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Diction In Antony And Cleopatra

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Shakespeare with ease, has condensed Plutarch's account of eleven years of Antony’s history into a swift moving plot, compacted with intense sensibility, showcasing the deep personalities of all the main characters, relating their love story in the most compelling poetic drama. Shakespeare also describes Antony’s kindness and how popular he was with and among his men, all while cutting out the suggestions of Cleopatra’s disloyalty. Shakespeare even creates actions by Octavius Caesar helping to increase our sympathy for the lovers. Strangely, during his desire for a high pace moving plot, he neglected to mention that Antony did indeed stay with his wife of 4 years Octavia before ever returning to Cleopatra. Also, from a Senator who is mentioned twice in Plutarch work, Shakespeare comes up with the character Enobarbus,who is a key figure in the play. …show more content…

Philo, which is the first character to speak, talks about the power Cleopatra holds over Antony. Philo claims that Cleopatra has turned Antony from being a mighty warrior into a ‘strumpet’s fool. During the course of the play, epic and bathetic imagery, even when going into detail about both Antony and Cleopatra. That isn't the only example, another portrait of bathetic imagery in this play is the image of bellows being curbed by ‘a gypsy’s lust’, the ‘triple pillar of the world’ being reduced to a ‘strumpet’s fool’, and the image of a ‘tawny frost’ diminishing that of Mars. (I, I, 1-13) Bathos is also used to help the reader reflect on the main idea of the play, which is the fall of a great

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