The Woman of Infinite Variety

The Cleopatra-theme has always been a very attractive one in English literature. Four dramas deal with this theme–Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, Samuel Daniel’s ‘Cleopatra’, Dryden’s ‘All for Love’ and Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra.’ Of these, Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ and Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ are distinguished and popular.

Cleopatra was a very ancient Greek name–in Homer, that of the wife of Meleager, and in the legend of the Argonauts, that of the wife of Phineus. The Cleopatra of history was a Macedonian Greek by origin, and not an Egyptian as is generally believed, Historians tell us that she was not particularly beautiful. She was a versatile intellectual and a polyglot. In the words of Will Durant, “She added the intellectual fascination of an Aspasia to the seductive abandon of a completely uninhibited woman”.¹ She was an efficient administrator and an able diplomat.

Both Shaw and Shakespeare brought their personalities to bear upon the character of Cleopatra. Shaw did not glorify women as Shakespeare did in his plays. Shaw’s vision was a limited one, in that he disliked ‘Womanly woman’ and preferred the ‘New woman’. Cleopatra’s alliance with the emperors of Rome was more a political necessity than a sensual abandon. But when all is said, we have a feeling that her true character is hidden behind a tangle of tales.

Viewed in this light, it doesn’t take much time for one to realize that both Shakespeare and Shaw deviated considerably from the historical portrait or Cleopatra. The Cleopatra of history is neither so outrageously beautiful, like Shakespeare’s, nor so unromantic asShaw’s. But it need hardly be said that deviation from history is a dramatic necessity with Shakespeare as well as Shaw. The degree and nature of this deviation gives us an insight into the differences in their individual vision of Cleopatra. In his notes to ‘Caesar and Cleopatra,’ Shaw voices his disbelief in the education of Cleopatra, contrary to historical accounts about her:

“It must be borne in mind, too, that Cleopatra was a queen, and was therefore not the typical, Greek-cultured, educated Egyptian lady of her time...I do not feel bound to believe that Cleopatra was well-educated.”

Shakespeare’s deviation from history is two-fold. His fidelity to Plutarch’s distorted version of history is one, while deliberate deviation dictated by dramatic necessity is another. Of Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ Coleridge wrongly opines: ‘There is not one in which he followed history so minutely...’ There is no doubt that Shakespeare’s fidelity to historical authority is greatly exaggerated.

Shaw’s puritanism comes to blows with Shakespeare’s romanticism. In one of his numerous prefaces, Shaw says, “I have always been on the tide of the puritans in the matter of art.” In his preface to ‘Caesar and Cleopatra,’ Shaw ridicules Shakespeare. He takes an exception to what he believes to be in Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’

1) The romantic falsehoods about Cleopatra, and
2) The forced sublimity at the end as contrasted with the wanton debauchery at the start.

He writes: ‘The very name of Cleopatra suggests at once a tragedy of Circe, with the horrible difference that whereas the ancient myth rightly represents Circe as turning heroes into hogs, the modern romantic convention would represent her as turning hogs into heroes.” Then he continues: “Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ must needs be as intolerable to the puritan as it is vaguely distressing to the ordinary healthy citizen, because, after giving a faithful picture of the soldier broken down by debauchery, and the typical wanton in whose arms such men perish, Shakespeare finally strains all his huge command of rhetoric and stage pathos to give a theatrical sublimity to the wretched end of the business, and to persuade foolish spectators that the world was well lost by the twain”.²

Shaw’s play has the undeniable traces of a satirical comedy, while Shakespeare’s play is a romantic tragedy. The characters in these plays act accordingly. Shaw disagrees with Shakespeare’s treatment of the relationship of Antony and Cleopatra as tragic. He refuses to reduce Cleopatra to a temptress. He writes: “...I have a technical objection, to making sexual infatuation a tragic theme. Experience proves it is only effective in the comic spirit. We can bear to see Mrs. Quickly pawning her plate forlove of Falstaff, but not Antony running away from the battle of Actium for love of Cleopatra...whoever, then, expects to find Cleopatra a Circe and Caesar a hog in these pages, had better lay down by book, and be spared a disappointment.”

In general, Shakespeare makes a man face death for the woman he loves, but Shaw makes him face death for the woman he does not love–merely to put a woman in her place. In the words of G. K. Chesterton, “Shaw objects to that idolatry of sexualism which makes it the fountain of all forcible enthusiasts, he dislikes the amorous drama which makes the female the only key to the male. He is feminist in politics, but anti-feminist in emotion”. ³ Thus while Shakespeare’s Cleopatra enslaves Antony In his passion, Shaw never allows his Caesar to be subordinate to Cleopatra. In all ‘The Three Plays for Puritans’ there is a contempt for the ideal which demands that man should be willing to do more for the love of woman, than for the love of man or God. Curiously enough, William Archer accuses Shaw of being obsessed with sex, but the fact is Archer does not realize the final repudiation of Eros. In all cases, love is thwarted:

“Lady Cicely is saved by a bell; Judith’s passion is unrequired, and she gets over it; Cleopatra realizes that Caesar is above all.” ⁴

Shakespeare employs poetry of the highest order to raise his characters to the pedestal of glory, as when he makes Enobarbus speak to Agrippa of Cleopatra’s appearance on the river Cydnus. Enobarbus first described the barge and its glory. He compares the barge in which Cleopatra sat, to a ‘burnished throne’ with ‘purple sails,’ well perfumed. The oars of this fascinating boat were of silver. Having thus described the magnificence of the barge, Enobarbus goes on to describe the beauty and majesty of Cleopatra in her resplendent robes: “For her own person it beggar’d all description.” As a fitting close to the majestic description of Egypt’s queen in the preceding lines, he describes the boys who stood on each side of her as ‘smiling cupids.’

As opposed to this, “Shaw deliberately substitutes colloquial prose, for what he had once condemned as the melodious fustian and the mechanical lilt of Shakespeare’s blank verse”. ⁵

Shakespeare’s Cleopatra does not undertake a mission of independence as Shaw’s does. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a mature woman, independent of judgment, confirmed in her views. Shaw’s Cleopatra struggles to free herself from the tutelage of Ftatateeta and flower into a totally independent woman:

“...beneath her silent docility there has always been hidden the fire of an ardent desire–the desire to be her own mistress and have the power of life and death over subjects”.⁶

She fulfils her ambition only partially, for her withdrawal from the tutelage of Ftatateeta leads to anoter, namely, that ofCaesar. Her ideal of independence is thus left unfulfilled. It may be noted that this is not particular to Cleopatra alone, but to the other characters in Shaw as well–Dick Dudgeon, Brassbound and Hallam. Dick Dudgeon’s mission against godliness, Brassbound’s mission of vengeance and Hallam’s ideal of justice are equally unfilled.

In the matter of popularity, Shakespeare’s Cleopatra certainly outweighs Shaw’s. The world readily gives its vote for the sublime Bohemianism of Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, not for the ironic and puritanic portraiture of Shaw’s Cleopatra.

The opening of Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, offer a striking contrast. In the prologue to the former play ‘an August personage with a hawk’s head’ addresses the audience, requests them to be patient, asks them whether they crave for “a story of an unchaste woman.” He concludes: “Cleopatra is as yet but a child that is whipped by her nurse.” In Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, we are told by Philo, the friend of Antony how Anton, is fallen into the snares of Cleopatra. The Cleopatra of Shakespeare is not a child like Shaw’s. Philo is sorry for Antony, for, Antony, the great captain of great fights, has become the victim of ‘a cool gipsy’s lust.’ Philo’s agony reaches its highest in

“The triple pillar of the world transform’d
Into a strumptet’s fool”, ⁷

and when Anton, muses,

“These strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
Or lose myself in bondage,”

we understand the excessive degree of Cleopatra’s influence on Antony. It also gives us an idea of the personal magnetism and powerful spell of Shakespeare’s Cleopatra as opposed to the childishness of Shaw’s Cleopatra. In ‘An Alternative to the Prologue’ of Shaw’s drama, we see Belzanor’s contempt for Cleopatra whom he considers a child. When Bel Affris asks him:

“Will ye not await her command?”

he readily replies, as though in astonishment:

“Command! a girl of sixteen! Not we. At Memphis ye deem her a queen; here we know better. 1 will take her on the crupper of my horse. When we soldiers have carried her out of Caesar’s reach, then the priests and the nurses and the rest of them can pretend she is a queen again, and put their commands into her mouth”. ⁸

Rufio, the aide of Caesar, also considers Cleopatra, a child. When Apollodorus talks to Caesar of the present that he brought from the ‘queen of queens’ Rufio advises Caesar not to waste his time: “Have we time to waste on this trumpery? The queen is only a child”.⁹ In one context, Cleopatra calls herself a child. She tells Caesar amidst tears: “I am only a child.” Above all, Shaw himself has his own opinion to offer upon what he calls ‘the childishness’ of Cleopatra. He tells us in his “Notes to ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’.” :

“The childishness I have ascribed to her, as far as it is childishness of character and not lack of experience, is not a matter of years.”

Contrary to this, Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is anything but a child. She knows how to act in a given situation. A superb example of this is the opening of Act I, Sc, 3, where there is a short dialogue between Cleopatra and Charmian, her attendant, in which Cleopatra asks Charmian to see where Antony is, what he does, and tell her:

“if you find him sad,
Say I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That I am sudden sick: quick, and return.”

Charmian is shocked at what she considers a wrong method of Cleopatra to enforce love from Antony. She therefore advises Cleopatra not to ‘cross’ Antony, but is readily refuted in her argument by Cleopatra.

            “Charmian: In each thing give him way, cross him in nothing,

Cleopatra: Thou teachest like a fool; the way to lose him.”

Commenting on these lines, a critic observes:

“There is nothing in the behaviour of Cleopatra, the eternal courtesan, more characteristic than the deliberate forwardness ofmood which Shakespeare, in direct opposition to Plutarch’s account, invents for her”. ¹⁰

In Shaw’s drama, Bel Affris, however, recognises the potentialities of Cleopatra, though she appears at that time, only a child. He warns the Persian of the growing awareness of Cleopatra to her surroundings:

“Cleopatra is not yet a woman; neither is she wise.
But she already troubles man’s wisdom”. ¹¹

Shaw’s Cleopatra has the traits of a timid deer. Her cowardice is amply proved in her submission to Ftatateeta, her chief nurse. Ftatateeta virtually commands Cleopatra. But she knows whom Cleopatra fears more. When Bel Affris, Belzanor and the Persian threaten her with death, if she does not show where Cleopatra is hiding, Ftatateeta contemptuously tells them:

“Who shall stay the sword in the hands of a fool, if the high Gods put it there? Listen to me, ye young men without understanding. Cleopatra fears me; but she fears the Romans more. There is but one power greater in her eyes than the wrath of the queen’s nurse and the cruelty of Caesar; and that is the power of the sphinx that sits in the desert watching the way to the sea”. ¹²

When Caesar goes to Cleopatra in her desert-hiding at the foot of the miniature sphinx, and asks her at one time in their conversation,

“Cleopatra; shall I teach you a way to prevent Caesar from eating you?”

Cleopatra tells him, clinging to him piteously,

“Oh do, do, do. I will steal Ftatateeta’s jewels and give them to you. I will make the river Nile water your lands twice a year”. ¹³

In Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ it is the hero, Antony, who is transformed by Cleopatra and struggles to free himself, in vain; while in Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra,’ it is Cleopatra, who comes under the powerful influence ofCaesar and tries to assert herself. In Act IV. Sc. 13 of ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ Antony comes to realize the folly of his association with Cleopatra, though, by then, it is too late. He cries out in agony:

“Betray’d I am:
O this raise soul of Egypt! this grave charm,
Whose eye ’d forth my wars, and call’d them home;
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end,
Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss”. ¹⁴

While thus the influence of Cleopatra is very destructive to the career and fortunes of Antony in Shakespeare, the influence of Shaw’s Caesar on Cleopatra is of a constructive variety, in that it creates new hopes in Cleopatra and yields her the beginnings of political experiences, which she needs so badly and which she has been denied earlier due to more than one reason. “Indeed, almost everyone of Bernard Shaw’s earlier plays might be called an argument between a man and a woman, in which the woman is thumped and thrashed and outwitted until she admits that she is the equal of her conqueror”. ¹⁵ ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ is, from one point of view, a study in the evolution of character; and this play and ‘Major Barbara’ are the only exceptions to Shaw’s theatre of static character. The psychological action of the piece consists in the evolution under the guiding hand of Caesar, of the little Egyptian sensualist, in the period of plastic adolescence”. ¹⁶

Cleopatra herself, in her discussion with Ftatateeta and Pothinus, acknowledges the change that has come in her after her coming into contact with Caesar:

“Ftatateeta: It is not meet that the Queen remain alone with....

Cleopatra: (interrupting her) Ftatateeta! must I sacrifice you to your father’s Gods to teach you that I am Queen of Egypt, and not you?

Ftatateeta(indignantly): You are like the rest of them. You want to be what the Romans call a New Woman”. ¹⁷

After Ftatateeta thus recognizes the change in Cleopatra’s attitude it is the turn of Pothinus to acknowledge her transformation. In a short but sharp dialogue between her and Pothinus, Cleopatra puts the seal of her approval on Pothinus’ discovery by confessing herself the supposed change in her:

“When I was foolish, I did what I liked, except when Ftatateeta beat me, and even then I cheated her and did it by stealth. Now that Caesar has made me wise, it is no use my liking or disliking: I do what must be done, and have no time to attend to myself. That is not happiness, but it is greatness. If Caesar were gone, I think I could govern the Egyptians; for what Caesar is to me, I am to the fools around me”. ^{18  In} their love of music also, Shaw’s Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Cleopatra differ. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, true to her romantic inclinations, says in Act II, Sc. 5:

“Give me some music, music, moody food
Of us that trade in love.”

For Cleopatra, music is one of the goods in the commerce of romance. In this, she resembles Duke Orsino in ‘Twelfth Night,’ who says:

‘If music be the food of love, play on,...’ ¹⁹ That Shakespeare had a fondness for technicalities in music is evident, by the way he employs terms like ‘dying fall.’ Shaw on the other hand, disliked technicalities in music and his Cleopatra is an embodiment of his views in this. Shaw wrote some articles on music in ‘Star World’ and ‘Saturday Review.’ ‘Their great merit was that they really contrived to say something about music that consisted neither of platitudes nor of technicalities’. ²⁰ In his preface to the ‘Three Plays for Puritans,’ Shaw declares:

“I have. I think, always been a puritan in my attitude towards art. I am as fond of fine music and handsome buildings as Milton was, or Cromwell, or Bunyan; but if I found that they were becoming the instruments of a systematic idolatry of sensuousness, I would hold it good statesmanship to blow every cathedral in the world to pieces with dynamite, organ and all, without the least heed to the screams of the art critics and cultured voluptuaries.”

The scene where Shaw’s Cleopatra repudiates the jargon of music, is striking. ²¹ When the musician tells her that it takes four years for her to learn, and that she must learn the philosophy of pythagoras, she is provoked and is prepared to learn the way that her slave learns, for, it appears to her more natural.

Another interesting trait where Shaw’s Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Cleopatra differ, is the way they treat their servants and the manner in which they respond. The laconic brevity of Shakespeare’s Charmian and Iras sharply contrasts with the irresponsible talkativeness of their counterparts in Shaw. Charmian and Iras in Shakespeare show us a human sensibility and rational response to events and surroundings, while Shaw writes:

“Cleopatra’s ladies are all young, the most conspicuous being Chairman and Iras, her favourites. Chairman is a hatchet-faced tera cotta coloured little goblin, swift in her movements, and neatly finished at the hands and feet. Irass is a plump, good-natured creature, rather fatuous, with a profusion ofred hair, and a tendency to giggle on the slightest provocation”. ²²

The maid-servants of Cleopatra in Shaw behave in a very frivolous and irresponsible way as opposed to the sense ofloyalty with which Shakespeare’s characters behave.

In Shaw, Cleopatra’s servant treat her rather frivolously while in Shakespeare, Cleopatra’s maid-servants exhibit a genuine affection for her. An instance in Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ where Charmian indulges in a poetic outburst befitting her emotion and loyalty is that in which she bids farewell to the dead Cleopatra:

“In this vile world? So fare thee well.
Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A lass unparallel’d. Downy windows, close;
And golden phoebus never he beheld
Of eyes again so royal! your crown’s awry
I’ll mind it, and then play”.²³

Thus Shaw’s Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Cleopatra differ in many respects. While Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a tragic Character, Shaw’s Cleopatra is a comic portraiture. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra does not undertake a mission of independence as Shaw’s Cleopatra does. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra will always be more popular than Shaw’s. Shaw’s Cleopatra is childish, while Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a full-blown, mature woman. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra has a sense of honour and heroism as opposed to the timidity verging on the borders of cowardice, of Shaw’s Cleopatra. In Shaw, Cleopatra is influenced by the hero, while in Shakespeare’s Cleopatra influences the hero. In Shaw, the influence of Caesar on Cleopatra is very constructive, while that of Shakespeare’s Cleopatra on Antony leads to his ultimate destruction. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra evokes the respect and loyalty of her maid-servants, while Shaw’s Cleopatra is scarcely treated as a queen by her maid-servants. Shaw’s puritanism and Shakespeare’s romanticism give an entirely different colouring to the character of Cleopatra. Poetry of the highest order is bestowed on Shakespeare’s Cleopatra while colloquial prose is the medium of Shaw’s Cleopatra. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is for all, while Shaw’s Cleopatra is only for Rome.

References

¹ Will Durant: ‘The Story of Civilization-III Caesar and Christ.’ P. 187. Simon and Schuster, New York. 1935.
² Shaw: Preface entitled ‘Better than Shakespeare?’ P. 1. A. C. Ward’s edition (1901)
³ G. K. Chesterton: ‘George Bernard Shaw.’ P. 64, London. The Bodley Head. 1910.
⁴ Eric Bentley: ‘Bernard Shaw.’ P. 114. New Directions Books, New York and Connecticut. 1947.
⁵ Louis Kronenberger: “George Bernard Shaw: A Critical Study”. The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, New York. 1953.
⁶ Herbert Skimpole: ‘Bernard Shaw - The Man and his Work.’ P. 87. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., Lond. 1918.
⁷ ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ -Act I, Sc. 1. P. 6-10.
⁸ ‘An Alternative to the Prologue: ‘Caesar and Cleopatra.’ P. 24, 25. A. C. Ward’s edition.
⁹ ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act III. P. 91. A. C. Ward’s edition.
¹⁰ Sir Walter Raleigh: ‘Shakespeare.’ Macmillan & Co., Ltd., London.
¹¹ ‘An Alternative to the Prologue’, ‘Caesar and Cleopatra.’ P. 25. A. C. Ward’s edition.
¹² Ibid. P. 29.
¹³ ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act. I. P. 36. A. C. Ward’s edition.
¹⁴ ‘Anton, and Cleopatra’-Act IV, Sc. 12. P. 24.30.
¹⁵ G. K. Chesterton: ‘George Bernard Shaw’. P. 30.
¹⁶ Archibald Henderson: ‘George Bernard Shaw: His Life and Works. A Critical Biography’ P. 333. Hurst & Blackett Ltd., London. 1911.
¹⁷ ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act IV. P. 103. A. C. Ward’s edition.
¹⁸ Ibid. P. 104.
¹⁹ ‘Twelfth Night’-Act I, Sc. 1. P. 1-2.
²⁰ ‘Shaw’ by C. E. M. Joad. P. 54. Victor Gollancz, Ltd., London. 1949.
²¹ See ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act IV. P. 100. A. C. Ward’s edition.
²² Ibid. P. 99.
²³ ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ -Act V, Sc. 2. P. 312-17.