Antony and Cleopatra Research Paper Example

Antony and Cleopatra Research Paper Example Antony and Cleopatra Paper Antony and Cleopatra Paper even through all the images of dissolution and destruction, Enobarbus is prepared to remain faithful, Ill yet follow the wounded chance of Antony. . He scornes the idea that Caesar, with great armies under his control high-battled Caesar, would forego his good fortune unstate his happiness by fighting with a practiced swordsman be staged to th show/ Against a sworder. Enobarbus wonders what can be in remaining loyal to a fool Mine honesty and I begin to square However he then comments that To follow with a falln Lord/ Does conquer him that did his master conquer/ And earns a place Ith story. This poignant comment about earning a place in the story and gaining a moral victory over Caesar is the only reason he can think of to stay with Antony. Enobarbus soon offers the image of rats leaving a sinking ship, however the ambiguity of the image is that he could be referring to either himself or Cleopatra. Thou art so leaky, that we must leave thee to thy sinking, for thy dearest quit thee. The irony of Enobarbus decision to eventually leave, is not lost on us, he can see the truth in everything but himself. Which is why Enobarbus earns his place in the story. After his desertion, Enobarbus comments are full of great pathos and create the aurora of finality. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy, for Shakespeares audiences, Melancholy was not merely sadness, it was a deep and black despair that could blow the heart. It is that Enobarbus is praying for, after his realisation that he abandoned everything that he stood for. During Act 4 scene 6 he is confronted by the reason which he stood by Antony in the first place, it is this realisation of a tragic mistake that he must die and he proclaims I will go seek/ Some ditch in wherein to die. The following soliloquy contains yet more imagery of breaking and dissolution This blows my heart. , where Enobarbus reveals his true thoughts. However it is the Elizabethan belief that to be full of thoughts was to be full of despair , grief and distress that concerns Enobarbus he feels that anymore thought will kill him he also says that he is un-loyal betrayer with a crown of gold, better my service when my turpitude Thou dost so crown with gold! , which is the opposite view to what we see him as. His talks of finishing all foul thoughts, it is this dark imagery of breaking and shattering that creates the enigmatic end to his life, blessing the moon (which in Elizabethan times was thought to causes depression, illness, and even madness) and then crying out to Antony as he dies. His final act is to ask Antony for forgiveness for deserting him, Forgive me in thine own particular, But let the world rank me in register A master-leaver and a fugitive. O Antony! O Antony! His almost hyperbolic reaction shows his final acknowledgement of his own truth that the Roman qualities about him were weaker than the Egyptian characteristics. Enobarbus tragedy is the tragedy of a cynical mind coupled with a soft heart. His cynical and objective views (the commentator and truth teller. ) often are undermined by his poetic, and kind side (Antonys confindantn and his speech in Act 2 scene 2). His realisation of himself a the end definitely does earn himself a place Ith story.