Within these two acts, we see Antony’s mood fluctuate from self-loathing to confident to an angry madman and then back to loathing himself. He goes back to war with Cesar and after winning on land, he celebrates prematurely only to lose at sea. When this happens, he is filled with anger and believes that Cleopatra has betrayed him. Threatening to kill her, Cleopatra leaves and locks herself away. The moment she tells Mardian to send word to Antony that she has died, I had a feeling that this scheme of hers to reclaim his love was not going to go according to plan. This scene also reminded of Romeo and Juliet, where one pretends to die but in the end both lovers end up dead due to their plans going awry.

What I don’t understand is that if Antony loved Cleopatra so much, wouldn’t he run to see her upon hearing the news of her death? It’s this once simple act that could have changed the entire play. The ending I feel was also a little prolonged .. and I’m not sure where the countryman came from. It’ seems all too coincidental that he had a poisonous snake with him. In the end it seems that everyone who was loyal to Antony and Cleopatra ends up dead; but we also see Cesars “love/admiration” (?) for Antony in his soliloquy after hearing about his death BUT he stops in the middle of it to question the Egyptian which I find odd.