THE WOMAN OF INFINITE VARIETY
T. VISWANATHA RAO
The
Cleopatra-theme has always been a very attractive one in English literature.
Four dramas deal with this theme–Shakespeare’s ‘
Cleopatra
was a very ancient Greek name–in Homer, that of the wife of Meleager,
and in the legend of the Argonauts, that of the wife of Phineus.
The Cleopatra of history was a Macedonian Greek by origin, and not an Egyptian
as is generally believed, Historians tell us that she
was not particularly beautiful. She was a versatile intellectual and a
polyglot. In the words of Will Durant, “She added the intellectual fascination
of an Aspasia to the seductive abandon of a completely
uninhibited woman”.1 She was an efficient
administrator and an able diplomat.
Both
Shaw and Shakespeare brought their personalities to bear upon the character of
Cleopatra. Shaw did not glorify women as Shakespeare did in his plays. Shaw’s
vision was a limited one, in that he disliked ‘Womanly woman’ and preferred the
‘New woman’. Cleopatra’s alliance with the emperors of
Viewed
in this light, it doesn’t take much time for one to realize that both
Shakespeare and Shaw deviated considerably from the historical portrait or
Cleopatra. The Cleopatra of history is neither so outrageously beautiful, like
Shakespeare’s, nor so unromantic as Shaw’s. But
it need hardly be said that deviation from history is a dramatic necessity with
Shakespeare as well as Shaw. The degree and nature of this deviation gives us
an insight into the differences in their individual vision of Cleopatra. In his
notes to ‘Caesar and Cleopatra,’ Shaw voices his disbelief in the education of
Cleopatra, contrary to historical accounts about her:
“It
must be borne in mind, too, that Cleopatra was a queen, and was therefore not
the typical, Greek-cultured, educated Egyptian lady of her time...I do not feel
bound to believe that Cleopatra was well-educated.”
Shakespeare’s
deviation from history is two-fold. His fidelity to Plutarch’s
distorted version of history is one, while deliberate deviation dictated by
dramatic necessity is another. Of Shakespeare’s ‘
Shaw’s
puritanism comes to blows with Shakespeare’s romanticism.
In one of his numerous prefaces, Shaw says, “I have always been on the tide of
the puritans in the matter of art.” In his preface to ‘Caesar and Cleopatra,’
Shaw ridicules Shakespeare. He takes an exception to what he believes to be in
Shakespeare’s ‘
1)
The romantic falsehoods about Cleopatra, and
2)
The forced sublimity at the end as contrasted with the wanton debauchery at the
start.
He
writes: ‘The very name of Cleopatra suggests at once a tragedy of Circe, with
the horrible difference that whereas the ancient myth rightly represents Circe
as turning heroes into hogs, the modern romantic convention would represent her
as turning hogs into heroes.” Then he continues: “Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ must needs be as intolerable to the
puritan as it is vaguely distressing to the ordinary healthy citizen, because,
after giving a faithful picture of the soldier broken down by debauchery, and
the typical wanton in whose arms such men perish, Shakespeare finally strains all
his huge command of rhetoric and stage pathos to give a theatrical sublimity to
the wretched end of the business, and to persuade foolish spectators that the
world was well lost by the twain”.2
Shaw’s
play has the undeniable traces of a satirical comedy, while Shakespeare’s play
is a romantic tragedy. The characters in these plays act accordingly. Shaw
disagrees with Shakespeare’s treatment of the relationship of
In
general, Shakespeare makes a man face death for the woman he loves, but Shaw
makes him face death for the woman he does not love–merely to put a woman in
her place. In the words of G. K. Chesterton, “Shaw objects to that idolatry of sexualism which makes
it the fountain of all forcible enthusiasts, he dislikes the amorous drama
which makes the female the only key to the male. He is feminist in politics,
but anti-feminist in emotion”. 3 Thus while Shakespeare’s Cleopatra enslaves Antony
In his passion, Shaw never allows his Caesar to be subordinate to Cleopatra. In
all ‘The Three Plays for Puritans’ there is a contempt for the ideal
which demands that man should be willing to do more for the love of woman, than
for the love of man or God. Curiously enough, William Archer accuses Shaw of
being obsessed with sex, but the fact is Archer does not realize the final
repudiation of Eros. In all cases, love is thwarted:
“Lady
Cicely is saved by a bell; Judith’s passion is unrequired,
and she gets over it; Cleopatra realizes that Caesar is above all.” 4
Shakespeare
employs poetry of the highest order to raise his characters to the pedestal of
glory, as when he makes Enobarbus speak to Agrippa of
Cleopatra’s appearance on the river Cydnus. Enobarbus first described the barge and its glory. He
compares the barge in which Cleopatra sat, to a ‘burnished throne’ with ‘purple
sails,’ well perfumed. The oars of this fascinating boat were of silver. Having
thus described the magnificence of the barge, Enobarbus
goes on to describe the beauty and majesty of Cleopatra in her resplendent
robes: “For her own person it beggar’d all description.”
As a fitting close to the majestic description of
As
opposed to this, “Shaw deliberately substitutes colloquial prose, for what he
had once condemned as the melodious fustian and the mechanical lilt of Shakespeare’s
blank verse”. 5
Shakespeare’s
Cleopatra does not undertake a mission of independence as Shaw’s does.
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a mature woman, independent of judgment, confirmed
in her views. Shaw’s Cleopatra struggles to free herself from the tutelage of Ftatateeta and flower into a totally independent woman:
“...beneath
her silent docility there has always been hidden the fire of an ardent desire–the
desire to be her own mistress and have the power of life and death over
subjects”.6
She
fulfils her ambition only partially, for her withdrawal from the tutelage of Ftatateeta leads to anoter,
namely, that of Caesar. Her ideal of independence is thus left
unfulfilled. It may be noted that this is not particular to Cleopatra alone,
but to the other characters in Shaw as well–Dick Dudgeon, Brassbound and Hallam. Dick Dudgeon’s mission against godliness, Brassbound’s mission of vengeance and Hallam’s
ideal of justice are equally unfilled.
In
the matter of popularity, Shakespeare’s Cleopatra certainly outweighs Shaw’s. The
world readily gives its vote for the sublime Bohemianism of Shakespeare’s
Cleopatra, not for the ironic and puritanic
portraiture of Shaw’s Cleopatra.
The
opening of Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ and Shakespeare’s ‘
“The
triple pillar of the world transform’d
Into
a strumptet’s fool”, 7
and when Anton, muses,
“These
strong Egyptian fetters I must break,
Or
lose myself in bondage,”
we understand the
excessive degree of Cleopatra’s influence on
“Will
ye not await her command?”
he readily replies, as
though in astonishment:
“Command! a girl of sixteen! Not
we. At
Rufio, the aide of Caesar, also considers Cleopatra, a
child. When Apollodorus talks to Caesar of the
present that he brought from the ‘queen of queens’ Rufio
advises Caesar not to waste his time: “Have we time to waste on this trumpery?
The queen is only a child”.9 In one
context, Cleopatra calls herself a child. She tells Caesar amidst tears: “I am
only a child.” Above all, Shaw himself has his own opinion to offer upon what
he calls ‘the childishness’ of Cleopatra. He tells us in his “Notes to ‘Caesar
and Cleopatra’.” :
“The
childishness I have ascribed to her, as far as it is childishness of character
and not lack of experience, is not a matter of years.”
Contrary
to this, Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is anything but a child. She knows how to act in
a given situation. A superb example of this is the opening of Act I, Sc, 3,
where there is a short dialogue between Cleopatra and Charmian,
her attendant, in which Cleopatra asks Charmian to see
where
“if you find him sad,
Say
I am dancing; if in mirth, report
That
I am sudden sick: quick, and return.”
Charmian is shocked at what she considers a wrong method of
Cleopatra to enforce love from
“Charmian: In each thing give him way, cross him in
nothing,
Cleopatra:
Thou teachest like a fool; the way to lose him.”
Commenting
on these lines, a critic observes:
“There
is nothing in the behaviour of Cleopatra, the eternal
courtesan, more characteristic than the deliberate forwardness of mood
which Shakespeare, in direct opposition to Plutarch’s
account, invents for her”. 10
In
Shaw’s drama, Bel Affris,
however, recognises the potentialities of Cleopatra,
though she appears at that time, only a child. He warns the Persian of the
growing awareness of Cleopatra to her surroundings:
“Cleopatra
is not yet a woman; neither is she wise.
But
she already troubles man’s wisdom”. 11
Shaw’s
Cleopatra has the traits of a
timid deer. Her cowardice is amply proved in her submission to Ftatateeta, her chief nurse. Ftatateeta
virtually commands Cleopatra. But she knows whom Cleopatra fears more. When Bel Affris, Belzanor
and the Persian threaten her with death, if she does not show where Cleopatra is
hiding, Ftatateeta contemptuously tells them:
“Who
shall stay the sword in the hands of a fool, if the high Gods put it there?
Listen to me, ye young men without understanding. Cleopatra fears me; but she
fears the Romans more. There is but one power greater in her eyes than the
wrath of the queen’s nurse and the cruelty of Caesar; and that is the power of the sphinx that sits in the desert
watching the way to the sea”. 12
When
Caesar goes to Cleopatra in her desert-hiding at the foot of the miniature sphinx,
and asks her at one time in their conversation,
“Cleopatra;
shall I teach you a way to prevent Caesar from eating you?”
Cleopatra
tells him, clinging to him piteously,
“Oh
do, do, do. I will steal Ftatateeta’s
jewels and give them to you. I will make the river
In
Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ it is the hero,
Antony, who is transformed by Cleopatra and struggles
to free himself, in vain; while in Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra,’ it is
Cleopatra, who comes under the powerful influence of Caesar and tries to assert herself. In
Act IV. Sc. 13 of ‘
“Betray’d I am:
O
this raise soul of
Whose
eye back’d forth my wars, and call’d
them home;
Whose
bosom was my crownet, my chief end,
Like
a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose,
Beguiled me to the very heart of loss”. 14
While thus the influence of Cleopatra is very
destructive to the career and fortunes of Antony in
Shakespeare, the influence of Shaw’s Caesar on Cleopatra is of a constructive
variety, in that it creates new hopes in Cleopatra and yields her the
beginnings of political experiences, which she needs so badly and which she has
been denied earlier due to more than one reason. “Indeed, almost everyone of Bernard Shaw’s earlier plays might be called an
argument between a man and a woman, in which the woman is thumped and thrashed
and outwitted until she admits that she is the equal of her conqueror”. 15
‘Caesar and Cleopatra’ is, from one point of view, a study in the evolution of
character; and this play and ‘Major Barbara’ are the only exceptions to Shaw’s
theatre of static character. The psychological action of the piece consists in
the evolution under the guiding hand of Caesar, of the little Egyptian sensualist,
in the period of plastic adolescence”. 16
Cleopatra
herself, in her discussion with Ftatateeta and Pothinus, acknowledges the change that has come in her
after her coming into contact with Caesar:
“Ftatateeta: It is not meet that the Queen remain alone with....
Cleopatra:
(interrupting her) Ftatateeta! must
I sacrifice you to your father’s Gods to teach you that I am Queen of Egypt,
and not you?
Ftatateeta (indignantly): You are like the
rest of them. You want to be what the Romans call a New Woman”. 17
After Ftatateeta thus recognizes the change in Cleopatra’s
attitude it is the turn of Pothinus to acknowledge
her transformation. In a short but sharp dialogue between her and Pothinus, Cleopatra puts the seal of her approval on Pothinus’ discovery by confessing herself the supposed
change in her:
“When
I was foolish, I did what I liked, except when Ftatateeta
beat me, and even then I cheated her and did it by stealth. Now that Caesar has
made me wise, it is no use my liking or disliking: I do what must be done, and
have no time to attend to myself. That is not happiness, but it is greatness. If
Caesar were gone, I think I could govern the Egyptians; for what Caesar is to
me, I am to the fools around me”. 18 In
their love of music also, Shaw’s Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Cleopatra differ.
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, true to her romantic inclinations, says in Act II, Sc.
5:
“Give
me some music, music, moody food
Of us that trade in love.”
For
Cleopatra, music is one of the goods in the commerce of romance. In this, she
resembles Duke Orsino in ‘Twelfth Night,’ who says:
‘If
music be the food of love, play on,...’ 19 That Shakespeare had a fondness for technicalities in music is
evident, by the way he employs terms like ‘dying fall.’ Shaw on the other hand,
disliked technicalities in music and his Cleopatra is an embodiment of his
views in this. Shaw wrote some articles on music in ‘Star World’ and ‘Saturday
Review.’ ‘Their great merit was that they really contrived to say something about
music that consisted neither of
platitudes nor of technicalities’. 20 In his preface to the ‘Three Plays for Puritans,’ Shaw
declares:
“I
have. I think, always been a puritan in my attitude towards art. I am as fond of fine music and handsome buildings
as Milton was, or Cromwell, or Bunyan; but if I found that they were becoming
the instruments of a systematic idolatry of sensuousness, I would hold it good
statesmanship to blow every cathedral in the world to pieces with dynamite, organ
and all, without the least heed to the screams of the art critics and cultured
voluptuaries.”
The
scene where Shaw’s Cleopatra repudiates the jargon of music, is striking. 21
When the musician tells her that it takes four years for her to learn, and that
she must learn the philosophy of pythagoras, she is provoked and is prepared to learn the
way that her slave learns, for, it appears to her more natural.
Another
interesting trait where Shaw’s Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Cleopatra differ, is the way they treat their servants and the manner in
which they respond. The laconic brevity of Shakespeare’s Charmian
and Iras sharply contrasts with the irresponsible
talkativeness of their counterparts in Shaw. Charmian
and Iras in Shakespeare show us a human sensibility
and rational response to events and surroundings, while Shaw writes:
“Cleopatra’s
ladies are all young, the most conspicuous being Chairman and Iras, her favourites. Chairman is
a hatchet-faced tera cotta coloured
little goblin, swift in her movements, and neatly finished at the hands and
feet. Irass is a plump, good-natured creature, rather
fatuous, with a profusion of red
hair, and a tendency to giggle on the slightest provocation”. 22
The
maid-servants of Cleopatra in Shaw behave in a very frivolous and irresponsible
way as opposed to the sense of loyalty
with which Shakespeare’s characters behave.
In
Shaw, Cleopatra’s servant treat her rather frivolously
while in Shakespeare, Cleopatra’s maid-servants exhibit a genuine affection for
her. An instance in Shakespeare’s ‘
“In this vile world? So fare thee well.
Now
boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A
lass unparallel’d. Downy windows,
close;
And
golden phoebus never he beheld
Of
eyes again so royal! your crown’s awry
I’ll
mind it, and then play”.23
Thus
Shaw’s Cleopatra and Shakespeare’s Cleopatra differ in many respects. While
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a tragic Character, Shaw’s Cleopatra is a comic portraiture.
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra does not undertake a mission of independence as Shaw’s
Cleopatra does. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra will always be more popular than Shaw’s.
Shaw’s Cleopatra is childish, while Shakespeare’s Cleopatra is a full-blown,
mature woman. Shakespeare’s Cleopatra has a sense of honour and heroism as opposed to the timidity verging on the borders
of cowardice, of Shaw’s
Cleopatra. In Shaw, Cleopatra is influenced by the hero, while in Shakespeare’s
Cleopatra influences the hero. In Shaw, the influence of Caesar on Cleopatra is
very constructive, while that of Shakespeare’s Cleopatra on
References
1 Will Durant: ‘The Story
of Civilization-III Caesar and Christ.’ P. 187. Simon and
2 Shaw: Preface entitled ‘Better than Shakespeare?’
P. 1. A. C. Ward’s edition (1901)
3 G. K. Chesterton: ‘George Bernard Shaw.’ P. 64,
4 Eric Bentley: ‘Bernard Shaw.’ P.
114. New Directions Books,
5 Louis Kronenberger: “George
Bernard Shaw: A Critical Study”. The World Publishing Company,
6 Herbert Skimpole: ‘Bernard
Shaw - The Man and his Work.’ P. 87. George Allen
& Unwin Ltd., Lond. 1918.
7 ‘
8 ‘An Alternative to the
Prologue: ‘Caesar and Cleopatra.’ P. 24, 25. A. C. Ward’s
edition.
9 ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act III. P. 91. A. C. Ward’s edition.
10 Sir Walter Raleigh: ‘Shakespeare.’ Macmillan & Co., Ltd.,
11 ‘An Alternative to the
Prologue’, ‘Caesar and Cleopatra.’ P. 25. A. C. Ward’s
edition.
12 Ibid. P. 29.
13 ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act. I. P. 36. A. C. Ward’s
edition.
14 ‘Anton, and Cleopatra’-Act IV, Sc. 12. P.
24.30.
15 G. K. Chesterton: ‘George Bernard Shaw’. P. 30.
16 Archibald Henderson: ‘George Bernard Shaw: His
Life and Works. A Critical Biography’ P. 333. Hurst & Blackett
Ltd.,
17 ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act IV. P. 103. A. C. Ward’s edition.
18 Ibid. P. 104.
19 ‘Twelfth Night’-Act I,
Sc. 1.
P. 1-2.
20 ‘Shaw’ by C. E. M. Joad. P. 54. Victor Gollancz, Ltd.,
21 See ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’-Act IV. P. 100. A. C. Ward’s edition.
22 Ibid. P. 99.
23 ‘