John Dryden
All for Love
Introduction
John Dryden is a great English author who is best known as a poet and critic. He was born in 1631 in Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire, England. Dryden wrote almost thirty plays and he was considered to be one of the great dramatists of his time. He was the eldest of fourteen children born to Erasmus Dryden and wife Mary Pickering. When Dryden was 15, he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar where his headmaster was Dr. Richard Busby, a charismatic teacher and severe .disciplinarian Dryden published his first poem “Upon the Death of Lord Hastings" in 1649 at Westminster. The next year he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he published a poem in honor of a friend, John
Hoddesdon. Dryden married Lady Elizabeth Howard, the sister of his .friend Sir Robert Howard in 1663, with whom he had three sons Dryden was under contract to the King's Company. In 1677, he gave them "All for Love;" it is a heroic drama which is Dryden's best-known and most performed play. It is a tragedy written in blank verse and is an attempt for Dryden to show serious drama. It is an acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare’s "Antony and Cleopatra," and focuses on the last hours of the lives of its hero and heroine. Although its reception was not enthusiastic, it is generally regarded as his finest dramatic .achievement He was the first English author to earn his living by his writing. He produced a number of plays—Don Sebastian (1689), Amphitryon (1690), and Cleomenes (1690)—none of which was notably successful. He then turned to translating, which was proved to be more profitable. His greatest translations were probably the Satires of Juvenal and Persius (1692), the Works of Virgil (1697), and The Fables (1700), a collection of .tales from Ovid, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Geoffrey Chaucer Dryden died on 12 May 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster .Abbey ten days later
Summary The play opens with Serapion, a priest, who foretells of ominous omens, while others is worried about Antony and Cleopatra's relationship. One of them is Ventidius, a Roman general, who offers Antony's troops to leave Cleopatra. Though Antony is insulted by the offer, he nonetheless accepts. Cleopatra becomes frustrated by Antony's decision of leaving her and she tries to win him back. Despite Ventidius tries to dissuade her, Cleopatra succeeds to win Antony back. Antony's friend, Dollabella, returns and unites with Ventidius bringing Octavia, Antony's wife, and their two daughters to make up with each other. Octavia tells Antony that if he returns to her, the war between him and Caesar will stop. Antony agrees, and Cleopatra attempts to interfere with their reunion, and she argues with Octavia. In the end, Antony believes returning to Rome is the right decision, but he wasn't able to tell Cleopatra, so he sends Dolabella. Through a plot by Ventidius, Antony is nearly convinced that Cleopatra and Dolabella are in a relationship. When he expresses his desire to find Cleopatra innocent, Octavia leaves him. However, Antony does not believe Cleopatra's claims of innocence and leaves for Rome. Hearing of his impending return with the fleet, Cleopatra and Alexas flee and part ways. Antony is about to have a fight
with Ventidius, but then Alexas arrives and announces Cleopatra's death. Ventidius kills himself and Antony does the same. Cleopatra arrives to see Antony before he dies. Cleopatra then kills herself, and a .eulogy from Serapion follows
Characters Antony Mark Antony is a Roman leader who is torn between the sense of duty and the desire to seek pleasure, between reason and passion. Despite his greatness, he has conflicts in his personality. Moreover, these conflicts have eventually caused him to experience inner struggle that makes him confused on which concern would he choose to solve his complicated desires; Could it be friendship, family, or love? Nonethless, at the end of the play, he chooses his love, Cleopatra. He is passionate, .pessimistic, and inconsistent
Cleopatra Cleopatra is the queen of Egypt who is lovable, possessive, insistent, and sensitive. She is a highly attractive woman who once seduced Julius Caesar. Besides, Dollabella once fall in love with her charms. Regardless of the men who loved her, her heart only belongs to Antony. She adores him to death; she always clings with him anywhere. Cleopatra has a very strong personality; she is very well determined in her actions. She could make Antony choose her over family and friendship by her charms and deep love towards him. For example, when she made Antony change his decision and stay in Alexandria with Cleopatra (example). Although Cleopatra is strong, she is also very sensitive. When anything happens to her that hurts her especially from Antony. For example, when Antony decided to leave her she couldn't tolerate the thoughts of him leaving her and she tells her servants that she want to die because she find everything useless after Antony's leaving. That also shows how she adores Antony that she couldn't .imagine her life without him
Ventidius Ventidius is a war general who is a loyal friend to Antony. He is very faithful to Antony and he cares for him to obsession. He behaves in
ways that seek to efface Cleopatra from Antony's field of thought in order to resume his war against Octavius. He hate Cleopatra so much because he says that she is ruining Antony's life. He cares too much for ... Antony he always tells him to leave Cleopatra "
Ventidius' loyalty towards Antony is clear when he agrees to his request to kill him; however, he stabs himself. In addition, he tells him that it was the first time to lie to him and that he had had been faithful to him. That shows how truely he is faithful and loyal to Antony. which is shown in . the following quotation ,But think, 'tis the first time I ever decieved you "
If that may plead my pardon. And you, gods forgive me if you will, for I die perjured Rather than kill my friend" (Act 5, line 330)
Dollabella .Dollabella was once a close friend with Mark Antony
Octavia Alexas Alexas is a courtier of Cleopatra and usually gives her advice throughout the play. He is the motive force behind the main developments; he tends to create plots on his own. His plots always lead to destruction. For instance, when Alexas gave Cleopatra false advice which actually made things worse between Antony and Cleopatra. He tells her that she must arouse his jealousy by pretending that she has an affair with his friend, Dollabella. Therefore, she can :return Antony as her lover. He says Believe me; try " To make him jealous. Jealousy is like :A polished glass held to the lips when life's in doubt If there be breath, 'twill catch the damp, and show it." (Act 4, line 70)
.He is selfish and coward; all he cares about is his own benefits
Serapion
Serapion is a priest at the temple of Isis along with Myris. Although he is considered as a minor charcter in the play, he has an important role. He opens and closes the play. At the beginning of the play, Serapion .describes a number of protents and prodigies If he be vanquished " Or make his peace, Egypt is doomed to be A Roman province, and our plenteous harvests Must then redeem the scarceness of their soil." (Act 1, line 65) In this quotation, Serapion predicts that Egypt will be doomed. This .reflects on the war between Antony and Octavius in the end of the play
Charmion/ Iras They are devoted maids to Cleopatra; devoted enough to die for her. They could make anything for her sake. Accordingly, they kill themselves after Cleopatra dies because they see that their lives isn't meaningful without her existence. Which it is deduced from the ,following quotation ,Charmion: Whatever you resolve " .I'll follow even to death
Iras: I only feared For you, but more should fear to live without you." (Act 5, line 430)
Myris Myris is a minor character in the play. He is a priest at the temple of Isis in Alexandria. He is superstitious. He appeared at the beginning of the .play; he was talking about portents and progidies along with Serapion
Plot The play revolves around the love story between "Mark Antony and Cleopatra." At the beginning, the two priests, "Serapion and Myris," were talking about the military position of Rome and the Egyptians. Serapion was telling Myris a superstitious story that he saw the day before. Then they begin to discuss the Queen's relationship with Antony. Ventidius then enters discussing the same things and emphasizes the fact that he feels that Antony should have never met Cleopatra and that it is very important for him to end this ominous relationship. Antony was very worried about the events evolution which he has gotten himself into, and debates what is his next action should be and considers whom he wants to be with the most. Ventidius
continues to convince Antony to break off this relationship. Eventually, Antony achieves his objective and he is determined to break off this relationship. Therefore, he refuses to see Cleopatra because of the power that she have over him. Both lovers suffer because of the distance that lies between them. However, most of the people around them feel that this is best as they have both lost their good reputations and Antony has lost his family. From the other side, Octavia (Antony's wife) offers to leave Antony, so that he can continue his relationship with Cleopatra freely. But Antony refuses her offer because she only does it out of duty, not love. Finally, Antony chooses Dolabella, his greatest friend, to tell Cleopatra that their relationship must end. But Dolabella loves Cleopatra so he betrays his friend, trying to make Cleopatra angry at Antony. However, not long after his betrayal he admits to Cleopatra that he lied to her and that it was only out of love that he did so. During all this time, Alexas and Ventidius have been plotting both, trying to separate Antony and Cleopatra, so they can destroy their relationship. Ventidius, seeing that Dolabella is alone with Cleopatra; he reports to Antony that the two had an affair. This infuriates Antony and he threatens both his best friend and his lover. Alexas during all this is creating a malicious plan of his own and tells Antony that because of his cruel charges against her, Cleopatra has killed herself. At this moment, Antony realizes that his dear Cleopatra was indeed innocent, so decides to kill himself. Antony requests Ventidius to kill him in order to reconcile with Caesar. In a desperate attempt to prove to Antony that he was completely loyal during the time that he served under him, Ventidius kills himself instead of killing Antony. Accordingly, Antony falls on his own sword and dies. Cleopatra enters too late to save her dear Antony and finds him dying. They gave each other farewell words and then Antony dies. Cleopatra, at the thought of living without her love, decides to follow him into the next dimension, so she killed herself in his presence. Her servants then kill themselves .because the guards arrived to capture Cleopatra under Caesar's orders
Themes Love and Honor Antony's love for his beloved, Cleopatra, is very strong to the extent that he sacrificed everything he had, sending the Roman Empire into complete turmoil for her sake. Also, Cleopatra committed suicide because she was not able to contemplate life without Antony. Dryden's play, as its title suggests, focuses on the love between these two characters, and in particular the dignity that this love gives them. :Noticing the closing words of the play uttered by Serapion ,See how the lovers sit in state together " !As they were giving laws to half mankind ,Th' impression of a smile, left in her face
,Shows she d'yd pleas'd with him for whom she liv'd
And went to charm him in another world."
(Act 5, scene
The final words state, "No lovers lived so great, or died so well" suggests that true love is beyond all values; in addition, Antony and Cleopatra have made themselves great and famous through their love for each other. The description of the two dead lovers in the above quote is not condemnatory, but rather seems to grant them with an authority that allows them to "give laws to half mankind." The way in which Serapion says that they are "secure from human chance" suggests that they can be united with their love in a way that they were never able to during their lives because of fate. The theme of this play therefore .suggests that love is so valuable as to be worth whatever the price
Friendship and Betrayal Although Dryden's play All for Love is about the love between Antony and Cleopatra, a theme within the story is Antony's friendship with his officers and peers. For example, when Ventidius, one of Antony's greatest and most trusted friends, leaves his post in the Middle East and travel to Alexandria, where Antony is in seclusion, in order to give Antony aid and assistance. This is considered an act of true friendship, which shows how Ventidius care for his friend that he wanted to cheer him up from his loneliness and despair. In contrast, Antony betrays another close friend, Dolabella, by exiling him fearing that Cleopatra .might come to prefer Dolabella over himself Antony responds out of confusion and a sense of doom, having lost a battle at Actium, and wrongly accuses Ventidius of being a traitor. However, Antony comes to his senses enough and just in time to reassure Ventidius that his friendship is true and accepts Ventidius' .terms of assistance that Antony would not use On the other side of this picture of true friendship, Cleopatra's eunuch, Alexas, who is supposed to be her friend, is going behind her back to sabotage her plans and desires. Disapproving of the love between Cleopatra and Antony, Alexas tries to distract Antony's troops by encouraging a celebration then arranges a meeting between Cleopatra .and Antony to distract him from his promises and plans with Ventidius .Cleopatra sentences Alexas to death for his betrayal .Alexas : Oh pity me; and let me follow you .Cleopatra: To death, if thou stir hence. Speak, if thou canst
Antony himself betrays Caesar by going back to Cleopatra and not staying with Octavia. Antony leaves his troops behind during battle to .follow Cleopatra; complete betrayal to his own troops
Death and Loyalty The deaths take place within the play. They show "love" for one's country or loved ones. Antony kills himself after falling under the false .pretense that Cleopatra is dead Antony: No, not a minute — this one kiss more worth than all T leave to .Caesar .[Dies ] — Cleopatra: Oh, tell me so again I "And take ten thousand, kisses for that "word !My lord I my lord I speak, if you yet have being Sigh to me if you cannot speak I or cast !One look I do any thing that shows you live Moreover, his servant in an act of loyalty and honor to his country and master, and kills himself before Antony. Cleopatra is distraught over the death of her beloved Antony. She applies the asps' venom to her arm and falls to eternal death on Antony's chest. Her servants decide to follow their Queen in death. This shows how much The Egyptian servants are loyal to their Queen; they are not willing to serve anyone .but her
Conclusion
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