Antony and Cleopatra Summary

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Antony and Cleopatra Summary

In the play “Antony and Cleopatra” Play write William Shakespeare uses various twists and turns and moreover decides to take us up and down the ocean from one end to another several times. The play opens in Egypt where Mark Antony one of the three rulers of Rome whom all share the name Triumvirs, is having a magical time with the then queen of Egypt Cleopatra.

However the merry-making gets in his way of handling power in Rome and the people at home begin to loathe his ways. Word comes to him that his lovely wife Fulvia has recently passed and that his brother has been engaged in a bitter brawl with the other triumvirs, moreover, Sextus Pompeius son of Pompey is building an army to take over Rome.

The last piece of news delivered to Mark Antony is that Pirates have started invading Rome as well. Antony decides to live Egypt and go back home to Rome and although Cleopatra lets him leave, she does so with a heavy heart. When Mark Antony returns back to Rome, he is greeted by confrontation from Octavius Caesar where they quarrel and almost end up fighting amongst themselves.

However the three triumvirs agree that they need to unite and defeat Pompey and so Mark Antony decides to get married to Caesar’s (Octavia) sister in order to make peace with Caesar. The whole idea of Octavia getting married to Mark Antony is to try and bring peace between the two men by loving them both equally and having them know that she is the bond between them.

Did Antony and Cleopatra ever marry?

After the quarrel between the triumvirs settles down, they all agree to meet up with Pompey to try and negotiate and make peace instead of going to war. Pompey is trying to engage war because he is fighting to avenge his father’s death but is convinced enough by the triumvirs and settles on making truce after he is given ruler ship over southern Italy and also agrees to be supplying the Romans with wheat.

The night that the triumvirs and Pompey brokered a peace deal saw the four of them engage in drunken merry on Pompey’s ship. As they continued to merry make, Menas one of Pompey’s servants whispers into Pompey’s ear and suggests that they should kill the drunk triumvirs who have let down their guard, but Pompey has a guilty feeling and tells

off his servant and gets back to the wild party which even gets wilder and we see Lepidus the third triumvir get so drunk that he is carried off the scene.

Later events change and we see Antony and his wife head back to Athens where he receives news that one of his Generals have won a war in Parthia. Cleopatra gets wind of Antony’s marriage where she whips the messenger and sends him back to find out whether she (Octavia) is more prettier than she is, she is glad when news reach her that say Octavia is way uglier and could never dream of having Cleopatra’s beauty.

While in Athens, Antony goes ahead and tells Octavia of how Caesar is badmouthing him and how he has dismissed Lepidus from office, since Octavia loves the two men equally, she decides to head back to Rome and make peace with her brother on behalf of her husband.

Immediately Octavia heads to Rome, Antony embarks on a journey back to Egypt where he prepares for war against Caesar and spends quality time with his lover Cleopatra. Caesar is angered with Antony’s move and engages war with Pompey where he defeats him and has him locked up.

He then decides to go and fight Antony in Egypt, Antony learns of Caesar’s plan and together with his lovers army engage in battle with Caesar’s army in the sea where they lose miserably. Cleopatra fights with Antony whereby she runs and hides and sends word to Antony that she is planning to kill herself.

On hearing the news about his lover, Antony decides to kill himself and does a terrible job by knifing himself with a sword, he is told that Cleopatra was dying and decides to be taken next to her where he should die holding his lover.

Events happen and Caesar wins the war and wants to parade Cleopatra as proof to Rome that he won the war but Cleopatra kills herself before she is paraded as a trophy and she gets buried next to her lover’s grave. The 14th amendment summary is over here.