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Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra quick Q!!

No Future

17

You know when Enobarbus is descibing Cleopatra, when she goes to meet Antony - why does Agrippa interrupt his speech???

Reply 1

Acaila

17

What scene is that in? :confused:

Btw this should be in Academic rather than General Chat.

Reply 2

No Future

OP

17

Acaila

What scene is that in? :confused:

Btw this should be in Academic rather than General Chat.

I have no idea - I've never read/studied this play, it was in an exam I just did and this question is really bugging me. I can't find out whether I got it right or not. Sorry for posting in the wrong place.

Hmm, maybe I described the scene badly. I actually do not know the context of it. All I know is that it's this bit and a bit further on Agrippa interrupts:

"The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were lovesick with them; the oars were
silver"

Reply 3

Acaila

17

Hohum....I can recite the whole of that speech I think.
Anyway,
Act 2 Scene 2 - "The barge speech"

Agrippa and......other Roman bloke whose name isn't coming to me at the moment are commenting on how Antony is going to marry Caesar's sister and how he's going to give up Cleopatra. They mention Antony's first meeting with her or something like that, and Enobarbus describes that meeting. Basically the way he describes her, with all the appeals to the various senses etc., shows how attractive Cleopatra is, especially to Antony. Agrippa interrupts with "Oh Rare Egyptian" and something else which I think is "Rare for Antony" just to show how enrapturing Cleopatra is from a mere description, and also what they say is so very different to what they usually say about Cleopatra. The Romans are always very derogatory about Cleopatra e.g. in Philo's speech at the beginning of Act 1 Scene 1, he calls her a strumpet and a gypsy.
At the end of Enobarbus' speech, either Agrippa or the other bloke (was it Dolabella?) says "He plouged her, and she cropped" which is incredibly vulgar in comparison with Enobarbus' description - especially significant because he's a common drunken soldier speaking in verse for the only time in the play.
Basically, interruptions show that even the Romans are in awe of Cleopatra to some extent, but they still hate her. They're very derogatory about her, but that inspires us to greater sympathy for her. :smile:

Reply 4

Tyler Durden

17

I love the play. I don't remember it in much detail though.

I'd imagine he interupts the speech because he sees what has happened to Antony when he has fallen under Cleopatra's spell. The decadance in the language is almost hypnotic. This is feared by the stoic Romans.

"The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were lovesick with them; the oars were
silver"

And the "winds" were not the only "lovesick" thing. :biggrin:

Having said that, Enobarbus is a great man and he does not pretend that this hypnotic effect does not exist. After all, it has seduced his master - the great Antony. It would be doing Antony a dis-service to sideline Cleopatra's beauty and power. He did not succumb to just anyone...

Reply 5

No Future

OP

17

Oh ****...I completely messed up THAT exam then :frown:

I wrote about how Enobarbus had started talking about things that had too many sexual connotations and thus, Agrippa interrupted.

WHAT.A.TWAT.

I can't do Shakespeare to save my life....

Reply 6

Tyler Durden

17

No Future

I can't do Shakespeare to save my life....

You don't "do" Shakespeare. You appreciate him.

Besides you weren't totally out. That is why he interupts him. But you needed to explore it a bit further perhaps.

Reply 7

Acaila

17

Why did you write about that if you'd never studied the play? :eek:

Englishstudent - ooooh it's such a fabulous play! Quite possibly my favourite Shakespeare play. And Cleopatra is just fantabulous. Would love to play that part so much (although I don't know if I've quite got the look :biggrin:

) - some of her scenes are just so much fun to act! All that emotional volatility = just fabulous :biggrin:

Reply 8

No Future

OP

17

englishstudent

You don't "do" Shakespeare. You appreciate him.

Yes yes, I know! :P

englishstudent

Besides you weren't totally out. That is why he interupts him. But you needed to explore it a bit further perhaps.

Really??

Reply 9

No Future

OP

17

Acaila

Why did you write about that if you'd never studied the play? :eek:

Englishstudent - ooooh it's such a fabulous play! Quite possibly my favourite Shakespeare play. And Cleopatra is just fantabulous. Would love to play that part so much (although I don't know if I've quite got the look :biggrin:

) - some of her scenes are just so much fun to act! All that emotional volatility = just fabulous :biggrin:

I had no choice. We were given two unseen texts and we had to answer questions on them. Unfortunately for me I got this.

I must say, after reading it then thinking about it after the exam, I thought it was a beautiful piece...During the exam I was too busy bull****ting to think about it much.

---

Thanks to both of you for your input.

Reply 10

Tyler Durden

17

Acaila

Why did you write about that if you'd never studied the play? :eek:

Englishstudent - ooooh it's such a fabulous play! Quite possibly my favourite Shakespeare play. And Cleopatra is just fantabulous. Would love to play that part so much (although I don't know if I've quite got the look :biggrin:

) - some of her scenes are just so much fun to act! All that emotional volatility = just fabulous :biggrin:

Yes and the "infinite variety"!

She really is great. I totally sympathise with Tony and Cleo.

Reply 11

Acaila

17

Ouch that's terrible!
What exam was that for?
Must have been hard outside the context of the whole play.
{suddenly thinks Higher English wasn't so bad after all}

Reply 12

Tyler Durden

17

No Future

Really??

Yeah really. I am sure it'll be fine.

What was the exam?

Reply 13

Acaila

17

englishstudent

Yes and the "infinite variety"!

She really is great. I totally sympathise with Tony and Cleo.

Tony and Cleo {giggles}
I remember somebody in our class actually called her Cleo in an essay! :eek:

I always called them A & C in my notes so thankfully no mix ups for me.

I do like that little speech-let about the infinite variety. And the "We cannot call her winds and water sighs and tears. They are greater tempests than almanacs can report".
I think she's probably my fave Shakespeare character. Certainly my best essays were on her. At one point last year we wrote an essay on something like "The genius of Shakespeare is that he gives us characters about whom we care. Discuss". I was the only one who wrote about Cleopatra rather than Antony and it turned out the best mark in the class (thinking of sending that essay as one of my Cambridge ones if I'm asked for them). Luckily I got a similar question in the exam :biggrin:

I've had so many msn names from that play it's unbelievable!
Also I think I might act/direct it at uni if I get the chance :smile:

Reply 14

No Future

OP

17

It was a 6th form entrance exam. I had a whole day of exams yesterday...Very long reasoning/IQ kind of thing, then my chosen subjects: biology, chemistry and English. It would not have been so bad if I had at some point read or studied this play before...Oh well...

Thank you both again.

Rant: And my science exams were even worse. I knew NOTHING, and to make it worse, the other people said they thought the science was EASY! :'(. The verbal reasoning was easy, but the maths and spacial stuff was really hard. I'm not going to be able to go to that school!

:mad:

Reply 15

Acaila

17

{hugs} Don't worry about it. I'm sure you did fine! Even if you don't end up at that school, it's not the end of the world. I go to an absolutely terrible school and my grades are fine and I think I turned out alright :biggrin:

. You'll be fine. Just don't worry about :smile:

Reply 16

Tyler Durden

17

Acaila

Tony and Cleo {giggles}
I remember somebody in our class actually called her Cleo in an essay! :eek:

I always called them A & C in my notes so thankfully no mix ups for me.

I do like that little speech-let about the infinite variety. And the "We cannot call her winds and water sighs and tears. They are greater tempests than almanacs can report".
I think she's probably my fave Shakespeare character. Certainly my best essays were on her. At one point last year we wrote an essay on something like "The genius of Shakespeare is that he gives us characters about whom we care. Discuss". I was the only one who wrote about Cleopatra rather than Antony and it turned out the best mark in the class (thinking of sending that essay as one of my Cambridge ones if I'm asked for them). Luckily I got a similar question in the exam :biggrin:

I've had so many msn names from that play it's unbelievable!
Also I think I might act/direct it at uni if I get the chance :smile:

Yes - she is certainly one of the most interesting! I wish I had studied the play. The two plays I actually studied were The Winter's Tale which was good, but no AS good and The Rivals which was amusing, but crap. :frown:

I never knew you were a Cambridge applicant? Which college have you gone for? We are in competition! :eek:

It would be great to direct yeah. Although very tricky. The scene changes would be tough to do quickly and well; flitting between Rome and Egypt. :biggrin:

I actually prefer directing to acting I think. It needs a better understanding of the play.

Reply 17

No Future

OP

17

Acaila

{hugs} Don't worry about it. I'm sure you did fine! Even if you don't end up at that school, it's not the end of the world. I go to an absolutely terrible school and my grades are fine and I think I turned out alright :biggrin:

. You'll be fine. Just don't worry about :smile:

*hugs back* Thanks...Yeah...

Reply 18

Acaila

17

I'm unsure which I prefer. I've just recently finished writing, directing and acting in my own play and it was certainly challenging (I suppose normally I wouldn't be doing all three plus organisational stuff, but I had to for my Higher). However some shows I just love the ideas behind, and would like to put my own spin on it e.g. I just started studying Antigone and I've got all these mad ideas about a greek chorus of tabloid journalists and things like that :biggrin:

.
Regarding the scene changes, my teacher said that it can be done quite simply using lighting - warm lighting with oranges, pinks and yellows for Egypt and very sharp cold blue and white lighting for Rome. I'd probably be tempted to go for very simplistic reusable pieces of set for it. The nasty scene would be when Antony is being hoisted up to Cleopatra's monument, but I've seen it done badly *cough* BBC television Shakespeare *cough* and would make sure to have some serious thought on it.
All that said, I do love my acting :biggrin:

Nothing like playing good old Laertes in Hamlet (nothing like some crossdressing for that matter :biggrin:

)

I'm not an English applicant btw :biggrin:

Social and Political Sciences is my course (mine! my own! my precious!!!!) and I've applied to the land of red brick castles, squirrels and en suites! (aka Robinson). Are you Trinity?