Summaries and Critical Commentary

Abstract

At the end of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar, and Marcus Æmilius Lepidus assume the triple rule of the Roman Empire after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra begins with Antony in Egypt, where he has fallen in love with the queen, Cleopatra, and is neglecting his duties back in Rome. His wife Fulvia has been waging war against Caesar as a ruse to bring her husband home; Sextus Pompeius, the son of Pompey the Great, is threatening Rome in Antony’s absence; and Antony’s own soldiers are demoralized by what they consider their general’s ‘dotage’. News of Fulvia’s death is the spur that Antony needs to prompt his return to Rome — a return that surprises both Caesar and Pompey. To cement a new bond of friendship with his younger rival, Antony agrees to marry Caesar’s newly-widowed sister Octavia. Now the Triumvirate can present a united front against Pompey, with whom a treaty is signed. A soothsayer convinces Antony that Caesar’s ‘fortunes shall rise higher’ than his own; and Antony’s own thoughts turn back to the East, where his ‘pleasure lies’.