, Ventidius asks him whether or not Cleopatra and Dolabella are having an affair, and he lies that she has indeed fallen for Dolabella.
Distressed to see that Antony has not gotten over his love for Cleopatra, Octavia vows to leave Antony once and for all, and never return. "You shall no more be haunted with this Fury," she says, leaving him for good. Antony bemoans the fact that he could not hide his feelings for Cleopatra.
Dolabella enters and informs Antony, "She loves you, even to madness," before presenting him with Cleopatra herself. Antony accuses them both of betraying him, and they beg him for forgiveness. Cleopatra tells him that she could not pretend to love Dolabella to make him jealous. Still, Antony does not believe them, and mourns the betrayal of both a friend and a mistress.
Analysis
Ventidius is perhaps the only character who remains objective throughout the play. He often must bear witness to the inconstancy and machinations of the other characters, and in asides, bemoans the fact that he can always see what is going on far sooner than other characters. This is true in this section when he watches Cleopatra begin to seduce the impressionable Dolabella, and feels powerless to stop it. While the other characters are swayed by their passions, particularly by their sexual passions, Ventidius remains firm, if rather hard-hearted.
In the midst of Dolabella and Cleopatra's meeting, they both prove unable to deceive one another. As soon as Cleopatra begins to seduce Dolabella, he feels so guilty about betraying his friend Antony that he admits that Antony still feels tender towards her, and she admits that she had hoped to lure him back by making him jealous. Neither is able to participate in such dishonesty, even though Ventidius suspects them both of deceit.
A moment of dramatic irony occurs when Ventidius and Octavia try and convince Antony that Cleopatra has seduced Dolabella. While we know that both Dolabella and Cleopatra found it impossible to betray Antony, Ventidius and Octavia insist that Antony ought not trust Cleopatra, but he does not believe that she has been "tainted." The dramatic irony in this moment comes from the fact that the audience knows that Cleopatra is remaining true to Antony, and that Ventidius and Octavia have misconstrued the events.
Antony's greatest flaw, in his eyes and in the eyes of those around him, is how earnest and unable to conceal his emotions he is. After Octavia leaves him once and for all, he bemoans his fate, saying, "Why was I framed with this plain, honest heart,/Which knows not to disguise its griefs and weakness,/But bears its workings outward to the world?/I should have kept the mighty anguish in,/And forced a smile at Cleopatra's falsehood:/Octavia had believed it, and had stayed." In his eyes, had he been able to conceal his emotions and pretend not to love Cleopatra, he might have kept Octavia as his wife, but he is unable to lie or conceal his real emotions.
The act ends with Antony in a state of emotional confusion, convinced that Dolabella and Cleopatra have both betrayed him. He no longer has the promise of honorably returning to Rome with his wife, and he is bereft in his belief that Dolabella and Cleopatra would disrespect him by having an affair. His mistrust and unhappiness are rock-solid, and no matter how much the queen and his old friend try to convince him otherwise, Antony refuses to believe them.
