Themes
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
Six months have passed since Bel Affris announced Caesar’s arrival at the old palace on the Syrian border. Today, a military pageant is in full force outside the palace at Alexandria. In the east harbor, Caesar’s ship waits to take him back to Rome and Roman soldiers line up to keep the townsfolk under control. Other soldiers mill about, chatting casually. Belzanor, the Persian, and the centurion are among their ranks. Apollodorus comes forward, and the centurion lets him pass through. The soldiers hound Apollodorus for updates about Caesar. Apollodorus informs them that Caesar is still in the market with the Egyptian priests, whose lives he has spared. He also reveals that Ptolemy drowned in the Nile when Caesar’s men sank his barge.
Act V functions as an epilogue to the main content of the play. It provides closure by giving the audience a brief glimpse at the state of Alexandria following Caesar’s defeat of the Egyptian army and the civic uprising that followed Pothinus’s assassination. Apollodorus’s update that Caesar has spared the lives of the Egyptian priests reflects his continued advocation of clemency over vengeance. Ptolemy’s drowning (which really did happen—he likely died on January 13, 47 B.C.E.) leaves Cleopatra the sole ruler of Egypt.
Themes
Caesar, Rufio, and Britannus arrive. Everyone cheers. Rufio reminds Caesar that they have yet to appoint a Roman governor. Caesar suggests Mithridates of Pergamos, the soldier whose troops came to Caesar’s aid. When Rufio argues that they might need Mithridates’s help elsewhere, Caesar appoints Rufio governor. Rufio is shocked, since he doesn’t have any noble lineage, but Caesar reminds him that considers Rufio his son.
Mithridates of Pergamos was a nobleman from Anatolia, or Asia Minor, which encapsulated much of modern-day Turkey. Caesar’s decision to appoint Rufio governor despite his common lineage reflects Caesar’s progressive values. Caesar doesn’t believe that Rufio’s humble upbringing has any impact on his future as a leader.
Themes
Next, Caesar turns to Britannus, praising the bravery he exhibited in battle and declaring that Britannus has more than earned his freedom. Britannus protests, vowing that “only as Caesar’s slave [has he] found real freedom.” Britannus’s declaration moves Caesar, and he realizes that he can longer bear to part with Britannus.
Modern readers will recognize that Britannus would be objectively freer if were not Caesar’s enslaved servant, but the gist of his remark is that his exposure to Caesar’s principled, merciful, and progressive ideals have given his life meaning and purpose.
Themes
Next, Caesar turns to Apollodorus and informs him that he will leave Egypt’s art in his hands. Apollodorus gratefully accepts the responsibility. While Rome produces no art of its own, Apollodorus states, it is known to “buy up and take away whatever the other nations produce.” Apollodorus’s remark leaves Caesar aghast. “Is peace not an art? is war not an art? is government not an art? is civilization not an art?” he asks.
Caesar and Apollodorus’s brief debate parallels the argument Caesar has with Theodotus in Act II about the destruction of the library of Alexandria and the importance of history. Once more, Caesar suggests that art and history are secondary to progress and the advancement of society. Apollodorus’s remark about Rome’s tendency to “buy up and take away whatever the other nations produce” touches on the exploitation inherent in imperialist expansion. Rome—and Shaw’s contemporary British Empire—may advance their own civilizations, but this advancement always comes at the expense of the nations they colonize. Additionally, Apollodorus’s comment touches on the imperialist practice of looting cultural artifacts from the places they colonize. To this day, British museums display items that were forcibly taken from various former colonies.
Themes
Get the entire Caesar and Cleopatra LitChart as a printable PDF.
Caesar knows that he’s forgetting something but can’t place his finger on what it could be. Suddenly, Cleopatra approaches him. She’s dressed in black and has a grave, tragic expression on her face, which sets her apart from the joyous crowd. Caesar incorrectly assumes that Cleopatra is in mourning for Ptolemy. Cleopatra tells him he should talk to Rufio.
Cleopatra is dressed in black to mourn the death of Ftatateeta. Her tragic expression reveals the depth of her loss. Even though she and Ftatateeta antagonized each other, the bond Cleopatra had with her nurse was stronger and more affectionate than any relationship she appears to have with her living family members. Cleopatra suggests that Caesar talk to Rufio thinking that Caesar will condemn Ftatateeta’s murder like he has condemned previous murders.
Themes
Caesar turns to Rufio, who presents Caesar with a hypothetical dilemma. What would Caesar do, asks Rufio, if he were faced with a lion that wanted to eat him? Caesar replies that he would kill the lion. Rufio explains that Cleopatra had a “tigress” that killed men for her, and that he showed the tigress mercy by “only cut[ting] its throat.” Rufio’s explanation enrages Cleopatra. She informs Caesar that Rufio killed Ftatateeta. She’s further enraged when Caesar replies that Ftatateeta’s murder was not an act of vengeance, but a “natural slaying” about which he “feel[s] no horror.”
Cleopatra is upset because Caesar’s approval of Ftatateeta’s murder doesn’t align with his typical impulse to condemn all bloodshed. For Caesar, however, Ftatateeta’s loyalty to Cleopatra—a loyalty so fierce it drove her to murder—makes her a threat to the stability and peace he and his army have worked to establish in Alexandria. As such, Caesar considers Ftatateeta’s murder a justified, “natural slaying.” This justification—and the fact that Rufio committed the murder quickly and humanely—allows Caesar to “feel no horror” at Ftatateeta’s death.
Themes
Literary Devices
Cleopatra threatens to expose Caesar for the “unjust and corrupt” hypocrite that he is, but Caesar merely laughs at her childish behavior. Initially, Cleopatra is too upset to say goodbye to Caesar. However, she comes around when Caesar promises to send over Mark Antony to be her husband. Caesar says goodbye to Cleopatra and kisses her on the forehead before he boards the ship. Cleopatra weeps and waves her handkerchief at his ship as it sails through the harbor.
Cleopatra’s moral outrage strikes Caesar as funny, likely because Cleopatra has repeatedly shown that she has no qualms about violence when it doesn’t negatively affect her. It amuses Caesar that Cleopatra changes her tune about violence and retribution, deeming him an “unjust and corrupt” hypocrite the minute that violence and retribution no longer benefit her.
Themes
Literary Devices
