Antony and Cleopatra: Heroic Act, Post Heroic Age

Q advert Antony and Cleopatra as a luxurious act written in a post-heroic age. Antony and Cleopatra is a tragic twist written by William Shakespeare embodying the basic capriciousnesss of most of the Jacobean tragedies that occurred during the reign of King James the first of England. The ro objet dartce follows a historical imitation of the events that occurred during the reign of the Egyptian and Roman Empire under the index finger of Cleopatra of Alexandria and the Triumvirs i. e. Ceaser, Antony and Lepidus of Athens.Antony, star of the main Triumvirs of Rome, f onlys in love with the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, stirring up an affair seeped in semipolitical turmoil and fight. Antony, torn apart between his duties to his kingdom and his love for Cleopatra, finds himself in the midst of the tragic reminiscence of many of Shakespeares leading male characters give care Othello, Kind Lear, and Macbeth etc. A man, destined towards an stiff end due to one characteristic drawba ck, one fatal flaw. To understand the topic of courage and provide Heroism one must go back to the origin of the Tragic Play.The idea of tragedy comes from the peripatetic school of thought. Tragedy as an art form, from the earliest works of Western play writes like Homer and Sophocles derives itself from a materialist mind, choosing to harness the problems of the inevitable in heroic, alarming, aristocratic individuals. It is a matter of masculinity, noble warriors, constricting for a single minded, subjective socio political motive, devoid of the scepticism, sensibility and democratic ideologies that exist today.It is too associated with myth, sacrifice and rituals, adhering to the rules and predestined location of the individual on a higher, transcendental platform. Adherence to a religious, or god like following. Examples of puritan ideas of tragedy are Antigone, Agamemnon, Oedipus etc. Antony and Cleopatra was written in the late sixteenth century AD, during the reign of King James the first, making it a generalised Jacobean drama. Yet, the play is vastly different than any of its generation, be it from other play writes of the time, as well as Shakespeares induce tragedies.It is different from its contemporaries by taking characters from a historical, heroic phase of the world and giving it the characteristics of an peripatetic tragedy, not showing the situations in their respective time periods. Most of the other Jacobean dramas follow scarce the already existing notion of socio political norms in their timely reality. It surpasses the law of time and space continuum as scenes bounce back and forth between different places (Alexandria, Pompey, and Athens) and different time spheres not rendering to the wayfaring idea of drama.Also, it is only in Antony and Cleopatra, does Shakespeare have characters that encompass an ideology themselves, defining their identity. Cleopatra, as a character, embodies an substitute(a) idea, the idea of the other the alien, sexual, over feminised view of the Orient. Antony, the idea of the tragic hero, the fallen devotee. Octavius Ceaser, the idea of duty, power, discipline. The mere particular that, the political ideologies of the racial other is significant in the play, when strategies and affairs go beyond the Eurocentric notion of duty and order is in itself a marvel.The challenges met by the masculine, western order of the world goes beyond borders to the exotic orient, ruled by a powerful woman who dominates the entire play makes many critics treat Antony and Cleopatra as a transgressive play of the time. Yet, it cannot fit the pure idea of the classical tragedy either. It lacks the divine authority of Aristotelian tragedy, not condemning itself too much to predestination. It is devoid of rituals and noble sacrifices etc. The sacrifices made, for example, by Antony and Cleopatra was not for ascetical duties to anyone else, but fuelled by their passion for one another.Cleopatra, as a character, is pivotal to the play. She is either being communicate of, or to in the venture and holds the most power amongst any of the other characters. A woman, being the essence of conversation and drive, is not befitting to a classical tragedy. Hence, Antony and Cleopatra lies somewhere in between, making many critics measure the idea of the Jacobean drama itself as well as comparing and contrasting the play with its contemporaries to reach a higher understanding of why it was written as such.From this difference is raised the psyche of the difference in era and time with relation to the notion of honour, heroism and post heroism. Heroism is describe as a type of war the strategy of which is based on a single mans heroic socio-political motives. Hence, heroism in a literary sense, translates to a drama based upon the lacking(p)s of one or few men. The Iliad, by Homer is an excellent example of heroism in dramatic form. The war against troy, instigated by ain ambitions of a few men. Achilless want of glory (another heroic notion), Menelauss revenge against Paris, and Agamemnons quest for power.Heroism is found to be the rock base of almost all the tragedies of the ancient western world. Homeric and Aristotelian tragedies base their motives upon the hands of a single persons personal agenda. A war is caused, thousands is people are sent to their deaths over decades, to win a fight for one mans honour. Based on myth and sacrifice, adhering to knowledge of ancient civilisations. Antony and Cleopatra, based on the history of civilisations, geological dating back to around 69 BC, written by William Shakespeare born during the renaissance, Elizabethean age dating to 14th century AD, provides a complex mechanism of thinking.C. L. Barber quotes There was a decline in honour amongst aristocracy due to professionalism of warfare. Heroism no longer existed by the end of the 17th century. so comes the question of why a play such as Antony and Cleopatra, f ull of nobility, honour and the notion of Heroism was written during a post-heroic age. The content, befitting to an Aristotelian drama, is written in a subversive, moralistic fashion provided by the inevitable destruction of the essence to which it is formed.The character of Antony is described as an autonomous figure, with personal drive and passions. Octavius Ceaser on the other hand, performs his duties towards his empire without tangling himself in personal dilemmas. And the character of Cleopatra, of course, renders to the main problem. That is Cleopatra encompasses the political and personal problem, Antony the fallen lover entangled in the problem, and Ceaser, and the authorial figure who in the end, stamps his values as the winner and survivor of the situation.Ironically, it is the genuinely base of ancient heroism that becomes Antonys fatal flaw. By the second half of the drama, Antony is trapped within his own ego, whilst Ceaser dissuades his honour. In Act 3, scene 12, Ceaser even foretells Antonys self-destruction, in a conversation with Thidias upon the word of Antony returning to Egypt fleeing from his duties Observe how Antony becomes his flaw, And what thou thinkst his very action speaks, In every power that moves. Shakespeare, reveals the strategy of the play from Ceasers perspective the perspective of the post heroic age of duty and civilian authority against that of personal glory and ambition. This biasness shows the context with which the play was written from a Eurocentric, masculine objectivity. Right before Ceaser and Antony go to war with their respective armed forces, Antony challenges Ceaser to a one on one, swordfight to determine their fates. This heroic gesture is then verturned with Ceaser refusing to acquire the challenge. In Act 4, scene 1, Ceaser seems to laugh off his Antonys proposal. He calls me boy, and chides as he had power to beat me out of Egypt. My messenger He hath whipped with rods dares me to personal combat, Ceaser to Antony. I have many other shipway to die, meanwhile laugh at his challenge. Ironically, the Antony seems to be a heroic character driven by his honour, his virtus, yet it is this characteristic itself, that Shakespeare has twisted into a fatal flaw.The character of Antony is destroyed because Shakespeare makes his personal heroism, his only drawback. Odd, as personal glory and passion, two man dual ship, etc. , was revered in the heroic full point of Aristotelian drama, in which historically, the play is located. Perhaps, abiding by the rule of King James the first, Shakespeare needed to bond to social norms, by exoticising the east, and by condemning Antonys heroism to death abiding by the Jacobean age which was devoid of such fantasy.By taking the subject of Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare seemingly reverses the whole idea of the myth, and transforms it to please and passenger vehicle the masses of 14th century England. Antony and Cleopatra hence becomes one of th e most interesting pieces of Shakespeare as well as Jacobean drama, by transgressing itself completely from a heroic, materialistic, world to the dawn of the new age of political stability, commonwealth and sensibility.