Antony died on the bus this morning, Cleopatra died at lunch over some cheese and really really crusty bread. It's amazing what Shakespeare does to Antony towards the end of this play. We don't see much of him in his glory, but we hear reports of how he hasn't completely lost it yet. And then he does completely lose it. He even bungles his own suicide. It is sad.
That unremarkable post last night was on the theme that should feature tonight, the three act dirge for Antony. But, I already, Act 4 Antony-like, bungled that theme, so tonight I'll just talk briefly about the kinds of power at work in this play. Caesar has the calm, bureaucratic, irresistible kind of power that is soulless and infuriating and does win the day, not only in ancient Rome, but all the time. It's kind of like the power of the military industrial complex.
Cleopatra has the word-power, the Humbert Humbert power, only not evil, the F. Scott Fitzgerald power. And, it's combined with the Marilyn Monroe power.
Antony's power is a kind of primeval volcanic power, not controllable, even by himself. Sure, it lies dormant in Egypt for a while, being drunk all the time, having sex with Cleopatra. Then it erupts. Only, eventually, it kind of self-explodes.
Hmmm, what about the power of Enobarbus, Maecenas, etc? God, I hope its a good power, and a strong power. Because we're the follower people. They are us in that they represent our point of view in the play, they give us a way into the play. But also because, you know, historical parallels, socio-economic parallels. I don't think that anyone reading this blog really qualifies as one of the pillars of the world (I apologize if any of you are).
So, okay, Enobarbus kills himself. The other follower guys fade into the background. This doesn't bode well for us. Everyone commits suicide except Caesar. Bureaucracy, soullessness, wins out.
On that bright note, tomorrow we go to Hamlet, which promises also to be cheery.
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