Cleopatras personal attendant Essay Example

Cleopatras personal attendant Essay Example Cleopatras personal attendant Essay Cleopatras personal attendant Essay Charmian is Cleopatras personal attendant and she is very apt at dealing with Cleopatra and her moods. When Cleopatra says that she will kill the messenger Charmian proceeds to tell her to keep within yourself. The man is innocent. (page 71 line 76-7) which clearly calms Cleopatra because she apologises and says she was wrong, which, considering Cleopatras personality, is clearly not something she does often. Cleopatra seems to only ever admit that she may have been wrong to Charmian, which implies that they are actually very close and rely upon each other quite heavily.An example of this is when Cleopatra says my salad days, when I was green in judgement, cold in blood, to say as I said then (page 39 lines 76-8). Charmian and Cleopatra are two opposites, Charmian is not a very strong character and is technically very unimportant to everyone, where as Cleopatra is a very strong and overbearing character and is the most important person in Egypt. Enobarbus and Charmian have very similar roles with their principles.They would both be without status, were they not to have their principles, and they both seem to dote on them and have the utmost loyalty, which Enobarbus clearly shows when Antony tells him they must leave, and Enobarbus simply says I shall dot (page19 line 190). However after a closer look it is quite clear they are quite different characters. The main difference between these two characters is that Charmian stayed faithful to Cleopatra where as Enobarbus did not.Cleopatra and Charmian begin the play together, and they end it together, where as Antony and Enobarbus begin it together, and they end it very much apart. Although they begin the play as very good friends, as the play continues, Enobarbus starts to doubt Antony, he says to Antony look, they weep, and I, an ass, am onion-eyed after he talks to the men. Shakespeare delivers this line through Enobarbus, because he is really the only person who would be allowed to say this to Antony, the only one who is allowed to question Antonys judgement.In the end all four of these characters die. This ending is in fact very similar to that of another Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet. Cleopatra makes it known to Antony that she is dead, even though she is not, and Antony kills himself because of that, which then leads Cleopatra making that lie a truth. The way that they die is very similar mainly because they all do it by their own hand. Cleopatra and Charmian both die the same way, and Enobarbus and Antony both die the same way, which I think Shakespeare did to show that they were still connected, even though they were apart.Cleopatra is overcome with grief and applies a poisonous snake to her body until it bites and kills her, then Charmian also does the same once her mistress is dead. This shows that she obeys her mistress to the very end. I think that Charmian cares a great deal for Cleopatra because when Cleopatra and Charmian are both dead a guard tells Caesar that he found her trimming up the diadem on her dead mistress (page 227 line 336-7) which I think shows great care and affection towards Cleopatra. Enobarbus realises what he has done, leaving his master and his best friend, when he was most needed and decides to kill himself.Enobarbus last words are for his master, as he dies he says O Antony! O Antony! (page 171 line 23). Antony also dies by turning his sword on himself; however he first asked Eros to kill him, which shows that actually in the end, Enobarbus is stronger than Antony. These characters are all very similar, and yet very different and I think that, no matter how they ended up, there is still an unbreakable bond between the servants and their masters, and Shakespeare portrays this very well throughout the play.Even when there was doubt from Enobarbus, his last words were for Antony, which still shows his loyalty. Charmian lived for her queen and she died for her queen, loyal until the end. They both behave with their principles in very unique ways which just enhances their own characters and makes them stand out not only as being their principles closest servants but also as being their own individual person.