Nay…

What a tremendous lecture that was, so full of insight and meaning, beginning with calling attention to the very first word, “Nay.” It really is significant and I hadn’t noticed. That’s why I love listening to experts–I can glean in a short time some of what they have spent decades learning.
I was glad Gretchen brought up the crocodile, one of my favorite parts. And I sensed they were discussing so much more than the croc, though that is entertaining enough in itself. I thought Leipidus was trying to ‘figure out’ Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship. Just what WAS it, anyway? “It lives by that which nourishes it…” Sure an alligator does, but what about their love?
It, too, lives by what nourishes it, passion, absence, deception, game playing, they all keep the fire burning. “…and the elements once out of it, it transmigrates.” Really? Transmigrates?! That’s quite a word choice. Whether it refers to an Egyptian belief about animals, or the deeper symbolic hint that their love will be immortal, it’s a great line.

We have the historical Roman Anthony, “the triple pillar of the world,” and the Egyptian(mythic) Anthony, the “demi-Atlas of this earth.” Cleopatra sees him not only as heroic, but godlike. ‘Heroic’ is simply not enough for her. For in her estimation of his godlike stature, she, too, becomes godlike. And Cleopatra has a voracious appetite, not just for the things of this world. She is such a study in paradox–the contrast between Enobarbus’ picturesque golden barge speech, and then when she ‘hopped forty paces’ and lost her breath. She seemed so vulnerable in those few lines, this epic woman who, after all, pants, is human like everyone else. But she ‘runs out of breath’ like no one before or since her.
There are so many fascinating themes here, the self, manhood, womanhood, political posturing, power and rule, and ultimately… writing.
At first I thought Antony and Cleopatra were both so shallow. But now I have compassion for them. True, they probably caused a lot of grief for other people, but they are really victims of their own unawareness. They don’t really know themselves. And as with Lear, that’s where all the trouble lies.
Act IV, scene 14, line 9:
“That which is now a horse,
even with a thought
The rack dislimns and makes it indistinct
As water is in water.”
Water in water? Picture that. And that’s Anthony, not holding his shape, not knowing who he is.