The Influence of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

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Through drilling in the three plays under study, one can safely find the influence of Shakespeare over the other two writers in certain aspects. This indicates the possibility of finding similarities between the three plays in a way or another. Dryden’s All for Love is a tragedy that reinvigorates serious drama. He imitates Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, addressing the theme of love versus honor. It is based on a traditional epic and romance. Comparing with the restoration literature, including Dryden and Congreve, it appears that All for Love and The Way of the World depict the sophisticated relationship between men and women. It appears between Antony, Dollabella, Ventidius, Octavia, and Cleopatra; and between Mirabell, Fainall, Mrs. Fainall Ms. Millamant, Lady Wishfort, and Mrs. Marwood, respectively. However, it is clear that Macbeth is free from this sophistication. This essay holds a potential comparison between these three plays in terms of three aspects: heroes, purpose and justice.

The plays, under investigation, start with the presence of the main characters to grasp the readers’ attention to their role in the plays. In Macbeth, it has been highlighted that Macbeth loves Lady Macbeth at the beginning of the play. The theme has been depicted to pinpoint that they love each other for the sake of gaining power and to satisfy their ambition. However, the characters have changed after killing King Duncan, “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night” (Act III, Scene II). The selection of “dearest chuck’ reveals Macbeth’s love for his wife. However, gradually, his emotions have been slowly diminished and turned into cruelty. This illustrates the switch of the conspiring couple’s feelings, represented in Act I. The main factor behind this change is the feeling of guilt from both characters. On the other hand, although Antony and Cleopatra have been depicted to be in love from the very beginning of the play, they have even kept their love until the end. Their characters have not changed throughout the play regarding this aspect. There have been conspiracies during the events to separate both, the fact that has not appeared in Macbeth, but they have killed themselves for the sake of love. Comparing to Mirabell and Ms. Millamant, they also seem to be in love. However, it is only Mirabell that seems to be ambitious to gain love and money. This is similar to Macbeth’s aim to become the king of Scotland. It appears that both are trying to find authority in a way or another. Another similarity between Macbeth and All for Love is the role of prophecy represented by the three Witches and Serapion, respectively. The former has predicted the new role of Macbeth as cited in Act I, scene III “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor”, while the latter predicted the bad future of Rome. These two expectations have come true through the plays. Rather, the three witches ironically have predicted the death of Macbeth saying, “none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth… Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill / Shall come against him” (Act IV, Scene I). Dramatically, it has been achieved at the end. On the other hand, Serapion has predicted foreboding omens that describe Egypt’s impending doom. This has also come into effect by the death of Cleopatra. Although predication takes no place in The Way of the World, conspiracy and plotting have taken place. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have plotted against the king Duncan to gain over the throne. They have made the chamberlains drunk in (Act II, Scene II) to frame them guilt for the death of the king. In parallelism, Fainall’s plot has been to get Sir Wilfull drunk to be able to achieve their plan to get Mirabell and Ms. Millamant married. On the other hand, Cleopatra has tried to convince Antony that there has been an intimate relationship with Dollabella. Similarly, she has been plotting to gain her love and her authority. Yet, Octavia has been a barrier in this plot in the same way that Mrs. Marwood has been in Fainall’s plan. Octavia has worked on intensifying the idea while Mrs. Marwood has worked on covering their intention. Moreover, Cleopatra has preferred to die for the sake of her love rather than living in disgrace (Act V). Similarly, Lady Wishfort has preferred to forgive to save her dignity and reputation (Act V). On the other hand, there are definitely discrepancies between the three plays by which each play has a distinctive feature depicted by their main characters. For instance, in Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, is depicted as a noble and courageous warrior just like Antony. However, Macbeth’s eagerness and reactions to the prophecy illustrates his passion to gain power and prestige. While Mirabell is fashionable and intellectual. Yet, he has formed a plot against Lady Wishfort to be able to compromise his marriage to Ms. Millamant.

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It is believed that the three plays are masterpieces for each writer. The plays have achieved great success on stages back then. Although similarities are scarcely existent in terms of their purpose, the plays include vivid female characters. The roles of the female characters deliver the same message. It is always that they are stronger and more powerful than the male characters around them. Lady Macbeth has gained authority and has been more imposing to convince Macbeth to commit a crime to gain the throne. Cleopatra has been strong enough to keep her love from leaving Egypt and directing to Rome. Antony has suffered from grief upon receiving the rumor of Cleopatra’s death. Even worse, he has committed suicide, the fact that explains Cleopatra’s influence over him. In The Way of the World, Congreve has depicted Ms. Millamant reading poetry and being more educated than Mirabell. It is Lady Wishfort who has had control over Ms. Millamant’s inheritance and has had the power to be against Mirabell’s desire for marriage. However, Congreve’s The Way of the World is narrated in the present to reflect the action of social life during that period. In addition, it has been structured to depict a comedy of manners. It forms the image of social behavior regarding their scrutiny and follies. It reflects the frivolity and the perplexity of the fashionable upper class. This is depicted by the reaction of the forgiveness of Lady Wishfort. This pinpoints their priority of keeping their reputation, which is commonly depicted by the type of Restoration Comedies. Through the events of the play, there has been always a demonstration of the strong connection between emotions, depicted by love, and authority, depicted by money. It seems that Congreve’s aim is to undermine love’s value. The conflict of classes is clear through the play. For more exposition, the upper-class members, represented by Mirabell, embroil the lower-class members, represented by Foible, in their games to fulfill their whims. This has been done the other way round too by Foible. Foible has comfortably undertaken the task. It may be analyzed as the desire of exerting power over her upper class even though she has been embroiled by a member of that class. Although Congreve’s depiction shows that this life is funny, he confirms that this way is not definitely nice. On one hand, marriage has been achieved, but on the other hand, humiliation and villainy are the ways and the stir of this action. Nonetheless, the idea behind All for Love is represented by the title itself. It highlights the plasticity of one’s mind to sacrifice anything just for love. It seems that Dryden’s aim is to elevate the concept of domination of love. Antony has been pictured as sunk in love. He hasn’t had the power to flee since no other stimulus can stir him. While in Macbeth, the main purpose behind the drama is to picture the illusion of reality. This is also presented through the contradictions of action and words of the characters. The contradictions of speech have been delivered by the three witches saying, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Act I, Scene I), while the contradictions of actions have been represented by the dramatic irony. It has been captured when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have treated King Duncan with respect the night he has stayed at Macbeth’s castle since the readers have known that they had been plotting to kill him. The purpose of Macbeth is also symbolized by the depiction of the corruption of Scotland’s political and moral health. This is supported by the presence of Banquo’s silent ghost and the three witches.

According to Ezra Taft Benson, “Opposition provides choices, and choices bring consequences – good or bad”. This is exactly what happened with Macbeth. All the scenes represented the fact that Macbeth has known his guilt and he has been sure of the consequences. However, he has been deceived by the prophecy which is considered his flaw. Through his soliloquy, he has predicted the cycle of violence which must, in the end, destroy him. He has surrendered to his wife’s temptation. Therefore, justice has taken place by which that fact that “the murderer will be killed, even after a while من قتل يقتل ولو بعد حين”. In fact, Macbeth turns to a despised tyrant who kills only to maintain power. Satisfactorily, Lady Macbeth, the one who has plotted and convinced Macbeth to kill, and Macbeth, the one who has been killing only to keep the power, have been killed. The end in Macbeth and All for Love is deceitful. Macduff has plotted and disguised himself behind the wood to deceive Macbeth. The ultimate fair end is the death of Macbeth who was trying to take an illicit right. Similarly, Alexas has plotted and deceived Antony. He has spread a rumor about Cleopatra’s death to spare his life. Yet, the end of All for Love is over-exaggerated. Dramatic irony plays a role in the justice by which the play ends tragically with Antony’s and Cleopatra’s suicides. Yet, in The Way of the World, tragedy has been far away from the audience’s prediction. They cannot predict any success of any character. It seems more complicated than the other two plays. Yet, at the final act, the climax has remained open to pave the way for a moralistic resolution, according to some critics. However, the fact that Mirabell’s plan has succeeded is unfair. He has plotted to gain his love and money. In the end, he has gained even forgiveness from Lady Wishfort the fact that is unpredictable. This indicates the priority of the upper-class at that time just to save their reputation, yet inevitably with ruined self-respect. However, this is how the justice acts since Mrs. Fainall’s infidelity and Lady Wishfort’s cruelty have been dominating through the play. The temporary end of Foible in jail and Waitwell in custody represents exaggeration. Mirabell is a successful character who has gained forgiveness for all he has done. It is questionable how the tools of the plan have gotten this end while the real head of thinking, represented by Mirabell, has received forgiveness and has been ended marrying Ms. Millamant. In Macbeth and All for Love, death has been the end but justice has not been achieved similarly. In the former, Macbeth has deserved to be killed for his tyranny. Yet, in All for Love, Antony hasn’t deserved to kill himself. This dramatic tragedy, in the end, indicates Dryden’s desire to capture the domination of love over even authority and ruling. The best depiction of this end was cited by Emerson (1955, p. 84) referring to this end as “punishment for a love”. Although Macbeth has ended with the fact that the good has won and the evil has been vanquished, The Way of the World has ended with the fact that it is always plot and conspiracy that work with the upper-class. This is represented by the success of the evil side.

In brief, the study of the three plays is important with considering the era of each play. The characteristics of each play are definitely distinctive from the others. It has been illustrated the similarities between the three plays in three aspects: heroes, purpose and justice. Yet, it has been focused also on the differences between the three. Each play differs from the others in the level of the sophistication, in addition to the type of themes each includes. Yet in a way or another, it has been illustrated that Dryden’s has been influenced by Shakespeare, however with Dryden’s taste. Similarly, Converge and Dryden both have focused on the features of “Restoration Drama” regarding the comedy of manners and tragedy, respectively. In each play, there is a message, you agree with or not, which is worth passing on to the next generation. One should be away from illicit matters either authority, love, or infidelity, as represented in Macbeth, All for Love or The Way of the World, respectively. One should not be greedy as in Macbeth, superfluous as in All for Love, or trivial and evil as in The Way of the World. In the three plays, it is always good to see that one should have an objective and aim, however not every aim justifies means.

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