Antony and Cleopatra: Themes (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature): Revision Note

Exam responses that are led by themes, or the ideas that a writer is exploring in their text, are more likely to reach the highest levels of the mark scheme. Exploring the text thematically, specifically in relation to the question being asked, will help to increase your fluency and assurance in writing about the play.

Below are some of the key themes explored in Antony and Cleopatra. This list is not exhaustive and you are encouraged to identify other ideas within the play. 

Below you will find sections on:

• Duty versus desire

• Rome versus Egypt

• Fate and circumstance

Duty versus desire

The competing interests of duty and desire is a running theme through Antony and Cleopatra. It explores how personal longing clashes with political responsibility. For Antony, he is torn between the Roman life he knew, and the more decadent lifestyle he finds in Egypt. How he handles that balance drives his conflicts and his fate. 

Knowledge and evidence

• Shakespeare presents Antony as continually being pulled in different directions by the opposing forces of duty and desire:

  • Rome represents duty and public responsibility, demanding loyalty, discipline, and military service

  • Egypt represents desire, emotional fulfilment, pleasure, and personal freedom

• Antony’s struggles, and the failures that appear to be a direct result of them, reveal the destructive power of desire:

  • He neglects military obligations (“Let Rome in Tiber melt”) in favour of Cleopatra

  • His identity and attentions become divided; he is no longer the man “whose sword, whose mind, whose strength” once defined Rome

  • His choices in Egypt weaken his standing with Octavius, destabilising the Triumvirate, and he is openly mocked as decadent by those in Rome

• Cleopatra also experiences this conflict, although to a much lesser extent:

  • As queen, she must defend her kingdom, but her emotional attachment to Antony complicates political decision-making.

  • Her theatrical self-presentation blurs lines between personal love and strategic manipulation

• The theme is reinforced through recurring patterns of indecision:

  • Antony repeatedly vows to leave Egypt but fails to act

  • His military mistakes (such as following Cleopatra’s fleeing ships at Actium) show desire overturning duty

• In the end, both Antony and Cleopatra find their inability to balance duty and desire as their downfall:

  • Antony loses his alliances and his authority in Rome by prioritising his desires

  • His lack of effort or foresight in combat, appearing to trust fate over making serious plans, comes from his lack of discipline

  • Cleopatra betrays him at sea, leaving him short of might, and he follows her, to the ruin of his forces

  • He had been warned against allowing her to come to battle at sea, but was too driven by his desire and free spirit to consider the consequences

  • This showed he was ill-disciplined in his approach, where once he was considered a force to be reckoned with

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare uses Antony’s downfall to explore the social dynamics of being divided between public obligation and private desire:

  • He shows how passion can undermine political power and destroy reputation

  • The conflict emphasises Renaissance anxieties about self-control and the limits of personal freedom

  • Shakespeare presents desire as irresistible yet dangerous, suggesting that emotional fulfilment comes with high political cost

  • Through Cleopatra, he shows how desire can be a form of power: both seductive and destabilising

  • Ultimately, Shakespeare uses this theme to examine the tragic consequences of choosing desire over discipline

Rome versus Egypt

Shakespeare establishes the two worlds as symbolic opposites, expressed through contrasts in culture, politics, values, and identity. The cultural differences influence how the characters spend their time, their views on other characters, and the societal structures imposed upon them. Rome and Egypt are presented not only as two locations, but as two opposing worldviews, with Roman discipline and republican duty compared to Egyptian monarchy, emotional expression, and the importance of the self. 

Knowledge and evidence

• Shakespeare emphasises the political differences between Rome and Egypt:

  • Rome is shaped by the powerful Republic, with shared rule, political duty, and suspicion of decadence

  • Egypt is a hereditary monarchy, ruled by Cleopatra, who embodies royal splendour, lineage, and divine association

• These political systems reinforce contrasting cultural values:

  • Roman values emphasise discipline, restraint, martial honour, and loyalty to the state

  • Egyptian values prioritise pleasure, emotional expression, sensuality, and personal freedom

• The characters also embody these cultural divides:

  • Antony is criticised for his indulgences in Egypt and with Cleopatra, labelled a “strumpet’s fool” for following Cleopatra and abandoning his duty in Rome

  • Cleopatra is constantly dramatic and theatrical, reflecting Egypt’s association with performance, beauty, and emotional intensity, lacking the discipline of Rome

  • Octavius, on the other hand, represents Roman discipline and emerging imperial order, contrasting with Egypt’s dynastic monarchy

• The contrasting nature of the two places also reflects the Renaissance interest in the concept of the self:

  • Whilst in Egypt, Antony has the opportunity to explore a more personal, emotional identity, freed from Roman expectations

  • In Rome, he is required to suppress any individuality in favour of public duty and republican discipline

  • Cleopatra is flamboyant in behaviour and appearance, with her costumes, speeches and performances highlighting Renaissance fascination with identity as something crafted, not fixed

  • Yet we see that the pair both expect to be mocked in defeat by Octavius and Rome

• More blatantly, the conflict between the two worlds drives the narrative:

  • Antony’s identity is fractured by trying to balance his Roman duties with his Egyptian desire

  • The Battle of Actium symbolises the clash between rigid Roman control and fluid Egyptian expression

  • Cleopatra’s death marks the end of Egyptian autonomy and the triumph of Roman uniformity

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare uses Rome and Egypt to compare and dramatise cultural, political and personal conflict

• He may also have used this comparison to comment on the concerns of his Jacobean audience:

  • By contrasting Rome and Egypt’s cultures, he is able to examine how individuals are shaped, for better or worse, by the cultures they inhabit

  • The play highlights Renaissance debates about identity:

    • The idea of the “self” emerged in this period

    • Egypt becomes symbolic of this, a place where personal freedom and emotional honesty are encouraged

    • Rome then represents the pressure of public duty

  • Shakespeare uses this to show how identity can be performed, crafted or repressed

• He is also able to critique rigid political structures, such as Rome’s suspicion of monarchy and its movement towards imperial leadership under Octavius:

  • This may comment on how England struggled with its own anxiety about power and succession after the death of Elizabeth I

• The theme could also be a way for Shakespeare to reflect and question English assumptions about foreign cultures:

  • Early modern England often imagined the East as exotic, luxurious and, with a belief in their own superiority, morally ambiguous

• Antony and Cleopatra also explores the difficulty of reconciling two different worlds:

  • Antony’s downfall shows that a person cannot live successfully in two contradictory cultures and systems

  • Shakespeare uses this to warn about the cost of divided loyalty, especially in a time when England valued stability and unified authority

• This prompts his audience to reflect on their own society and their own values

Fate and circumstance

The play is filled with messages and warnings that appear to point the audience towards the fates of the characters, with characters frequently interpreting events through the lens of fortune, fate, destiny and external forces. Shakespeare uses this to examine how his characters, and people in general, respond when circumstances seem beyond their control, revealing a tension between human agency and the unpredictability of political and personal life.

Knowledge and evidence

• Shakespeare shows characters relying on fate rather than their own actions:

  • Antony speaks of “Fortune and I” as allies, or enemies, depending on the moment

  • When defeated at Actium, characters look to blame circumstances, destiny, and omens, instead of looking at their own actions and judgement

  • Cleopatra interprets Antony’s death and her own downfall in terms of cosmic significance: “I am fire and air”

• Circumstance shapes key events:

  • Military decisions go awry due to miscommunication, unexpected weather, or just pure panic

  • Rome’s political shifts, its power, and Octavius’ rise are all presented as inevitable moments of history

  • The tragic end, and the final choices that Antony and Cleopatra both make, seem driven by a sense of doomed inevitability 

• Recurring references to signs and symbols reflect fatalistic thinking:

  • Characters read meaning into dreams, prophecies and natural events 

  • Egypt, in particular, is associated with mythicism and destiny:

    • This fits with the image of a looser, less disciplined society, which takes less personal responsibility and instead trusts fate

• Omens and natural signs play a key role in shaping this fatalistic mindset:

  • The swallows’ nests on the ships are described as an ill omen before the Battle of Actium

  • In classical belief, swallows nesting on a vessel symbolised misfortune, instability, or a ship not meant to sail:

    • Shakespeare uses this image to foreshadow Antony’s defeat and to show how the characters view their fate as pre-written by nature

  • Soldiers report strange noises and eerie portents in Alexandria before Antony’s final battle

  • Cleopatra interprets dreams and visions symbolically, believing that the universe has a role in shaping her destiny

• This all reinforces the idea that the world is controlled by powers the characters cannot contend with, taking away a lot of personal responsibility

What is Shakespeare’s intention?

• Shakespeare uses fate and circumstance to show how easily people surrender responsibility when they believe their lives are controlled by forces beyond their influence:

  • He presents characters who depend on omens and messages, and will change their behaviour based on them

• By having his characters act this way, it allows Shakespeare to explore Renaissance debates about free will, showing how fatalistic thinking can distort judgement and lead to tragedy:

  • Antony and Cleopatra fall to tragedy, but seem inclined to accept it based on destiny, rather than act against it

• Omens such as swallows’ nests and strange portents highlight how natural signs are misread as warnings, reinforcing the belief that fate directs events:

  • Shakespeare may have used this to critique societies that rely on superstition rather than accountability, reflecting Jacobean anxieties about leadership and uncertainty

  • The play suggests a warning to his audience that whilst fatalism may feel reassuring, it can weaken decision-making and contribute to downfall

Sources

Shakespeare, W., Munday, A., Fletcher, J., Middleton, T., Heywood, T., Peele, G., Dekker, T., Wilkins, G., & Chettle, H. (2005). The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Second Edition). In Oxford University Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1093/actrade/9780199267170.book.1 (opens in a new tab)