Friday, June 24, 2011

In Act 1, Scene 5 of Antony and Cleopatra, what figurative devices are used to highlight the theme or message of the piece?

Although Shakespeare makes use of metaphor, personification, and apostrophe in this scene, his main element of figurative language proves to be hyperbole.  Antony and Cleopatra, after all, is a love story.  What better way to highlight this theme than with a scene of Cleopatra doting on her absent lover, Antony.  This is exactly what is happening in Act 1, Scene 5 of the play.  Shakespeare uses many metaphors here, such as when Cleopatra says, "Now I feed myself / With most delicious poison" as she speaks of Antony calling Cleopatra a "serpent of old Nile."  Cleopatra even ventures into personification and apostrophe (not to mention more metaphor) as she speaks to the absent horse that carries Antony:  "Do bravely, horse, for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st?  The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm / And burgonet of men."  However, the main figure of speech used here is hyperbole.  In fact, it is hard to find a line of Cleopatra's speech that does not contain hyperbole in this scene.  (The last example is also a metaphor of hyperbole regarding Antony's strength.)  When Cleopatra is told that she thinks of Antony too much, she replies, "O, 'tis treason."  When told that Antony is "nor sad nor merry", Cleopatra replies, "O well-divided disposition! . . . O heavenly mingle!"  Cleopatra quickly adds, "Who's born that day / When I forget to send to Antony, / Shall die a beggar."  When someone compliments Caesar, Cleopatra insists, "By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth, / If thou with Caesar paragon again / My man of men."  Ah, sweet infatuation, . . . always coupled with hyperbole.

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