Antony’s Sword, his delight and his destruction A discussion of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra In Shakespeare’s Roman tragedy “Antony and Cleopatra”, we are told the story of two passionate and power-hungry lovers. Both are characters that possess a god-like status. Antony is often associated with “Mars” (1.1.4; 2.2.6; 2.5.117), the god of war, and, Cleopatra with “Venus” (2.2.210), the goddess of love, or better said, the goddess of affection and passion. Throughout the entire play, Antony …showed first 75 words of 952 total…

…showed last 75 words of 952 total…man, a passionate lover. According to Shakespeare, however, his role as passionate lover cannot be combined with that of an ideal ruler. An ideal ruler is a passionless man, so, reason should prevail. Therefore, one may conclude that in Shakespeare's opinion, Antony did not use his sword properly and that is why he became a victim of his own fault. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. Ed. John Wilders. The Arden Shakespeare: New York, 1995