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Antony and Cleopatra
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Act IIChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act II, Scene 1 Summary
Sextus Pompey, the son of the Roman statesman Pompey the Great, discusses with his ally, Menas, their plan to rebel against the triumvirs and seize control of Rome. Pompey is confident that Mark Antony will remain in Egypt and prays that the country is so pleasurable that he is not tempted to return. Without Antony, Pompey claims that Caesar is unpopular with the people, although good at raising money, while Lepidus is a flatterer and also easily flattered.
Pompey then receives word that Antony is expected to arrive in Rome soon, having left Egypt. While Pompey fears that Antony is a much better soldier than the other triumvirs, he hopes that Antony and Caesar will fight with each other because Antony’s late wife Fulvia recently rebelled against him alongside her brother Lucius.
Act II, Scene 2 Summary
Lepidus moderates a meeting between his fellow triumvirs, Octavius Caesar and Mark Antony. He encourages them to speak softly and not angrily to one another, as giving the people the impression that the triumvirs are in conflict with each other could destabilize their rule. Caesar accuses Antony of breaking his oaths and questions him about his involvement in his late wife’s rebellion. Antony claims that he never broke his oaths to Rome, only neglected them, and asserts that he did not support Fulvia and Lucius’s revolt. Caesar is not reassured, suspecting Antony of disloyalty.
One of Caesar’s attendants proposes that Antony could marry Caesar’s sister, Octavia, making them brothers and binding them together peaceably through a family union. Caesar questions whether Antony would agree due to his love for Cleopatra, but Antony accepts the match and promises to marry Octavia. They leave and Enobarbus shares with the other attendants tales of Egypt’s luxuries and Cleopatra’s beauty. He describes how Cleopatra can turn any of her faults into something admirable, while the other Romans hope that Octavia’s beauty, modesty, and wisdom will be enough to earn Antony’s love.
Act II, Scenes 3-4 Summary
Antony marries Octavia, but warns her that his duties as a triumvir will often separate him from her. She replies that she will spend their time apart praying to the gods for his success. The Egyptian soothsayer warns Antony to stay away from Caesar because, while Antony has a more noble spirit, Caesar is fated to have better luck. While Antony is a superior tactician and soldier, he notices that he always loses to Caesar in games of chance. Antony decides to return to Egypt, despite his recent marriage, because it brings him greater pleasure.
Meanwhile, Lepidus commands Agrippa and Maecenas to gather the Roman army and travel to the mountain where they will confront Pompey.
Act II, Scene 5 Summary
In Egypt, Cleopatra and her maids Charmian and Iras reminisce about her relationship with Antony, recalling a time when they swapped clothing. She describes her desire to see him again as like a fisherman reeling in a fish.
A messenger arrives, and Cleopatra commands him to bring her news of Antony, telling him that she will not be angry or upset with him as long as he tells her that Antony is alive, well, and friends again with Caesar. The messenger confirms that this is all true, but then adds that Antony is now married to Octavia. In a furious rage, Cleopatra strikes him, while he begs that he is innocent and is only bringing her news. While Cleopatra apologizes for her ignoble behavior, she is unable to control her emotions at the thought of Antony being married to another woman. She dismisses the messenger and commands her servants to find out what Octavia looks like.
Act II, Scenes 6-7 Summary
The triumvirs, Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus, meet with Pompey to make a treaty. They have offered him control over Sicily and Sardinia as long as he rids the sea of pirates and sends them a tribute of wheat. Pompey admits that he had planned to take the treaty since his sea forces are strong, but he is unable to match the triumvirs on land. However, he tells Caesar that he is bound by honor to avenge his father, whom Julius Caesar killed. Antony helps to make the treaty by thanking Pompey’s mother for her hospitality, and all of the men go back to Pompey’s ships to feast and celebrate the peace. Enobarbus remains behind with Pompey’s soldier Menas, telling him that he suspects Antony will eventually return to Egypt due to the manipulative power of women.
At the banquet, all of the men get drunk and Antony tells tales about exotic Egyptian wonders, such as a crocodile. Menas pulls Pompey aside and offers to kill the triumvirs while they are drunk and vulnerable. Pompey angrily refuses, telling Menas that he would have wanted the power, but now that he knows about the plan, he is morally obligated to condemn it. Caesar proposes that they all retire to bed since they are too drunk.
Act II Analysis
Throughout Act II, William Shakespeare contrasts the characters of Cleopatra and Octavia, exploring the role of women to create peace, but also to foster strife, introducing the theme of The Subversion of Gender Roles. While Cleopatra is shown to be jealous, controlling, and aggressive when she repeatedly strikes a messenger for bringing word of Antony’s marriage, Octavia is described as an ideal peacemaker between her brother and new husband. The Roman Agrippa suggests that a woman’s love can bring men together, arguing that “[h]er love to both / Would each to other and all loves to both / Draw after her” (2.2.160-62).
However, Enobarbus suggests that the opposite will be true, despite the fact that Octavia will be a perfect model of Roman gender roles. He claims, “[Y]ou shall find the band / that seems to tie their friendship together will be / the very strangler of their amity. Octavia is of a holy, / cold, and still conversation” (2.6.150-53). Unlike Cleopatra, Octavia is far more concerned with piety to the gods and submission to masculine power. While many Romans assume this will make her the more appealing wife, Enobarbus is correct at predicting that it will do the opposite. Immediately after his marriage to Octavia, Antony declares, “I will to Egypt. / And though I make this marriage for my peace / I’ th’ East my pleasure lies” (2.3.44-46). While Cleopatra’s dominance illustrates The Subversion of Gender Roles, Shakespeare indicates through the contrast between her and Octavia that the more traditionally feminine woman is not necessarily the more desirable one.
The treaty with Pompey helps to remind the audience of the long history of civil unrest within Rome (See: Background), showing that the problems currently facing these characters are the result of intergenerational decline that necessitates the emergence of a stronger, unifying ruler. During the negotiation, Pompey claims that he is seeking to avenge the death of his father, just as Octavian did for Julius Caesar:
I do not know
Wherefore my father should revengers want,
Having a son and friends, since Julius Caesar,
Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,
There saw you laboring for him (2.6.12-16).
This moment helps to set up the dissolution of the Second Triumvirate, suggesting that Rome is trapped in a cycle of civil war until a single leader emerges. While Antony appears to be the better candidate for becoming the sole ruler of Rome due to his military prowess, Caesar is the one with a direct familial legacy to uphold. Through this, Shakespeare implies that Antony’s loss is inevitable because his fight with Caesar goes against what is fated to occur.
Act II also introduces several comedic elements, allowing for moments of levity that will slowly vanish as the play continues. Cleopatra’s rage against the messenger is comedic rather than frightening, transforming her jealousy and vanity into an inglorious temper tantrum. She is not portrayed as a great or noble figure in these moments, but her comedic emotional outbursts serve to contrast her later behavior and eventual turn toward stoic bravery.
Similarly, the drunken banquet after the treaty with Pompey plays the conflict between Roman and Egyptian culture as amusing. Shakespeare includes a sequence in which the drunk triumvir Lepidus tries to understand what a crocodile is while Antony playfully withholds information using redundant and circular statements:
LEPIDUS. What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?
ANTONY. It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as broad as
it hath breadth. It is just so high as it is, and moves
with it own organs. It lives by that which nourisheth
it, and the elements once out of it, it
transmigrates.
LEPIDUS. What color is it of?
ANTONY. Of it own color too.
LEPIDUS. ’Tis a strange serpent (2.7.43-51).
These moments of comedy help to humanize Antony and Cleopatra as characters. While they are not necessarily demonstrating greatness or virtue, their humorous banter might make them more endearing than the moderate, rule-abiding Caesar.
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By William Shakespeare
