all for love (summary)

موضوع: all for love (summary) الأحد مايو 08, 2011 4:38 pm

John Dryden's All for Love

CHARACTERS
Antony - Mark Antony the one who has an affair with Cleo when married to Octavia
Cleopatra - Queen of Egypt, has an affair with Antony
Octavia - Antony's wife
Ventidius - works under Antony and tries to get Antony to return to Octavia
Dolabella - supposed friend of Antony, accused of having relations with Cleo
Alexas - eunich of Cleopatra
Serapion - priest
Myris - priest
Charmion - servant of Cleo
Iras - servant of Cleo

SUMMARY
In the beginning, the two priests, Serapion and Myris, are talking about the military position of Rome and the Egyptians. They then begin to discuss the Queen's relations with Antony. Ventidius then enters discussing the same things and emphasizes the fact that he feels that Antony should never have met Cleopatra and that it is very important for him to end the relationship. Antony is greatly disturbed by the situation that he has gotten himself into and debates what his next action should be and considers who he most wants to be with. Ventidius continues to attempt to convince Antony to break off the relationship. Eventually, he achieves his objective and Antony seems determined to break off the relationship and so refuses to see Cleopatra because of the power that she holds over him. Both lovers are in pain because of the distance that lies between them. However most of the people around them feel that this is best as they have both lost their good reputations and Antony has lost his family. At one point, Octavia, Antony's wife, offers herself to be left somewhere and forgotten so that Antony can continue his relationship with Cleopatra without hindrance, but Antony refuses her offer because she only does it out of duty, not love. Finally, Antony chooses Dolabella, his greatest friend, to tell Cleopatra that their relationship must end. However, Dolabella has secretly been in love with Cleopatra and initially betrays his friend, trying to make Cleopatra angry at Antony. However, not long after his betrayal he admits to Cleopatra that he lied and that it was only out of love that he did so. During all this time, Alexas and Ventidius have been plotting, both trying to separate Antony and Cleopatra and destroy their relationship. Ventidius, seeing that Dolabella is alone with Cleopatra reports to Antony that the two had an affair, this infuriates Antony and he threatens both his best friend and his lover. Alexas during all this is creating a scheme of his own and tells Antony that because of his harsh accusations against her, Cleopatra has killed herself. At this news Antony is shocked and realizes that his dear Cleopatra was indeed innocent and at this decides to kill himself. Antony asks that Ventidius kill him in order to reconcile with Caesar. In a desperate attempt to prove to Antony that he was completely loyal during the time that he served under him, Ventidius kills himself instead of killing Antony. Seeing this Antony falls on his own sword. Cleopatra enters, too late to save her dear Antony, and finds him dying. They give each other parting words and then Antony dies. Cleopatra, at the thought of living without her love, decides to follow him into the next dimension and so kills herself in his presence. Her servants then kill themselves as the guards arrive to capture Cleopatra presumably under Caesar's orders.

COMMENTS
The characters, as written by Dryden, differ greatly from those that most people think of when they consider the character of Cleopatra for example. Cleopatra, specifically, seems very different in that in Dryden's version she seems to actually care for Anthony and does not seem to be out to get him or trick him into giving her his fortune. Antony as well seems less smitten with simply the beauty of Cleopatra and truly seems to see deeper into her soul. However, the scheming that is done behind the scenes by the servants of both Cleopatra and Antony is rarely thought of as a possible cause for the collapse of their relationship. Without the knowledge of the story of Antony and Cleopatra, people do not realize that it could possibly have been love that made the great Antony fall and not simply trickery and seduction on the part of Cleopatra. This type of realization is something that Dryden seemed to point out and emphasize throughout his version of Anthony and Cleopatra.

موضوع: رد: all for love (summary) الأحد مايو 08, 2011 4:56 pm

تسلم الايادى يا سوشى يا قمر
منتحرمش منك ابدا
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

موضوع: رد: all for love (summary) الخميس مايو 12, 2011 2:14 pm

يسلمووووو يا سوشى
ميرسى ليكى

مرسي يابنات لمروركم
نورتوني

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