Antony in William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra": A Man with Magnificient Rhetoric

Antony: That which is now a horse, even with a thought

The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct,

As water is in water.

Antony and Cleopatra, Act 4, Scene 14

William Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra": The Art of Persuasion

The Enigma of Antony: Rhetoric, Passion, and Ethical Scrutiny

William Shakespeare

Antony in William Shakespeare's play "Antony and Cleopatra" is depicted as a man with magnificent rhetoric. Throughout the play, Antony's eloquence and persuasive abilities are showcased, emphasizing his mastery of language and his ability to captivate and influence others through his words.

In the very extensive, various and fluid text, the imagery cosmic magnitude, Antony is a man with magnificent rhetoric. He is the observed of all observers. While Antony journeys to Rome, three separate groups – Caesar and Lepidus, Cleopatra and her servants, Pompey and his followers – about little else but Antony. He is judged from a variety view points. We entertain a complex image of Antony or perhaps a series of different complementary images of him, in a way that we scarcely do of Hamlet, Othello, Lear or Macbeth. In this respect the play has much more in common with Coriolanus and Timon of Athens, the question being not the tragic action but what sort of men Antony, Coriolanus and Timon are in these three Plutarchan tragedies, where the heroes are subjected to prolonged ethical scrutiny in which praise and blame are mixed.

 Antony has surrendered to passion, to a life dominated by will and impulse and is consequently at the mercy of fortune. When he insists on fighting the crucial battle on sea he is making yet another symbolic choice of throwing away his absolute soldership and committing himself to instability. He struggles for life in an amorphous  ways and becomes hollow, watery, void and unreal, a victim of the moment. To him life has become a succession of phantasmagorical moments in which mere phenomenal experience is all he has.

The Persuasive Mastery of Antony

Antony possesses a commanding presence and is known for his powerful speeches and poetic expressions. His rhetorical prowess allows him to sway crowds, win battles, and negotiate political alliances. Whether addressing his troops or engaging in political discourse, Antony's words carry weight and evoke strong emotions.

Shakespeare portrays Antony as a skilled orator who can use language to charm and manipulate. His speeches are filled with vivid imagery, metaphorical language, and passionate appeals. Antony's rhetoric not only serves to convey his thoughts and desires but also serves as a tool for political maneuvering and persuasion.

Moreover, Antony's rhetorical abilities are not confined to formal settings. He is equally adept at engaging in witty banter and engaging conversations, captivating those around him with his charm and clever wordplay. His ability to adapt his rhetoric to different contexts showcases his versatility as a communicator.

However, Antony's rhetorical prowess also becomes a double-edged sword. While his words can inspire loyalty and admiration, they can also lead to his downfall. Antony's eloquence sometimes blinds him to the practical realities of the political landscape, causing him to make impulsive decisions driven by his emotions rather than strategic reasoning.

The Duality of Love: Antony's Ruin and Exaltation

Many modern readers hold that Shakespeare’s play departs from the moralistic tradition in that Antony's’ love for Cleopatra is justified by its transcendence whereas the value of the world, embraced by Caesar and his success-pursuing followers, are mean, paltry, asinine. This argument about the value of the love relation ship has been debated. Elizabethans knew the pair to be depraved. But Shakespeare aroused some sympathy, and even admiration for this doomed pair the love relationship is presented as both a destructive and a creative force. The robustly masculine Antony has been feminized by Cleopatra. His ruinous infatuation as well as his devotion to her is his strength, transubstantiating his character. The conflict between love and duty dogs him till the end. The love exalts and also wrecks him and this love marks the development of his character. This paramountcy of love is at once his forte and hamartia resulting in his loss of reason and balance. He flights shamefully from the battle at Actium and the Egyptian army gives in to Caesar. This is the cost of his being too much emotional and his inability to fashion anything consummately and discerningly. Tet the sense of spiritual enlargement experienced by the pair, particularly by him, creates a new heaven. A final kiss of Cleopatra is, to Antony, worth more than an empire. This great man is certainly ruined by his sensual passion and possibly exalted by it too. This is the ultimate growth of Antony. Read More about Drama   

The Tragic Splendor of Antony: Frailties and Triumphs

Half the play shares between Antony and Cleopatra. Out of Plutarch’s rather negative, unpromising material, Shakespeare creates a sympathetic hero. Shakespeare employs poetry to glorify Antony’s stature. He is compared god like, to Mars and Hercules – “a rarer spirit never did steer humanity” (Agrippa). Antony’s frailties are equally great. Taints and honours are waged equal in him. His inner conflict vis-à-vis Cleopatra makes him dwindle to and fro. He talks about breaking with Cleopatra and he also knows her too well to be taken in. Pompey says, “Be a child o’th time” and Caesar says, “possess it”. Like a child Antony lives in and for the moment taking the easiest route. Antony’s frailties are intertwined with his merits and his weaknesses are part of his strengths. Read More about Drama   

 Antony’s faults, according to Lepidus, are “hereditary………… what are chooses” (1/4/13) “Here I am Antony” (4/4/13) “Fall not a tear… lost” (3/11/69). When denuded of regal splendour, Antony is the most splendid. He is all melt but Caesar is eclipsed.

  Antony dominates in life and death. He carries the moral predicament, torn by the choice between duty and beauty (pleasure) and as the protagonist he bears the tragic burden.

Both the hero and the heroine are tragic because both chose imagination and spirituality. But finally they go beyond this “world” (42 times, counted Spurgeon), and what is unique, go beyond tragedy.

Conclusion

In summary, Antony in Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra" is characterized as a man with magnificent rhetoric. His eloquence and persuasive abilities enable him to influence and inspire others. Antony's mastery of language, whether in formal speeches or casual conversations, adds depth and complexity to his character, illustrating the power of words in shaping both personal relationships and political outcomes.

 Ardhendu De

References

A Companion to Shakespeare Studies : H et al Granville-Barker : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/companiontoshake0000heta

The complete works of William Shakespeare, with a full and comprehensive life; a history of the early drama; an introduction to each play; the readings of former editions; glossarial and other notes, etc., etc., from the work of Collier, Knight, Dyce, Douce, Halliwell, Hunter, Richardson, Verplanck, and Hudson. Edited by George Long Duyckinck : Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/completeworksofw00shakuoft