Throughout Antony and Cleopatra, the Nile river is frequently mentioned in discussion or utilized in figurative language as representative of fertility and abundance. In scenes featuring hedonism or debauchery, the river makes an appearance, becoming a motif associated with the same qualities Shakespeare affords Egypt and Cleopatra in the play.
In the passage below from Act 1, Scene 2, Antony swears on the Nile as a means of aligning himself with Cleopatra, pledging fealty to her and, by extension, the excesses and enjoyments she represents:
CLEOPATRA: O, most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia’s death, how mine received shall be.ANTONY: Quarrel no more, but be prepared to know
The purposes I bear, which are or cease
As you shall give th’ advice. By the fire
That quickens Nilus’ slime, I go from hence
Thy soldier, servant, making peace or war
As thou affects.
"Nilus" is the god of the Nile in Greek mythology. By aligning Cleopatra with the river, Antony aligns her not only with hedonism and excess, but with divinity. This alignment is in and of itself an excess, in the sense that it is blasphemous.
The Nile, in its excess, is also alluded to as a kind of presage to disaster by Charmian in Act 1, Scene 2:
CHARMIAN: E’en as the o’erflowing Nilus presageth
famine.
Charmian here makes the clear assertion that the Nile overflowing is a bad omen; similarly, the indulgence and hedonism of Cleopatra and Antony overflows and leads to disaster.
Throughout Antony and Cleopatra, the Nile river is frequently mentioned in discussion or utilized in figurative language as representative of fertility and abundance. In scenes featuring hedonism or debauchery, the river makes an appearance, becoming a motif associated with the same qualities Shakespeare affords Egypt and Cleopatra in the play.
In the passage below from Act 1, Scene 2, Antony swears on the Nile as a means of aligning himself with Cleopatra, pledging fealty to her and, by extension, the excesses and enjoyments she represents:
CLEOPATRA: O, most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia’s death, how mine received shall be.ANTONY: Quarrel no more, but be prepared to know
The purposes I bear, which are or cease
As you shall give th’ advice. By the fire
That quickens Nilus’ slime, I go from hence
Thy soldier, servant, making peace or war
As thou affects.
"Nilus" is the god of the Nile in Greek mythology. By aligning Cleopatra with the river, Antony aligns her not only with hedonism and excess, but with divinity. This alignment is in and of itself an excess, in the sense that it is blasphemous.
The Nile, in its excess, is also alluded to as a kind of presage to disaster by Charmian in Act 1, Scene 2:
CHARMIAN: E’en as the o’erflowing Nilus presageth
famine.
Charmian here makes the clear assertion that the Nile overflowing is a bad omen; similarly, the indulgence and hedonism of Cleopatra and Antony overflows and leads to disaster.
