Among Shakespearean depictions of women, it is perhaps Cleopatra's inexhaustibility that is the most elusive classification, which seems appropriate given the challenge's own of Antony and Cleopatra with regard to the dramatic genre. with its tragic, comic and historical elements. Shakespeare explores the paradoxical and constantly changing world we live in through this play and through the quicksilver Cleopatra herself, a woman of "infinite variety." While she appears for much of the first act as Antony's archetypal, politically astute and manipulative enchantress, forays into a more human Cleopatra hinder the ability to characterize her character as simply a wanton whore or a prostitute queen of East. “My salad days / When I was green with judgment, cold with blood” may seem an unusual statement from Cleopatra given her air of melancholic regret. Cleopatra seems to mourn her loss of innocence as she becomes a leader and sorcerer of men, but such introspection is rare in Antony and Cleopatra. Additionally, the absence of asides and soliloquies distinguishes this play from Shakespeare's work and is perhaps indicative of the playwright's turn toward realism in his later years.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay As part of this growing trend toward more realistic literature, Shakespeare places greater emphasis on the interconnectedness of political and domestic lives of Egypt and Rome. . Quick scene transitions between the extravagance of the sensual Egyptian court and militaristic Rome show the audience how vast the story of Antony and Cleopatra is, suggesting that, just as in reality, people have not time to monologue. It is in this rapidly changing world that Cleopatra is at home. Adapted to the ebbs and flows of life, Cleopatra's mutability and versatility allow her to switch easily between affectionate, shrewd, and lascivious. This is evident in the final lines of the first act. "There will be many greetings every day / Or I will depopulate Egypt", although in itself antithetical, closes a scene of playful, erotic banter and introduces a scene at Pompey's headquarters involving men "in battle dress" chatting military affairs. The following exchange between Antony and Caesar stays in Rome and in the political realm. Caesar, using rigid Roman language resembling iambic pentameter, takes an accusatory tone, often using the second person pronoun "you" to accuse Antony of abandoning his duty to the Empire - "Yet if you were there / practiced my state, your being in…” and “you were the word of war”, for example. This cut and parade of political machinations in a play of enlarged love and constant, unnatural juxtaposition of realpolitik with the erotic is used by Shakespeare to show how interconnected the political and domestic spheres are, thus reminding English audiences contemporary the effect of politics on daily life across the country. The aforementioned speed of travel across the Mediterranean Sea between Rome and Egypt between scenes also shows that this play, unlike many other works of Shakespeare which explore the human in a tragic hero, has a primary concern for the audience and that Antony and Cleopatra might therefore be a distant subject. more obvious critique of contemporary English politics. Although herself manipulative and often mocking, as seen in her incitements to Antoine two previous scenes -.