ABSTRACT
Cleopatra, the primary “stirring” power, is Antony’s “serpent of old Nile”; she of the “tawny front” takes on the exotic characteristics of Othello—his blackness and associations with the strange and monstrous, crocodiles and Anthropophagi. Her monstrosity, like the “dread goddesses” of the Greeks, lies in her power and its potential abuse, her association with Fury-like primitive emotionality. Antony makes a serious response to Enobarbus’ satirical account of Cleopatra’s “celerity in dying”. Antony’s intuitive, non-analytical tactic in his “war” with Cleopatra has worked. Through the seriousness of the defeat, Cleopatra becomes aware of Antony’s seriousness towards her. The death of Cleopatra is more complicated and protracted than that of Antony, owing to her character, sex, and situation. The “burning” barge and the “gazing” air prefigure Cleopatra at the end saying she is made of “fire and air”. Cleopatra’s new royalty will fulfil itself, not in the mere fact of her death, but in its manner.
