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"The triple pillar of the world transformed into a strumpet's fool." So says Philo, a friend and fellow soldier of Antony, in William Shakespeare's play, Antony and Cleopatra. He refers to Antony: a powerful Roman general, who has been seduced by Cleopatra's charms. This essay will discuss the characters of Antony and Cleopatra, and their respective servants - Enobarbus, Charmian and Iras, Octavius and Octavia, thus deciding whether male or females attain more importance in the play.

Early in the play, Octavius, enraged with Antony's negligence, refers to him as "A man who is the abstract of all faults.". Antony is a man who loses his power and Roman honour as a result for his love for Cleopatra. He "fishes, drinks and wastes the night in revel...", loses crucial battles to Octavius because of his blind passion for the Queen of Egypt and forsakes his Roman honour in fleeing the battle ground in fear for her safety. Shakespeare does, however, at many points remind the reader of Antony's greatness, calling him "The triple pillar of the world" and "noble" at many points. Cleopatra also praises him, calling him the "noblest of men" and saying that "his face was as the heavens". Shakespeare let's Antony regain his honour when he kills himself - his suicide and love for Cleopatra finally resolved. Cleopatra's character resembles Antony's in many ways: a great ruler who loses her power and finally takes her life out of love for Antony. She is described as a woman of "infinite variety" and "cunning past man's thought". She grows as a person throughout the play as she realises her love for Antony and becomes "noble". From a self-centred woman, she becomes selfless, recognising the fact the she is not a god and taking advantage of her mortality by killing herself. In making them so similiar, Shakespeare gives both genders equal importance and proving Antony right when he exclaims: we stand up peerless."

Enobarbus. Antony's greatest friend, betrays his master when Antony's fortune declines, leaving him before a critical battle. Ashamed later, by Antony's unconditional love and generosity, he kills himself, crying: "I am alone the villain

of the earth...". In taking his life, however, he proves his love and loyalty to Antony. Rather than a "master-leaver and fugitive", he