The main characters in Antony and Cleopatra are Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Octavius Caesar and Enobarbus. Shakespeare uses them to set Egypt’s love and pleasure against Rome’s duty and power. This page gives a profile and analysis of every important character. In addition, links to the plot summary show where each one acts.

Mark Antony

Antony is one of Rome’s three rulers and a famous soldier. In addition, he is generous, brave and loved by his men. However, his great weakness is his passion for Cleopatra. Because of it, he neglects his duty and loses his judgment. Even so, Shakespeare shows him as a noble man whose fall is a real loss.

Key traits: brave, generous, passionate, impulsive and proud.

How Antony changes: At the start of the play, Antony already lets Egypt distract him from Rome. Later, he returns to Rome and marries Octavia to keep the peace. However, he soon goes back to Cleopatra. At Actium, he abandons the battle to follow her ships, and as a result the shame of that choice breaks his confidence.

After that, his mood swings wildly. First, he wins a small victory and celebrates. Then he loses at sea again and blames Cleopatra for betraying him. Even so, his kindness to Enobarbus, when he sends his belongings after him, shows that his generosity survives in defeat. Finally, his death is both a failure and an act of love, because he believes Cleopatra has died and wants to join her.

Cleopatra

Cleopatra is the queen of Egypt and the most striking character in the play. Above all, she is witty, proud, jealous and unpredictable, and she tests Antony’s love again and again. At the same time, she thinks like a ruler and protects herself when danger grows.

Key traits: charming, changeable, jealous, shrewd and courageous.

How Cleopatra changes: Early in the play, she teases Antony and plays games with his feelings. In Act 2, Enobarbus praises her with the famous line that age cannot wither her nor custom stale her infinite variety. When she hears of Antony’s marriage, she reacts with jealousy. Soon afterward, she recovers her confidence because she learns that Octavia is no threat.

After Actium, however, she grows fearful. For example, she weighs Caesar’s offer before she finally refuses it. Later, she hides in her monument and sends a false report of her death.

By Act 5, she is calm and resolute. Because she will not be paraded through Rome as a prisoner, she dresses in her royal robes and chooses her own death. In her last speech, she says she is fire and air and gives her lower elements to the world, which shows that she sees death as a release. Therefore, many readers see her as both a flawed lover and a powerful woman who controls her final moment.

Octavius Caesar

Caesar is the third member of the triumvirate and Antony’s main rival. First, he is disciplined, cold and calculating. For example, he criticises Antony for choosing luxury over duty. Then he breaks the truce with Pompey as soon as it suits him. Finally, he defeats Pompey, accuses Lepidus of treason and imprisons him.

Caesar stands for Roman order and ambition, and he wins because he stays in control of his feelings. For instance, he uses his sister’s marriage as a political tool, and he reacts with anger when Antony leaves her. Yet he admires Cleopatra’s courage at the end and orders that she lie beside Antony. This last act gives him a human side. Nevertheless, he stays a ruler first.

Enobarbus

Enobarbus is Antony’s close friend and one of the most loved characters in the play. Above all, he speaks bluntly and sees events clearly. For example, he predicts that Antony will return to Cleopatra despite the marriage to Octavia. Moreover, his vivid description of Cleopatra on her barge shows how much she impresses even a hardened soldier.

Enobarbus also serves as the voice of reason. For instance, he warns Antony against fighting at sea, but Antony ignores him. Later, when he decides that Antony has grown weak, he joins Caesar’s camp. However, Antony’s kindness in sending his belongings after him fills him with shame, and he dies of guilt. As a result, his story shows that loyalty can matter more than reason.

Octavia

Octavia is Caesar’s sister, and her marriage to Antony is meant to seal the alliance between the two men. Moreover, she is gentle, dutiful and loyal to both her brother and her husband. Although she pleads for peace between them, she cannot compete with Cleopatra. In this way, her role shows how a political marriage fails when the heart belongs elsewhere.

Lepidus

Lepidus is the weakest of the three rulers. Although he acts as a peacemaker between Antony and Caesar, he has little real power. In the end, Caesar removes him by accusing him of treason and putting him in prison. This fate proves that only strength counts in this political world.

Pompey

Pompey rebels against the triumvirate and grows strong at sea. After the truce, however, he receives Sicily and Sardinia. At the feast on his ship, one of his men proposes killing the three rulers, but Pompey refuses because he values honour. Later, Caesar breaks the truce and defeats him.

Charmian and Iras

Charmian and Iras are Cleopatra’s attendants. Throughout the play, they support her with loyalty, humour and courage. In the end, they die beside her. Because of this devotion, Cleopatra’s death feels like a royal ceremony.

Eros

Eros is Antony’s faithful servant. When Antony orders him to kill him, however, Eros chooses loyalty over obedience and takes his own life instead. As a result, his act shames Antony into attempting his own death.

Key Relationships Between the Characters

Antony and Cleopatra: Their love is passionate and unstable. Each doubts the other, yet each dies because of the other.

Antony and Caesar: The two men are partners and rivals. Because their alliance depends on need, it collapses once Pompey is gone.

Antony and Enobarbus: Friendship ties them together, but judgment tests the bond. Although Enobarbus leaves, his death proves he never stopped caring.

What the Characters Represent

Shakespeare builds the play on a contrast between two worlds. First, Caesar and Octavia stand for Rome, with its discipline, politics and duty. In contrast, Cleopatra, with her court, stands for Egypt, with its passion, luxury and pleasure. Antony moves between the two, so he cannot belong fully to either. To see how this conflict shapes the whole play, read the themes page.

Continue Reading

• Antony and Cleopatra Plot Summary
• Antony and Cleopatra Themes
• Antony and Cleopatra Famous Quotes and Meanings
• Antony and Cleopatra Study Guide and Essay Questions