Unit IV
John Dryden - All For Love
The story is about Antony and Cleopatra
Mark Antony was ruling Alexandria
Cleopatra is an Egyptian Queen
She was married to OctaviousCaeser.
She was a black Queen
Octavious Caeser fought against Alexandria and won the battle.
Antony took refuge in the temple.
Nile river was flooding - it was the first evil
Shrieking of the owl- another evil.
Antony's wife - Octavia - sister of OctaviousCeaser.
Total 5 acts
Third act - climax
Place - Actium - bigwar- 1000 ship
Antony's close friend, faithful friend - Ventidius
Antony call Ventidius as traitor
Villan in the play- Alexas
Famous jewel- Ruby Bracelet
studded with bleeding heart.
War in Actium
Dolabella is messenger sent by Mark Antony to bid farewell to Cleopatra.
Servant maid of Cleopatra is charmion, Iras.
Asps - serpants
Octavious send a messenger Serapion.
'All for Love" as a heroic tragedy.
The Heroic tragedy became very popular in the restoration age. It is about the passion of love between Antony and Cleopatra. The opening scene of 'All for Love' shows Antony's neglect of royal duties. Having suffered a defeat at Actium due to Cleopatra's fleeing from the battlefield, Antony has shut himself in the temple of Isis. He refuses to see anybody. He hates the very sight of Cleopatra. He says that he wants to live like a recluse in a forest.
Ventidius tells him that he need not despairs. If he gives up Cleopatra, there are thousands still ready to follow him. Pressed by Ventidius, Antony agrees to withdraw from Cleopatra and launch another war against Octavious. Antony now swings from love to duty, from passion to reason. But this does not last long. He swings once again back to love . When Cleopatra appears before him and convinces him of her steadfast devotion to him. She says that she showered all her love on Antony.
Regarding her fleeting from Actium, she argues that she was affected by womanly fear of violence and bloodshed and not by any desire to please Octavious. Finally, she shows him Octavious letter, offering to make her Queen of Egypt if she betrays Antony. Cleopatra says that she has totally rejected Octavious' offer. Antony once again comes back to her. Love triumphs over duty . At the sight of his children clinging to him, he swings back to Octavia. When he hears that Cleopatra has committed suicide in order to prove her loyalty, Antony regards life without Cleopatra as worthless and stabs himself.
Thus love rises above the demands of duty at the end. Antony dies, kissing Cleopatra. After his death, Cleopatra could have lived with Octavious. But she called herself Antony's wife and dies along her husband. She commits suicide with the help of deadly Asps. Like Shakespeare, Dryden also uses a rhyming couplet to express the superiority and sublimity of the lovers.
And fame to late posterity shall tell
No lovers lived so great, or died so well
The machinery of ghost and portents, description of the flooding of the Nile, a whirlwind opening graves and letting out ghosts are the features of the tragedy. Dryden conforms to the pattern of the Heroic tragedy. Passion surmounts reason. Thus ' All for Love ' fulfils the requirements of a Heroic tragedy.
Character of Antony
Dryden chose Antony as the Hero of this Heroic play. In the preface he writes, "The death of Antony and Cleopatra is a subject which represents unlawful love". The story of Antony and Cleopatra was very popular with the dramatists of the time. Dryden's play is based on Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Antony is a man of passions and he yields himself to the intoxication of love. Ventidius tries to inject into him a feeling for honour, but he cannot keep him at it long. Octavia brings him fair terms from her brother. Octavia says:
I'll tell my brother we are- reconciled;
There appears a conflict in Antony. He feels like surrendering to Octavia. We feel pity for Octavia, but there is more pity for Cleopatra. Antony is filled with jealously. When he knows that Dolabella sent by him, was making love to her. The result is the final break off between Antony and Octavia. He resumes fighting with Octavious. Antony thinks that he has been betrayed by Cleopatra:
Ungrateful Women!
Who followed me, but as the swallow- summer,
But now my winter comes, she spreads her wings,
And seeks the spring of Caesar.
Antony could not keep himself away from Cleopatra. The dialogue between Ventidius and Antony throws light on his character:
Antony: I will not fight, there is - more work for war
Venti: Caesar is at your gates.
Ant. Why, let him enter.
The theme of the Heroic play is contest between love and honour. The sentiment of honour in him seems to slumbering. It is awakened by Ventidius now and then. He is going to die to a Roman. He throws himself upon his sword but it misses his heart. Now a reconciliation is patched up between him and Cleopatra.
Character of Cleopatra
Cleopatra is the heroine of the play. She is all for love and love absorbs her whole being. The love raises her above the position of a mistress. Ventidius wishes to separate Antony and Cleopatra, and is biased against her from the beginning. Alexas knows that Cleopatra cannot separate herself from her love for Antony. Though she is in danger, she doesn't allowed Octavious Caeser to make her his queen. It is love all transcending. She cannot forget that it was Alexas who froced her to play with Dolabella so that she might make Antony jealous.
Ah what will not a woman do - who loves?
What means will she refuse, to keep the heart.
Where all her joys are placed?
It is an intimate self revelation and he prize it above everything else in the play. Cleopatra would have made a good and ideal wife to any sincere man who is capable of loving in return. She was appreciated by Charmion and Iras.
Cleopatra sacrificed honour, fame and the dignity of her royal house for love. Love means everything to her. She lives and dies for love. Shakespeare's Cleopatra has woman's wit and woman's wills. Dryden's Cleopatra is not a complex character. Her passions are made of the finest part of pure love. Cleopatra is a supreme creation of Dryden. It is the triumph of his art.
John Dryden - All For Love
The story is about Antony and Cleopatra
Mark Antony was ruling Alexandria
Cleopatra is an Egyptian Queen
She was married to OctaviousCaeser.
She was a black Queen
Octavious Caeser fought against Alexandria and won the battle.
Antony took refuge in the temple.
Nile river was flooding - it was the first evil
Shrieking of the owl- another evil.
Antony's wife - Octavia - sister of OctaviousCeaser.
Total 5 acts
Third act - climax
Place - Actium - bigwar- 1000 ship
Antony's close friend, faithful friend - Ventidius
Antony call Ventidius as traitor
Villan in the play- Alexas
Famous jewel- Ruby Bracelet
studded with bleeding heart.
War in Actium
Dolabella is messenger sent by Mark Antony to bid farewell to Cleopatra.
Servant maid of Cleopatra is charmion, Iras.
Asps - serpants
Octavious send a messenger Serapion.
'All for Love" as a heroic tragedy.
The Heroic tragedy became very popular in the restoration age. It is about the passion of love between Antony and Cleopatra. The opening scene of 'All for Love' shows Antony's neglect of royal duties. Having suffered a defeat at Actium due to Cleopatra's fleeing from the battlefield, Antony has shut himself in the temple of Isis. He refuses to see anybody. He hates the very sight of Cleopatra. He says that he wants to live like a recluse in a forest.
Ventidius tells him that he need not despairs. If he gives up Cleopatra, there are thousands still ready to follow him. Pressed by Ventidius, Antony agrees to withdraw from Cleopatra and launch another war against Octavious. Antony now swings from love to duty, from passion to reason. But this does not last long. He swings once again back to love . When Cleopatra appears before him and convinces him of her steadfast devotion to him. She says that she showered all her love on Antony.
Regarding her fleeting from Actium, she argues that she was affected by womanly fear of violence and bloodshed and not by any desire to please Octavious. Finally, she shows him Octavious letter, offering to make her Queen of Egypt if she betrays Antony. Cleopatra says that she has totally rejected Octavious' offer. Antony once again comes back to her. Love triumphs over duty . At the sight of his children clinging to him, he swings back to Octavia. When he hears that Cleopatra has committed suicide in order to prove her loyalty, Antony regards life without Cleopatra as worthless and stabs himself.
Thus love rises above the demands of duty at the end. Antony dies, kissing Cleopatra. After his death, Cleopatra could have lived with Octavious. But she called herself Antony's wife and dies along her husband. She commits suicide with the help of deadly Asps. Like Shakespeare, Dryden also uses a rhyming couplet to express the superiority and sublimity of the lovers.
And fame to late posterity shall tell
No lovers lived so great, or died so well
The machinery of ghost and portents, description of the flooding of the Nile, a whirlwind opening graves and letting out ghosts are the features of the tragedy. Dryden conforms to the pattern of the Heroic tragedy. Passion surmounts reason. Thus ' All for Love ' fulfils the requirements of a Heroic tragedy.
Character of Antony
Dryden chose Antony as the Hero of this Heroic play. In the preface he writes, "The death of Antony and Cleopatra is a subject which represents unlawful love". The story of Antony and Cleopatra was very popular with the dramatists of the time. Dryden's play is based on Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Antony is a man of passions and he yields himself to the intoxication of love. Ventidius tries to inject into him a feeling for honour, but he cannot keep him at it long. Octavia brings him fair terms from her brother. Octavia says:
I'll tell my brother we are- reconciled;
There appears a conflict in Antony. He feels like surrendering to Octavia. We feel pity for Octavia, but there is more pity for Cleopatra. Antony is filled with jealously. When he knows that Dolabella sent by him, was making love to her. The result is the final break off between Antony and Octavia. He resumes fighting with Octavious. Antony thinks that he has been betrayed by Cleopatra:
Ungrateful Women!
Who followed me, but as the swallow- summer,
But now my winter comes, she spreads her wings,
And seeks the spring of Caesar.
Antony could not keep himself away from Cleopatra. The dialogue between Ventidius and Antony throws light on his character:
Antony: I will not fight, there is - more work for war
Venti: Caesar is at your gates.
Ant. Why, let him enter.
The theme of the Heroic play is contest between love and honour. The sentiment of honour in him seems to slumbering. It is awakened by Ventidius now and then. He is going to die to a Roman. He throws himself upon his sword but it misses his heart. Now a reconciliation is patched up between him and Cleopatra.
Character of Cleopatra
Cleopatra is the heroine of the play. She is all for love and love absorbs her whole being. The love raises her above the position of a mistress. Ventidius wishes to separate Antony and Cleopatra, and is biased against her from the beginning. Alexas knows that Cleopatra cannot separate herself from her love for Antony. Though she is in danger, she doesn't allowed Octavious Caeser to make her his queen. It is love all transcending. She cannot forget that it was Alexas who froced her to play with Dolabella so that she might make Antony jealous.
Ah what will not a woman do - who loves?
What means will she refuse, to keep the heart.
Where all her joys are placed?
It is an intimate self revelation and he prize it above everything else in the play. Cleopatra would have made a good and ideal wife to any sincere man who is capable of loving in return. She was appreciated by Charmion and Iras.
Cleopatra sacrificed honour, fame and the dignity of her royal house for love. Love means everything to her. She lives and dies for love. Shakespeare's Cleopatra has woman's wit and woman's wills. Dryden's Cleopatra is not a complex character. Her passions are made of the finest part of pure love. Cleopatra is a supreme creation of Dryden. It is the triumph of his art.