Attraction and Contradictions of Life

William Shakespeare in his play of Antony and Cleopatra has many suggestions on the topic of the attractions and contradictions of the political and erotic life, but also of the suggesting of a third kind of way of life that transcends the political and the erotic ones. Throughout the play Shakespeare presents the emotions between Antony and Cleopatra in many different ways that could be interpreted as love or even perhaps lust at times. Cleopatra was a woman of high maintenance, but yet she did seem to love Antony a lot as she tried everything to keep him with her. At the beginning of this play we see Cleopatra testing Antony’s love for her by saying “If it be love indeed, tell me how much.” This gives the impression of Cleopatra’s demanding nature and her dominant role in the relationship as she is demanding of Antony for a compliment on their love. We continue to see this demanding natures as he states “I’ll set a bourn how far to be loved!” meaning that she will limit the extent of her love. Antony responds to this by saying “Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth… Let Rome in Tiber melt.” This declaration from Antony shows that his love is so strong, that he is prepared to ignore Caesar’s demand and his roman duties to stay with her and that there is no limit of their love that can be defined by human knowledge or experience. When Antony is now with Cleopatra he seems to be regretting his position in Egypt and begins to realize that it is actually not love, and that perhaps she is not worth staying away from Rome and Anthony’s duties. “She is cunning past man’s thought” shows that Cleopatra is very clever and possibly playing games with Antony to keep him in Egypt. And truthfully she is doing just that, when she sates “Thou teachest like a fool- the way to lose him.” This proves to us that the most important thing for her is to play hard to get just to ensure that Antony will still love her, and basically it’s the power and temptation that keeps