Part 33 (2/2)

_Cleo_ Be choked with such another emphasis!

Say, the brave Antony

_Char_ The valiant Caesar!

_Cleo_ By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth If thou with Caesar paragon again Mybut after you

_Cleo_ My salad days, When I was green in judgement: cold in blood, To say as I said then!”

Already we see and know her, her wiles, her passion, her quick tees, her subtle charms of person and of word, and yet we have not reached the end of the first act Next to Falstaff and to Ha piece of portraiture in all Shakespeare Enobarbus gives the soul of her:

”_Ant_ She is cunning past ht

_Eno_ Alack, sir, no; her passions arebut the finest part of pure love

_Ant_ Would I had never seen her!

_Eno_ O, sir, you had then left unseen a wonderful piece of work; which not to have been blest withal would have discredited your travel”

Here Shakespeare gives his true opinion of Mary Fitton: then coe cannot wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety Other wory Where most she satisfies”

Act by act Shakespeare makes the portrait more complex and more perfect

In the second act she calls for music like the dark lady of the Sonnets:

”Music--moody food of us that trade in love,”

and then she'll have no music, but will play billiards, and not billiards either, but will fish and think every fish caught an Antony

And again she flies to hed hihed him into patience; and next morn, Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed; Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst I wore his sword Philippan”

The char veracity!

The old and her bluest veins to kiss” When she hears that Antony is well she pours old on him, but when he pauses in his recital she has a mind to strike him When he tells that Caesar and Antony are friends, it is a fortune she'll give; but when she learns that Antony is betrothed to Octavia she turns to her women with ”I am pale, Charmian,” and when she hears that Antony is er down and hales him up and down the room by his hair When he runs from her knife she sends for him:

”I will not hurt him

These hands do lack nobility, that they strike A reat pride and the ain, h it be honest, it is never good To bring bad news”

She wants to know the features of Octavia, her years, her inclination, the colour of her hair, her height--everything

A th portrait, with the minute finish of a miniature; it sho Shakespeare had studied every fold and foible of Mary Fitton's soul In the third act Cleopatra takes up again the theme of Octavia's appearance, only to run down her rival, and so salve her wounded vanity and cheat her heart to hope The er, too, who lends himself to her humour now becomes a proper man Shakespeare seizes every opportunity to add another touch to the wonderful picture

Cleopatra appears next in Antony's ca with Enobarbus:

”_Cleo_ I will be even with thee, doubt it not