Character of Cleopatra

Cleopatra is the heroine of the play. She is all for love and love absorbs her whole being. The love raises her above the position of a mistress. Ventidius wishes to separate Antony and Cleopatra, and is biased against her from the beginning. Alexas knows that Cleopatra cannot separate herself from her love for Antony. Though she is in danger, she doesn't allowed Octavious Caeser to make her his queen. It is love all transcending. She cannot forget that it was Alexas who froced her to play with Dolabella so that she might make Antony jealous.

               

                Ah what will not a woman do - who loves?

                What means will she refuse, to keep the heart.

                Where all her joys are placed?

It is an intimate self revelation and he prize it above everything else in the play. Cleopatra would have made a good and ideal wife to any sincere man who is capable of loving in return. She was appreciated by Charmion and Iras.

            Cleopatra sacrificed honour, fame and the dignity of her royal house for love. Love means everything to her. She lives and dies for love. Shakespeare's Cleopatra has woman's wit and woman's wills. Dryden's Cleopatra is not a complex character. Her passions are made of the finest part of pure love. Cleopatra is a supreme creation of Dryden. It is the triumph of his art.