The love story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and the last day of their lives

John Dryden is not very famous in the history of English literature, but one of his plays has become immortal, and that is All for Love. This play is based on a historical event, and before this, a famous playwright like William Shakespeare had also written on the same topic in English literature. Here, the main subject is the love story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and the last day of their lives. The main character of this play is Antony, who is more or less a tragic hero. He may not be completely considered a tragic hero because he has several flaws, but even so, in the end, his tragic fate evokes a sense of sympathy in the hearts of readers.

The first thing we should keep in mind is that John Dryden created the character of Antony according to the standards of his era. If we look at the Restoration period, we can see that unrest and anarchy was prevalent at that time. There was constant conflict between Catholics and Protestants over power, and there was uncertainty about who would succeed Charles II as king. In other words, there were problems in all aspects during the Restoration period, and we can see this restlessness in the play All for Love. Moreover, Dryden wrote All for Love thinking about his era in mind, and he tried to take a strong stand against the king’s opponents.

Antony’s character is somewhat similar. We know that during the Restoration period, there was moral degradation in society, and many people engaged in relationships outside their marriages. In Antony’s case, we can see that his sense of morality is not very strong. He abandons his wife and children and starts living with Cleopatra without marrying her. If we look at the present era, many aspects of Antony’s character are not very admirable. He abandons his wife and son, betrays the Roman Empire, and allies with Cleopatra, which angers the Roman emperor Octavius.

Moreover, he is not very good at friendship either; although his friend Ventidius was always on his side, Antony often disregarded him. Considering all this, Antony does not seem like a great hero by the standards of our time. However, we have to remember that Dryden wrote during his time, and this character is set in Roman civilization. Thus, the standards of morality of that time were different. Among the elites, marrying more than once or spending time with other women after having a wife was not unusual.

One good side of Antony is that he genuinely loved Cleopatra with all his heart and made many sacrifices for her. In the end, he even sacrificed his own life for Cleopatra. So, if we set aside everything else and look at his love for Cleopatra, we can see that there was no fault in that love. This aspect of love evokes sympathy from the audience for Antony. At the same time, there is no doubt that Cleopatra loved him a lot as well.

However, no matter how intense his love for Cleopatra was, Antony was a bad husband and father. He abandoned his wife, Octavia, and when she came to Egypt with their children, Antony did not treat her well. Instead, he expected Octavia to beg her brother, Emperor Octavius, for Antony’s life. Antony never once asked for forgiveness from his wife and children, and this is a significant flaw in his character.

However, the worst side of Antony’s character is his indecisiveness. On one hand, he is blinded by love for Cleopatra, and on the other hand, he wants to become a king and have his soldiers fight in wars. As a result, he is always stumbling between the two: he constantly wants to be close to Cleopatra, but he also needs to go to war. When war comes, one must fight, leaving everything else behind; if distracted by other thoughts, defeat is inevitable. That is exactly what happened to Antony. He lost the war due to his indecisiveness.

Antony had another problem: the conflict between his political ambition and his love affair. On one hand, he loves Cleopatra deeply, almost obsessively. On the other hand, he wants to become the ruler of the Roman empire and also aims to become the king of Egypt. In the struggle between these two ambitions, he ultimately fails in both. He is unable to achieve victory, and Cleopatra commits suicide.

Amidst all of this, Antony has both good and bad qualities, making him seem more human. If we look at ourselves and society, we can see that we also have both positive and negative sides, and many of us are just like Antony. In life, we often struggle with indecisiveness and cannot make the right decisions. This is why Antony is a tragic hero—he has both flaws and virtues. Unlike the tragic heroes in other plays, especially in Greek plays, Antony lacks lofty idealism or a grand personality. Instead, he is portrayed as a person who evokes both hate and love at the same time.