"Caesar and Cleopatra"

While working as a drama critic for the Saturday Review and indulging into iconoclastic attitudes towards
the greatest British icon, Shakespeare, Shaw's interest in writing his own version of Caesar and Cleopatra
emerged. However, between the first statement of interest in the subject in 1897, the complete failure of a
matinee performance for copyright, in Newcastle in 1899, and the first performance in London in 1907,
the play knew a lot of alterations, mainly because it was too long and the changes in the sumptuous stage
decorations also needed long intervals.
In the Prologue of Shaw's version of "Caesar and Cleopatra," the Egyptian God Ra tells of the conflict
between Caesar and Pompey and appreciates the former as being a representative of the new Rome.
Pompey, defeated, runs to Alexandria where he is killed. In An Alternative to the Prologue, the actual
scene is set: the year is 48BC and Caesar lands in Alexandria while Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy,
are fighting for the throne. Cleopatra driven away to Syria, has fled from her palace as Ftatateeta, her
nurse, tells the guards.
In Act 1 Cleopatra and the sacred white cat are hidden between the paws of the Sphinx, being afraid of the
incoming Roman troops and Caesar in particular. This is the place of their first encounter, none of them
being aware of the other's identity and both of them surprised at the revelation. In Act 5 Caesar, as
victorious conqueror, leaves Egypt for Rome after appointing Rufio governor of the province. Cleopatra
who is still angry for Rufio's having murdered Ftatateeta, is brightened up by Caesar's promise to send
Marc Antony to Egypt. In between these two acts, Caesar conquers Alexandria and after a failed attempt
to have Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy (also her husband in the Egyptian tradition) rule together, and
in the midst of murderous court intrigues, he defeats Ptolemy and his army. But most importantly, an
extraordinary metamorphosis occurs that turns Cleopatra from a spoilt and silly child, self-centred,
superstitious and ignorant, into the Queen of Egypt, somewhat more responsible, dignified and brave and
certainly endowed with a much greater understanding of human nature than before meeting the great
Roman leader. She no longer cringes under the domination of Ftatateeta, she has learned the masterservant relationship and does not refrain from abusing her nurse or ordering the murder of Pothinus.
Shaw realized that the spirit of the age has changed and, together with it, the public's conception about
heroism. Therefore he conceives Caesar as the perfect antihero, an aging, balding, sometimes vain
character but perfectly human in his weaknesses, hiding kindness and versatility in dealing with human
nature and such vast worldly wisdom under his mantle of glory. Thus Caesar's humanity paralleled with
his nobility, common sense and good sense of humour turn the despot into a really great historical figure,
a rounded character worthy of admiration. Caesar is thus great because the audience can recognize in him
their own humanity. Caesar's common sense and wisdom make Cleopatra seem childish and, on her way

to becoming a queen under Caesar's guidance, she regresses several times. She is fearful both of her
brother and of the Romans. She is nagging for attention in spite of Caesar warning her that he is firstly
responsible for his men and that "your life matters little here to anyone but yourself" (Act III).
When Caesar keeps her a prisoner in her palace, she presents herself to him wrapped in a carpet; she has
fits of rage and is unwisely proud or vengeful: she orders the killing of Pothinus when he reveals her as a
traitress who uses Caesar as a tool for gaining the throne of Egypt. But Caesar, who knows Cleopatra's
instinctive nature, has known her as malicious, blood-thirsty and hysterical, traits which are dominant in
her cultural heritage and being also aware of the fact that his teachings only superficially touch her,
considers this an acceptable reason. He had not become passion's slave and proved willing to help her in
her sadly neglected moral and political education. At the end of the play, Cleopatra appears to be an
unimpressive testimony of the powers of education. She is sorry to lose Caesar but glad he would not be
coming back. The latter, on the other hand, has a correct judgement of values and even those who had
supported Cleopatra, turn to Caesar for protection seeing the consequences of her action. His decisions
seem controversial at times, neither the Egyptians nor the Romans understand his attitudes of forgiveness
and clemency towards the prisoners and enemies but this only means that his perception of what is
important is largely different from that of the others and goes beyond appearances.
Shaw's Caesar is designed to stand in strong dramatic contrast with Shakespeare's Antony, the romantic
lover ready to sacrifice an empire to Cleopatra. Caesar's love is fatherly affection. "Caesar loves no one"
Cleopatra says (Act IV). He does not consider himself too old to love her, he is even vain enough to try to
cover his receding hairline by an oak wreath but he is balanced and self-sufficient. But most of all Caesar
is unique by the great amount of opposing traits Shaw endowed him with. Caesar, whom Cleopatra has
perceived as an elderly person maybe in contrast with the Sphinx's agelessness and her own youth, is
however, young in spirit, the vigorous commander in full control of his actions and leaving Egypt in
triumph. As a mortal and a private person he may be insignificant, worried about personal misgivings but
publicly his moral power and vigour are supported by the extraordinary authority of Rome which he
represents and with whose destiny his own destiny is undoubtedly connected. Even the way Caesar is
seen by the others is indicative of the complexity of his character. The Egyptians perceive him as the
conquering barbarian. Cleopatra fears that the Romans will eat all of them because "they all have long
noses, and ivory tusks, and little tails, and seven arms with a hundred arrows in each; and they live on
human flesh." When she actually meets him, she sees "an old gentleman" " rather thin and stringy" but
with a nice voice. Ptolemy, on the other hand, admires his courage and is impressed by his personality to
such an extent that he falters and forgets the lines he memorized for the moment the two of them were to
meet. In the presence of the Roman leader the young king is reduced to a useless pawn. To his own army,
Caesar is the representative of the New Rome, the ruler of the Civilized World.

In Shaw's opinion, the role of the historian was not to merely render facts but to interpret with the purpose
of achieving artistic effects. He admired Caesar as an efficient statesman and a celebrated hero and he
created a hero/person who is both original and naturally great. Surely there are quite a few inadvertences
between history and Shaw's interpretation of it: Cleopatra was nineteen at the moment of the invasion, not
sixteen and she bore Caesar a son; historians have differing opinions on the Library of Alexandria being
burned down accidentally when Caesar set his own ships on fire and Caesar himself was a much more
worldly character driven by ambitions and to a lesser extent the wise, balding, elderly person Shaw
presents. It is likely that he was the one who killed Pothinus whom he considered dangerous.
Many of Shaw's favourite themes are present in this play. Imperialism and leadership are dealt with in a
comic manner specific to Shaw. Cleopatra is attracted to Caesar for political reasons. He was a great
admirer of men of action and in Caesar he found a great leader who understood the importance of a
mature leadership and a good government. Caesar does not resort to vengeance and murder either
ostensibly or needlessly, on the contrary, he is a promoter of clemency. He often frees his enemies and
prefers to win them to his side. The Egyptians plot to kill Pompey as a favour to Caesar and instead of
showing gratitude for now his power is secured, Caesar lectures on the futility of vengeance. He is also
aware that the murder of Pothinus, ordered by Cleopatra, will enrage the Egyptians and disturb the
peacefulness he achieved, therefore he rebukes Cleopatra for it. On the other hand, Ftatateeta's murder by
Rufio is considered a natural one and does not arise Caesar's anger.
The changes that civilization brought about did not alter human character. " I must warn my readers that
my attacks are directed against themselves, not against my stage figures," Shaw said and in his notes to
"Caesar and Cleopatra" he provides the reader with the following comparison: "It must be borne in mind,
too, that Cleopatra was a queen, and was therefore not the typical Greek-cultured, educated Egyptian lady
of her time. To represent her by any such type would be as absurd as to represent George IV by a type
founded on the attainments of Sir Isaac Newton. It is true that an ordinarily well educated Alexandrian
girl of her time would no more have believed bogey stories about the Romans than the daughter of a
modern Oxford professor would believe them about the Germans (though, by the way, it is possible to
talk great nonsense at Oxford about foreigners when we are at war with them). But I do not feel bound to
believe that Cleopatra was well educated. Her father, the illustrious Flute Blower, was not at all a parent
of the Oxford professor type. And Cleopatra was a chip of the old block."
Shaw loved this play and often defended it against critics who, schooled in heroic representations of
historic figures, considered its plot fantastic or extravagant. He created a contrast between the mythic and
romantic approach to history and the unceremonious commonsense which may, however, be dramatic.
The result is an amusing paradox and an ironic interpretation of this exceptional page in the history of
mankind.

"I_must_warn_my_readers_that_my." Columbia World of Quotations. Columbia University Press,