The Different Flavors of Love Presented By Shakespeare
Madhumeta Ganesh @30024
We believe love to be a pure and sweet emotion/virtue shared between two or more creatures; compassion, self-sacrifice and a strong connection between a couple represent the love involved in a relationship. However, in the plays Much Ado About Nothing and Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare shows that either man uses love to achieve his own goals (like Claudio who wants to marry Hero as she is the perfect Elizabethan woman) or love is influenced in man by other people (like Beatrice and Benedick) or the intensity of love even brings about the death of lovers (as in Antony and Cleopatra). In addition, some characters explain their actions by professing or implying that they did them out of love (or heart-break due to lost love) when that is not actually the case. A key scene in Much Ado About Nothing occurs when Claudio publicly declares Hero to be sexually promiscuous just because he apparently saw her speaking to a man outside her bedroom window; Claudio’s tries to redeem his honor in the eyes of the public while giving people the impression that he is a betrayed and heart-broken lover who is shaming Hero. Similarly, in the Battle of Actium which takes place in Antony and Cleopatra, we see Caesar making a grave mistake of following Cleopatra when she sails away mid-battle.
“Egypt, thou knew’st too well
My heart was to thy rudder tied by th’ strings,
And thou shouldst tow me after.” (3.12.60 – 62)
Antony states that his heart is tied to her and will follow her anywhere, implying that he is very much in love with her that he would do anything to keep her by his side. But in reality, it seems as though Antony is insecure and followed her as he thought she was leaving him; he likes the challenge that sharp-tongued Cleopatra provides and goes after her because he does not want to lose her companionship. The question of whether love or self-interest has greater priority, love’s effects on same-sex friendship/love and idealization of love provoke us to study the nature of love exhibited in both plays. The love expressed by Antony and Cleopatra is placed after their respective self-interests and the unselfish nature of love is disregarded; while Antony plans on attaining greater political power, Cleopatra protects her country and her life at all costs. For instance, we see Antony experiencing a conflict between the two things he wants: his love and passion for Cleopatra and his desire for power in Rome. In Act 2, Scene 2, Antony feels his position in the triumvirate is at stake as he was lazing away in Egypt while his wife was waging war against Caesar. He immediately jumps on Agrippa’s suggestion of marrying Caesar’s sister Octavia to cement his alliance with Octavius and agrees to it without thinking twice about his beloved Cleopatra who is waiting in Egypt for his return.
AGRIPPA: “Thou hast a sister by the mother’s side,
Admired Octavia. Great Mark Antony
Is now a widower.”
CAESAR: “Say not so, Agrippa.
If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof
Were well deserved of rashness.
ANTONY: “I am not married, Caesar. Let me hear Agrippa further speak.”(2.2.142 – 149)
Even Caesar realizes that Agrippa’s idea would infuriate Cleopatra but Antony seems desperate This shows that when it came to a choice between love and his political ambitions, his desires to gain power, to act as a Roman and retain his Roman values took priority over his love for Cleopatra. As a matter of fact, Cleopatra is no different. In the Battle of Actium, she sails away with her sixty ships during the battle, leaving Antony and his men behind. While we do not see much of the political side of Cleopatra throughout the play, there is reason to believe that she might have left the battle to protect Alexandria and not suffer Caesar’s wrath; she knows, for sure, that Caesar would attack her country if she sides with Antony and puts her crown and her country before her love for Antony. Tyldesley explains that at that time, Egypt was an independent country and she was the last surviving member of the Ptolemic dynasty so she needed to keep the country under Ptolemaic rule (179); hence, if she was taken in as a prisoner of war, her country would become vulnerable and Caesar would publicly shame her and even kill her in Rome. In fact, both Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide to avoid being dishonored in Rome by Caesar and not because of their unwillingness to live while the loved one is dead. Before Antony’s suicide, he asks Eros to kill him so as to protect Antony from “disgrace and horror” (4.14.77); he tells Eros that “’tis Caesar [he] defeat’st” (4.14.79) when he kills Antony. Similarly, in Act 5, Scene 2, Cleopatra explains how she will be defamed in Rome to Iras and then asks Charmian to “fetch [her] best attires” (5.2.277–278) to prepare for death; hence, like Antony, she does commits suicide to protect her honor and not because of Antony’s demise.
In Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio (like Antony and Cleopatra) acts more out of self-interest than love while Benedick does the opposite; he places greater importance on his love for Beatrice and her judgment rather than his friendship with Claudio. In Act 3, Scene 2, Claudio acts irrationally and plots to shame Hero before he even sees proof of her promiscuity. He suspects her on the accusations of Don John, who was previously his enemy, and plans on giving her this harsh punishment as it is his male honor and public image at stake; it is the stain on his male ego and pride, not the loss of his idealized love that selfishly drives him to make this decision. In Act 3, Scene 2, Don John provokes Claudio using the following question:
“If you love her then, tomorrow wed her. But it would better fit your honor to change your mind.” (3.2.107 – 109)
Don John’s lines literally pose the question which each lover in Shakespeare’s plays needs to answer: Is love a greater priority over self-interest (male honor in Claudio’s case) or vice-versa? Claudio immediately consults the Prince and decides the male honor is more important when he makes his rash decision of shaming Hero in public. An interesting thing to note is that Shakespeare uses a contrasting couple, Benedick and Beatrice, to show the holes in Claudio and Hero’s relationship (and it can also be used as a foil to Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship).
BENEDICK: “Think you in your soul the Count Claudio hath wronged Hero?”
BEATRICE: “Yea, as sure as I have a thought or a soul.”
BENEDICK: “Enough, I am engaged. I will challenge him.”(4.2.343 – 347)
Benedick is willing to put his friendship with Claudio and his male honor at risk by defending Hero not only because he wants to prove his love to Beatrice but also because he places great importance on her judgment (Kropp 36). In fact, in the beginning of Act 5, Scene 1, we see Benedick challenging Claudio and getting mocked by Don Pedro as “[leaving] off his wit” (5.1.212). Hence, he is shown to trust in Beatrice’s decision and put love before his friendship and honor, unlike the characters discussed previously. Throughout both plays, we see an interesting pattern in how love between a man and woman strengthens the love/friendship she shares with her companions but weakens the love/friendship he shares with his friends. The love between a man and woman is not the only type of love that exists; friendly love also exists between a person and his/her friends of the same sex. In Much Ado About Nothing, we see how Beatrice defends and loves Hero while Claudio and Benedick are faced with situations where friendship comes in the way of love. In various circumstances, Beatrice is a pillar of support, friendship and love for Hero, especially when Hero is in love.
BEATRICE: “Yes, faith, it is my cousin’s duty to make curtsy and say “Father, as it please you.” But yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow, or else make another curtsy and say “Father, as it please me.”(2.1.52 -56)
In the above lines, Beatrice advices Hero to play her part and have a hand in the decision-making when it comes to selecting a husband for herself. Beatrice is concerned that Hero might end up with a man she is not attracted to as she is completely submissive to her father. In Act 4, Scene 1, it is Beatrice again who goes to the immediate rescue of Hero when she faints after hearing the false allegations against her. While Beatrice screams “Help, uncle! – Hero, why Hero!”Uncle!” (4.1.119-120) and pleads with Leonato to come help revive Hero, Leonato wishes Hero dead, saying “Death is the fairest cover for her shame that may be wished for.”(4.1.122-123). Leonato, Hero’s own father, prefers to believe the accusations of Claudio and Don Pedro rather than trust in his daughter, whose innocence he has been aware of since the day she was born. Hence, it is Beatrice who rushes to the aid of her cousin when Hero’s own father curses her to die.
BEATRICE: “No, truly not, although until last night I have this twelvemonth been her bedfellow.” (4.1.157-158)
Although Beatrice was not Hero’s bedfellow the previous night, she does not seem to need proof of her cousin’s innocence as she loves Hero like a sister and trusts her. However, the bond that Claudio has with his friends weakens when he falls in love. In Scene 1 of Act 2, we see Claudio distrusting Don Pedro when Don John falsely states that the Prince is in love with Hero and plans to woo her for himself.
CLAUDIO: “Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love.
Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues.
Let every eye negotiate for itself
And trust no agent” (2.1.173-177)
Claudio says that friendship cannot be trusted when it comes to love and there is no such friend who will support a person in love; there are only friends who steal your love and make use of it. After Hero is denounced, Benedick, in turn, briefly loses his friendship with Claudio as he is forced to choose between his love for Beatrice and his friendship. Beatrice asks Benedick to challenge Claudio to a duel and cut off his friendship with him if he desires to have a relationship with Beatrice.
In Antony and Cleopatra, the love between Antony and Cleopatra gradually results in the loss of Antony’s men/followers while Cleopatra’s followers continue to stand by her side. In the opening of Act 1 itself, we see how two of Antony’s followers, Demetrius and Philo, disapprove of the love that Antony shares with Cleopatra saying that the majestic character of Antony has been “transformed into a strumpet’s fool” (1.1.13-14). But his followers begin to abandon Antony only after he makes one unreasonable decision (fighting Caesar by sea when Antony’s army consists of footmen) followed by another (abandoning his men in the Battle of Actium to follow Cleopatra) which destroys his image beyond repair.
SCARUS: “I never saw an action of such shame.
Experience, manhood, honor ne’er before
Did violate so itself.” (3.10.26-28)
His followers (who previously loved him and fought for him) now feel betrayed that he left his men behind to die for no reason. Antony may have agreed to Cleopatra’s decision to fight Caesar by sea because he knows that Cleopatra feels betrayed as he married Octavia; he tries to make up for it and show his love to her by approving her decision (Bloom 25). However, this inappropriate action causes his men to feel deceived and lose trust in him and his power. He sends a schoolmaster as an ambassador to Caesar, which shows how vulnerable Antony is. His loss of authority is exhibited in the following lines:
“Of late when I cried “Ho!”
Like boys unto a muss kings would start forth
And cry “Your will?” Have you no ears? I am
Antony yet.”(3.13.113-116)
We also see Enobarbus, Antony’s most trusted follower, beginning to scorn Antony behind his back (or to the audience) rather than confronting him and questioning his judgment.
ENOBARBUS (aside): “I see men’s judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them
To suffer all alike. That he should dream,
Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will
Answer his emptiness!” (3.13.37-40)
In Act 3, Scene 13, Enobarbus plans to finally leave Antony when the vulnerable general needs him the most saying that Antony’s fury will be the downfall of him. He is finally defeated when his ships and forces desert him and join Caesar’s side in the last battle in the play. On the other hand, Cleopatra’s love and friendship with her women friends Charmian and Iras remains intact and the two women faithfully serve her and finally die with her. When Cleopatra receives news that Antony has married Octavia, she goes raving mad and it is Charmian who takes charge in controlling the situation. When the messenger is brought back in front of Cleopatra, Charmian prompts him to falsely report the beauty of Octavia to protect her Queen from further misery. They stand by her side till the end of the play, dying one after the other with their Queen.
CHARMIAN: “Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain, that I may say
The gods themselves do weep!” (5.2.354-355)
The love that Charmian feels for Cleopatra is shown in this final scene where she laments the death of Cleopatra, saying that the gods weep at the loss of the “eastern star” (5.2.366). Both of Cleopatra’s friends die the same way as her (by the poison of an asp), displaying that her women worship and follow her, even to death. Therefore, both plays show how women in love are supported and comforted by their friends while men in love are not able to balance friendship and love. Another characteristic of love we see in both plays is the two different idealizations of love seen in how Claudio and Cleopatra prefer to love the glorified images of their respective lover instead of loving them for their real personality.
In Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio loves Hero the only way he can within the limitations of society – by idolizing her; however, the purity of her image and his love for it disappears after he is given a mere suggestion of her disloyalty to him. At the beginning of the play, we see that Claudio immediately falls in love with Hero despite never having spoken to her even once.
“O, my lord,
When you went onward on this ended action,
I looked upon her with a soldier’s eye
That liked but had a rougher task at hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love.
But now I am returned and that war thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying I liked her ere I went to wars.”(1.1.290-300)
Claudio explains that this attraction only became strong after the end of war, showing that Claudio seems to be able to conveniently control when and where he can fall in love. Since he is not occupied with the war (and gaining honor and victory in the battlefield) anymore, he is currently free, so why not take on a wife such as Hero (the perfect Elizabethan woman and only heir to Leonato) who meets society’s expectations, and do it all under the name of love? He does not try to get to know her but just admires her from afar, calling her “a jewel” (1.1.177) and “the sweetest lady that ever [he] looked on” (1.1.183-184). He hesitates to ask for Hero’s hand in marriage and needs Don Pedro to woo Hero and ask her father for consent. Richard Henze asserts that “Claudio falls in love with Hero’s beautiful face but not with her feelings…and sincere human feeling is deficient” (192). While Claudio’s courtship follows all the Elizabethan traditions of wooing a woman, it is done in a most detached manner that removes any need of development of an emotional connection between the couple.
CLAUDIO: “Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear
In the rare semblance that I loved it first.” (5.1.262 – 263)
The above lines prove that Claudio loved the image of nobility and virtue that Hero portrayed rather than loving her for her character and personality. However, when Don John merely states (with no proof yet) that Hero has been disloyal to him, the disintegration of Claudio’s idealized love leaves him severely disappointed that she has shamed him in this way. Instead of consulting Hero personally, he begins to see her as a promiscuous woman and is determined to hate the woman he previously loved.
Likewise, in Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra (like other Romans) views and loves Antony as a Roman legend rather than a man and continues to love him even after flaws begin to appear in his image. Antony was and still is a “prominent figure of Roman history known for his own achievements, his character and his contemporaries” (“Marcus Antonius – The Man and The Myth”).
CLEOPATRA: “O Charmian,
Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he or sits he?
Or does he walk? Or is he on his horse?
O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse; for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st?
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm
And burgonet of men.”(1.5.22-29)
Cleopatra describes Antony to be a demi-Atlas carrying huge responsibilities on his shoulders; she describes him to be the weapon (arm) and the protection (burgeonet) of all the men in his army. Cleopatra is in love with the image of Antony as a Roman hero and is mesmerized by the power he yields and the respect he has earned (Bloom 21). She continuously scorns and taunts him as she knows that he would easily get bored by her if she were to act meek and obedient; she wants him to regard her as a powerful and feisty woman so that he would not be able to resist her (Bloom 41). However, Cleopatra’s idealization of love contrasts that of Claudio’s in the sense that Cleopatra continues to idolize Antony despite the fact that he begins to lose his power through the flawed decisions he makes as a general. In fact, Cleopatra still loves him even after he marries Octavia. He begins to make illogical decisions such as attacking Caesar and his army by sea when Antony’s own army has no experience in battling at sea in Scene 7 of Act 3. He, then, abandons his men mid-battle to follow Cleopatra who has fled the scene with her sixty ships. This results in Antony being “’Stroyed in dishonor” (3.11.56) and we begin to see his men abandoning him to join Caesar. He is not even able to commit suicide properly and pitifully keeps repeating “I am dying, Egypt, dying.”(4.15.22). Even though these instances show the incompetence of Antony, Cleopatra continues to worship him till Act 5, Scene 2 in which she dies.
CLEOPATRA: “His legs bestrid the ocean; his rear'd arm
Crested the world. His voice was propertied
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb,
He was as rattling thunder. For his bounty,
There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas
That grew the more by reaping. His delights
Were dolphin-like: they showed his back above
The element they lived in. In his livery
Walked crowns and crownets; realms and islands were
As plates dropped from his pocket.” (5.2.102 - 113)
Before she dies, Cleopatra compares Antony to the mythical character of Colossus, saying that in her dream, his arm surmounted the world as a crest. She intensifies this fabled image of Antony by illustrating how his power produced unlimited crops so that the people did not starve and kept people wealthy. This illustrates that even though Claudio and Cleopatra experience idealized love for their respective lovers, Claudio’s love transforms to hate when he receives news of Hero’s disloyalty while Cleopatra continues to love and worship Antony even though he loses his authority and power. In conclusion, throughout both plays, we see the similarities and differences in the nature of love between the three couples by how some love selfishly while others sacrifice to succeed in love, by how love between a pair of lovers influences the love/friendship between friends and by the contrasting idealizations of love by Cleopatra and Claudio. Shakespeare shows the nature of love to be quite similar in both plays even though one of them is a comedy while the other is a tragedy. This goes to show that whether the lovers live happily or die tragically, their love still lasts.

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REFERENCES
Tyldesley, Joyce. Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt. New Jersey: Basic Books, 2008. Web.
Kropp, Julia. “"There's beggary in the love that can be reckoned:" Romantic Passion in Romeoand Juliet, Much Ado about Nothing, and Antony and Cleopatra.”Williams College Libraries. 16 May 2008. Web.24 Dec. 2011. <http://library.williams.edu/theses/pdf.php?id=278>.

Shakespeare, William. Antony and Cleopatra. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2010. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2009. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare Through The Ages: Antony and Cleopatra. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Print.
Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare Through The Ages: Much Ado About Nothing. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print.
Henze, Richard. "Deception in Much Ado About Nothing." Studies in English Literature11.2 (1971): 190-198. JSTOR.Web.2 Jan. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/450059>.
“Marcus Antonius – The Man and the Myth.” All Empires Online History Community.Jan. 2007. Web. 24Dec. 2011.<http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=Mark_Antony_-_The_Man_and_the_Myth>.