Messengers play a prominent role in The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra from the beginning of the play. Although their prominence fades as the play continues, there is still an unusual emphasis both on delivering messages, the messages themselves, and how the deliverer of messages is treated. In the last lines of Act I, while Antony is away from Egypt, Cleopatra resolves to write to him every day, even if she “unpeople[s] Egypt” making messengers to deliver her tidings, yet the play opens with Antony’s refusal to receive a message from Rome. Ceaser is concerned not with the problems of Rome but rather with the problems of the empire, meaning he receives most of his news via messengers. Cleopatra’s eventual suicide is blamed on “too slow a messenger” coming from Caesar, whose specific goal it was to stop Cleopatra’s suicide and bring her out of Egypt and to Rome. The play begins with a messenger and ends with a failed messenger (who must return to Caesar with the message that Cleopatra has died).
The play opens with a message from Rome, or rather, the play opens with a messenger from Rome who fails to deliver his message. The first important aspect of the messenger’s arrival is that he comes in upon a scene of romance between Antony and Cleopatra. This public display of their affection is being staged for the on looking Demetrius and Philo, as well as for the audience, who has been instructed (along with Demetrius) to “Take but good note, and you shall see I him the triple pillar of the world trasforme’d into a strumpet’s fool” and to “behold and see” (I.i.13). The audience, who has inherently come to the play both to “take but good note” and to “behold and see” is being told the content of the play in these opening lines, where they are also informed that Antony will be behaving foolishly because of his love for Cleopatra. Importantly, they are not told that Cleopatra will similarly be affected by her love for Antony. Immediately the audience is given example of just how much a “strumpet’s fool” Antony has become. Although his repartee regarding his love for Cleopatra is very clever, he, a great general and a Roman, is willing to discuss his love for the Egyptian queen in fanciful terms importantly of conquest. When Cleopatra asks him to “set a bourn how far to be belov’d” Antony responds that to do so he “then must…needs find out new heaven, new earth” (I.i.16-18). The first messenger enters when Antony is speaking, as he should be, of conquest to demonstrate his ability. In order to display is love to Cleopatra, Antony would have to set boundaries at the moon and the farthest ends of the earth. This is fanciful talk about conquest, but it highlights how far Antony has removed himself from his natural position in Egypt, which is that of a conqueror and discoverer. Antony has so far removed himself from his purpose as to not even recognize that his job is in fact to set up new boundaries. To do so only in terms of his love is to fail as the Roman that he should be.
In what Demetrius describes as a “slight” Antony refuses to hear the messenger who has come from Rome (I.i.55). His reason for not hearing the messenger seems merely to be to impress Cleopatra with his dedication to their love over his dedication to either Caesar, Fulvia (his wife), or to Rome over Egypt. In so doing he clearly panders to the will of Cleopatra, who tells him to listen to the news from Rome to see if “Fulvia, perchance, is angry; or, who knows/ If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent/ His powerful mandate to” Antony (I.i.20-22). In so doing she twice demonstrates her control over Antony, with reference only to his most recent willingness to “find out new heaven, new earth” in order to demonstrate his love. She insists that Antony hear the news, for fear either his wife or his ruler (both of whom should have a claim to his allegiance) request some action from Antony, but does so clearly in terms that imply subjugation to either individual is shameful. Fulvia is perhaps angry, and so hearing the messenger’s news will imply a subjugation to his wife not from love or respect but from fear, and the Caesar is noted for his youth, implying that subjugation thereto is subjugation to an inferior. However, Cleopatra’s critique does not end at the shame of being subject to Caesar, but also criticizes what Caesar might ask Antony to do, specifically to “take that kingdom, and enfranchise that” (I.i.23). This is making light not only of Antony’s purpose in Egypt (and the position he holds which makes him her equal as a foreign authority but a voice of Rome), but also belittles what he has just offered to do to demonstrate his love. She has both negated his poetic reality as well as his real function.
Cleopatra goes on to further question Antony’s autonomy as well as his dedication to her in her continued insistence that he hear the message. This two-fold criticism is very clever, and demonstrates to the audience exactly the power Cleopatra holds as a temptress. The paired criticism of questioning autonomy with his dedication to her is difficult for Antony to overcome; Antony has lost his self-determination, not through his subjugation to Rome, but rather because Cleopatra has the ability to “beck from the bidding of the gods command” Antony (III.iv.59). To the watching Demetrius and Philo Antony is merely demonstrating his own failure to maintain his own will by sending the messenger away unheard.
Cleopatra becomes more and more instant, emphasizing that she is “Egypt’s queen”, and insistently calling for “the messengers” (I.i.29, 32). The emphasis on her queenship in the same speech as she insists on hearing “the messengers”, who she will also call “ambassadors” highlights the locality of her authority while simultaneously calling to attention the remoteness of the authorities to whom Antony theoretically answers (I.i.48). It appears that Antony is not subject to Caesar, but rather to the ambassadors of Caesar, who is far enough away to have communicated via ambassadors rather than himself, whereas she, Queen of Egypt is present. Furthermore, she makes clear that she does not degrade Caesar with her estimation of his age, but rather degrades those who answer to the authority of such a youth. She calls to attention that Antony “blushest” and concludes that his blush is either “Caesar’s homage” or that “his cheek pays shame when shrill-tongu’d Fulvia scolds” (I.i.30-32).
Antony’s response is very dedicated and he eventually concludes that he will hear “no messenger but” that of Cleopatra (I.i.52). This resolution is odd as it is essentially treasonous or, at the very least, head strongly antithetical to his duty as a Roman delegate. However, in so doing, he temporarily satiates Cleopatra’s demands that he qualify his love, and so they can leave the scene. The still-watching Demetrius and Philo, are alarmed at how little respect Antony has shown Caesar, and, more than this, alarmed that Antony has confirmed the low opinion of him that stands with most Roman citizens who, up until their witness of this, they would have deemed liars.
The messenger in Act I, scene i, has only one line which is “News, my good lord, from Rome” (I.i.16). Furthermore, the news he brings is never listened to. Yet he becomes the subject of the entire scene, and the very simple act of not listening to news becomes the mode by which Antony’s subjectivity to either Rome or to Cleopatra is demonstrated. The situation highlights Antony’s predicament, as well as the fact that, though he may not always be subject to the will of Cleopatra, he has no recourse but to subject himself to some ruling body. Eventually he will hear the news from Rome, and it will set the course of the rest of the play, dictating that he must return to Rome and there break ties with Caesar. This first encounter with the messenger is significant in that it is staged. The audience is aware, as are Antony and Cleopatra, that the scene is being watched. Antony and Cleopatra perform for the audience, for Philo and Demetrius, but also for each other. It is only when they interact with the messengers away from each other that their real attitudes towards the events of he play become clear.
The messengers become Antony’s primary mode of self-knowledge and of understanding for his situation. The first time Antony is without Cleopatra, as well as without the rest of the court or without an audience, he enters hearing the message that has arrived from Rome (which he originally refused to hear). Importantly, he is in the process of hearing the message as he enters, and it is in fact the messenger who is speaking as they come on to the stage. The messenger reports that “Fulvia came first onto the field”, a line which is both predictive of the conflict between Antony and Caesar, and a harsh reminder that in his adulterous domestic bliss Antony has left his wife unattended to act in as masculine a way as she sees fit and as he has left ope to her. He recognizes that his roles in Rome are being threatened and usurped ad that “these strong Egyptian fetters [he] must break, or else lose [himself] in dotage,” a fact he both declares and which is evident in his desire to be appraised with news from Rome (I.i.124).
Fulvia is identified specifically as “thy wife” to Antony, emphasizing the degree to which he has lost domestic control. He seems to be aware that his adultery will have lead to domestic unrest, and can conclude the story without being told that he moved “against [his] brother Lucius” (I.i.98). However, what news arrives from the messenger and what Anthony seems to be less prepared for is the extent of the political unrest this causes. The messenger brigs news that “soon that war had end, and the time’s state made friends of them, jointing their forces against Caesar” (I.i.97-100). The calamity of the conflict, though not predicted by Mark Antony, does not seem to surprise him, and he is quickly able to inquire of the messenger “what worse” could have happened (I.i.100). This is a surprisingly eagerness for news, particularly bad news, which seems to contrast with a stubbornness against news seen in the previous scene and which seems to quickly demonstrate to what degree the previous interaction with Cleopatra was not a performance for Demetrius and Philo, but for Cleopatra and for himself.
Antony’s willingness, and in fact eagerness, to hear the ews from Rome will not only contrast specifically with his previous stance on news, but it will also specifically contrast with the stance taken by Cleopatra later in the play. Where Cleopatra will deal harshly with the barer of bad news, Antony specifically encourages the messenger to tell him the complete and true state of affairs because “who tells [him] true, though in his talk lay death, [he] hear[s] him as he flatter’d” (I.i.106). Where the bad news infects the teller” only in the case of the “fool or coward” (I.i.104). In later scenes this will be demonstratively untrue; bad news will infect the teller when the recipient there of is likely to punish the messenger (because the messenger will be punished but is quite bold).
As the message continues Antony’s reaction to it becomes increasingly unreasonable; although he would claim that the most critical message will find a friend in him, and although he commands the messenger to “mice not thy words”, he does not allow the messenger any opportunity to give him a full answer, instead composing a hyper-critical scenario wherein the messenger must “name Cleopatra…taunt [his] faults with such full license as both truth and malice have power to alter…” (I.i.118). It is unlikely that a messenger was dispatched from Rome to scold Antony; the difference in their social ranks makes this extremely improbable. In reality, though Antony looks on he who tells the truth as he who flatters, he looks on the truth with its full meaning, to wit, he sees his full culpability ad reflection in Fulvia’s behavior in a way that goes beyond merely the potential content of the message (I.i.112).
Antony encourages the entrance of the second messenger, paired with a statement about a need to break his “Egyptian fetters” (I.i.130). He seems to understand the connection between news from the outside and his subjectivity to Cleopatra, and is willig to be welcome eve to the worst news if it allows him to move further from her purview. With this understanding his sentiment that though he desired his wife’s death, he wishes now that she had not died, becomes more reasonable. Antony contemplates Fulvia’s death paired with an understanding that he “must from this enchanting queen break off”, (I.i.137). Seeing that “then thousand harms, more than the ills [he] knows, [his] idleness doth hatch,” and what he has been made aware of represents the content of only two messages, and does not speak to all the problems he would potentially know of, where he in Rome itself.
Antony not only bares but seeks the information brought through messengers; e both requests their messages ad receives them with digity. In so doing he demonstrates his autonomy from Cleopatra, both to himself and to the audience in a way he could not under the supervision of the queen. This shows how thoroughly the queen impacts his ability to reason ad to represent his own desires. Likewise, without Antony, Cleopatra has different self-control. Although in the first scene she deftly influences Mark Antony’s actions, without him she becomes unable to control her own, as demonstrated by her interactions with her own messengers.
Cleopatra also receives a messenger from Rome, this messenger bringing her news of Antony. Her treatment of the messenger that comes to bring her news of Antony is a stark contrast to the quiet acceptance and interest of Antony. Cleopatra’s behavior is irrational and confusing. Upon the entrance of the messenger Cleopatra welcomes “tidings…that long time have been barren”, but immediately begins to assume that the messenger brings news that “Antony’s dead” (I.i.24). Her rapid assumption of the worst possible new is not so different from Antony’s assumption that his name has been defamed in Rome, except that Cleopatra is not confirmed in her suspicion, and, importantly, seems to tie culpability for this potential news not to his would-be killers, but to the messenger that brings the tidings. Calling the messenger a “villain” she warns him that such news will kill her, and offers him gold for an alternative message. This behavior is irrational and without precedent, but what is more surprising is the messenger’s reaction.
Throughout Cleopatra’s irrational interaction with him, the messenger who brings news of Antony’s marriage stays dedicated to his purpose. He never reports falsely, although this would clearly be safer, and work better for his interests. Although Cleopatra wishes “a most infectious pestilence upon” him, he does nothing but ask her to be “patient” (II.v.60). Cleopatra’s rage is difficult to explain; she is clearly and vociferously violent against the messenger for a wrong done her by Antony, but for a wrong which is surprisingly alarming to her, given her seeming indifference in Act I, scene i. In the first scene, Cleopatra tempts Antony to find if he has been called home by his wife in anger, now the idea that he has remarried causes her to call this messenger a “horrible villain” and threaten to “spurn [his] eyes like balls before [her]” ad “unhair [his] head” (II.v.64). She is aware that her actions toward the messenger “lack nobility” and that it is wrong “that [her hands] strike a meaner than [her]self; since [she herself] have given [herself] the cause” (II.v.83).
In a sentence that precisely compares to Antony’s declaration that “Who tells me true, though in his tale lay death, I hear him as he flatter’d”, Cleopatra declares specifically that “it is ever good to bring bad news” (II.v.85). She is so clear that what she dislikes is not the news but the messenger that she argues “give to a gracious message a host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell themselves when they be felt” (I.i.88). Cleopatra would rather bad news be discovered than brought by messenger, although surely the effect of the news must be the same. Her relationship with the message itself becomes increasingly strange, as she asks again and again whether Antony has married, although she knows the answer, and although the messenger asks her if he should lie. She asks again and gain, and keeps receiving the same answer. Eventually she is so annoyed with the “fault” of the messenger that she orders him out of the room. However, immediately upon so doing she seeks further information from him, asking her servant Alexas “bid him report” (II.v.112).
Cleopatra’s irrational behavior is a specific contrast with that of Antony. Just as Antony hears the message he originally avoided when he is free of Cleopatra, so Cleopatra looses her wit when she is without Antony to control, and can no longer even control herself. Her erratic sensibility about the origins of the message, rather than its content or the message itself betrays a focus on pleasure and pain, and the sources thereof, rather than on reality or strategy, as seems to be the case with Antony. This is consistent with both of their roles in the tragedy.
