Previous
Act 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Caesar and Cleopatra, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Romanticization of History
Vengeance vs. Mercy
Pragmatism vs. Sentimentality
Empire, Civilization, and Progress
Age, Experience, and Power
Summary
Analysis
A Roman sentinel stands guard outside the palace at Alexandria and looks across the harbor toward the lighthouse. He’s so absorbed in his work that he hardly notices when Ftatateeta, Apollodorus the Sicilian, and four Egyptian porters carrying rolls of carpet, approach him. Apollodorus calls out to the sentinel and criticizes the Romans’ inattentiveness—had Apollodorus not signaled his arrival, the sentinel would have been the fourth Roman guard who failed to notice his party. Unamused, the sentinel informs Apollodorus that the guards are watching the land and water, keeping their eyes peeled for Egyptian forces that might arrive to halt Caesar’s attack on the island of Pharos.
Presumably, Ftatateeta and Apollodorus are headed to the royal palace to deliver the carpets to Cleopatra. The middle of a heated civil war seems an odd time for them to do this, which suggests that they might be up to something—perhaps they’re hiding something inside the rolled-up carpets. Like many other characters in Shaw’s play, Apollodorus was a real historical figure. He was one of Cleopatra’s royal followers and supposedly helped her enter the palace of Alexandria to see Julius Caesar, ingratiate herself with him, and gain his support during the power struggle over the royal throne with Ptolemy XIII.
Active
Themes
Motioning to the rolled carpets, the sentinel asks if Apollodorus is a carpet merchant. The question offends Apollodorus, who is a patrician. Apollodorus explains that he has selected the world’s finest carpets to bring to Cleopatra so that she may choose how to decorate her palace. Nevertheless, the sentinel refuses to let the party through without the password.
Being a patrician, a culturally informed member of the aristocracy, is a central feature of Apollodorus’s identity. He resents the sentinel calling him a merchant because it suggests that he’s a culturally illiterate commoner. Shaw seems to use this character to poke fun at contemporary British culture, where “art for art’s sake,” or the philosophy that art should exist and be appreciated for its craft and beauty outside of fulfilling some social or political function, was a fashionable philosophy.
Active
Themes
As Apollodorus and the sentinel argue back and forth, Ftatateeta grabs the sentinel from behind. She orders Apollodorus to stab him through the throat. Other soldiers rush forward to defend the sentinel and disarm Ftatateeta. Ftatateeta is disappointed that Apollodorus didn’t kill the sentinel when he had the chance. The centurion orders his men to back down after Apollodorus informs him they are coming to the palace on Cleopatra’s orders. However, the centurion tells Apollodorus that nobody—not even the queen—will be allowed back into the harbor. Apollodorus and the others continue toward the palace.
Active
Themes
Cleopatra spots the approaching party and calls out to Ftatateeta from the palace window. She runs to greet them, ignoring Ftatateeta’s insistence that it isn’t proper for her to let men to see her. Cleopatra tells Apollodorus that she doesn’t have time to choose a carpet today and orders her visitors to fetch her a boat instead. Apollodorus complies, but the sentinel refuses to let them pass. Cleopatra orders Ftatateeta to strangle the sentinel. Apollodorus threatens the man with his sword. The violence enthralls Cleopatra, and she looks on excitedly from a distance.
Active
Themes
Get the entire Caesar and Cleopatra LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The centurion arrives and explains to Cleopatra that Caesar has ordered the Roman soldiers not to let her leave without his permission, and it’s his “duty” to obey Caesar. Apollodorus argues that “duty” is the term “a stupid man” uses when he is “doing something he is ashamed of.” Apollodorus attempts to bribe the soldiers into abandoning their posts with the promise of wine, but to no avail.
Active
Themes
Suddenly, Cleopatra has an idea. She asks Apollodorus if he’s willing to bring a carpet of her choosing to Caesar and take “great, GREAT care of it.” Apollodorus says that he can, and Cleopatra orders him to stay put while she and Ftatateeta run into the palace to select a carpet. Apollodorus remains outside with the Roman soldiers. He points ahead, observing that the Egyptian army is moving ahead with their goal to recapture Pharos. The centurion orders some of his men to stay put while the rest go with him to warn the south posts of the approaching Egyptian army.
Active
Themes
As the centurion and his men leave, the porters and Ftatateeta reappear with a carpet. Ftatateeta tells Apollodorus that the carpet is a present from Cleopatra to Caesar. It has crystal goblets and sacred pigeons’ eggs rolled up inside it and must be handled very delicately. Apollodorus pays the porters before leaving to beat the Egyptians to the lighthouse. Ftatateeta watches the boat drift away and begs the gods to “bear her safely to the shore.” The sentinel realizes that Ftatateeta has smuggled Cleopatra onto the boat in the rolled-up carpet. He curses her, and Ftatateeta praises the “Gods of Egypt and Vengeance.”
Active
Themes
Meanwhile, at the lighthouse, Rufio rests after the morning’s battle, eating dates out his helmet and drinking wine. Caesar stands behind him on the lighthouse balcony, peering anxiously into the distance. Britannus returns from the top of the lighthouse. He reports seeing messengers walking toward them from the island and sets off to meet them. Once alone, Caesar confesses his fear that the Romans will lose the battle. He wishes he had a better idea of how his soldiers across the embankment are doing. Rufio tells Caesar that men his age forget to eat, which could explain why Caesar feels so pessimistic about the war. Rufio offers his helmet of dates to Caesar, insisting he eat some. Caesar takes offense to Rufio’s comment about his old age but complies with his request. He feels immediately reinvigorated.
Active
Themes
Britannus returns and announces that their Rhodian mariners have obtained a bag of letters passed between Pompey’s party and the occupying army. He explains that the letters will show Caesar who his enemies are once and for all. To Britannus’s horror, Caesar orders him to burn the letters, reasoning that there’s no point in condemning men who have since proved themselves to be Caesar’s friends and allies. Caesar explains that he “do[es] not make human sacrifices to [his] honor, as [Britannus’s] Druids do” and throws the letters into the water.
Apollodorus approaches Caesar and Britannus outside the lighthouse and explains that he has sailed from Alexandria to give Caesar a gift from Cleopatra. The gift, a Persian carpet, is filled with pigeons’ eggs and crystal goblets and must be handled with care. Caesar orders Apollodorus to return to Alexandria and tell Cleopatra to stop goofing around, since he’ll be back at the palace later that evening. Apollodorus can’t return, however, since somebody threw a bag into the sea which landed on his ship, sinking it. Rufio orders the carpet to be maneuvered off the ship by the crane. Caesar backs away as the crane hoists the carpet into the air. The crane drops the carpet onto the center of the platform, and Rufio and Caesar remove the chain tying it to the crane. The men unroll the carpet, revealing Cleopatra. Caesar is pleased to see her.
Active
Themes
Literary Devices
Frazzled but unharmed, Cleopatra gets up, rests her head against Caesar’s chest, and begs him not to leave her to lead his soldiers into battle. Rufio angrily tells Cleopatra that the men will perish if Caesar doesn’t lead them, but Cleopatra insists that soldiers’ lives don’t matter. Caesar orders Apollodorus to take Cleopatra back to the palace. She protests, insisting that everybody there wants to kill her. Caesar tells Cleopatra that the soldiers’ lives are just as important as hers, so it’s essential that he’s there to lead them into battle.
Active
Themes
Britannus frantically calls down from the parapet to announce that the Egyptians have arrived at the barricade at the west harbor. Caesar bemoans the Romans stationed at the barricade who will now die due to his miscalculations. Rufio blames Caesar for letting Cleopatra distract him from strategizing effectively. Apollodorus returns from the shore. He informs the group that he has dropped the ladder into the sea. While this ensures that the Egyptians can’t reach the group, it also traps them at the lighthouse.
Active
Themes
Apollodorus tells the group that he can swim to the harbor and send a ship to retrieve them. Caesar suggests that the rest of them swim, too. Rufio points out that Caesar is twice Apollodorus’s age and might not be up for such strenuous activity. Rufio’s slight offends Caesar, and he decides to be the first of them to jump into the water. Caesar tells Rufio to throw Cleopatra into the water once Caesar rises to the surface and then jump in himself. Britannus can’t swim, so Caesar tells him to wait for the rest of them in the lighthouse. Caesar jumps into the water. Cleopatra squirms and shrieks as Rufio tosses her into the sea and then jumps in himself. After a while, Britannus hears cheering coming from the distant sea, signaling that the others have reached the harbor and secured a ship.
Active
Themes
