Throughout the first two acts of the play we have witnessed how Cleopatra has on a number of occasions manipulated Antony's behaviour and 'bewitched' him into prioritising her above everything else in his life.
             I will begin this essay by focusing on a severe example of this behaviour in Act III scene 7. During this scene Cleopatra tells Enobarbus that she wishes to be involved personally in the war
             "I will be even with thee, doubt it not.'
             Enobarbus does not agree with this behaviour and tries to dissuade Cleopatra because he knows that if she is present then Antony will be distracted.
             'If we should serve with horse and mares together,
             The horse were merely lost: the mares would bear
             Cleopatra refutes this statement by telling Enobarbus that she believes she should be present and Shakespeare presents her as very determined in this scene and alsso rather brave if not slightly naive. We feel sympathy for Cleopatra in this scene because as the audience we see her constant ambition for power and her feministic views, and here she is being undermined by Enobarbus purely because she is a woman. We can however also see the opposite case because Enobarbus has had to witness many occasions where Antony has succumbed to Cleopatra's wishes and he is predictably anxious of how vulnerable Antony's army will be if Cleopatra is present to distract him. Cleopatra eventually succeed in her argument and is obstinate that she will be at the scene of the battle.
             Act III scene 10 - At this point in the play Antony's army goes to war with Caesar's, and amidst the intensity of the fighting Cleopatra becomes scared and flees the scene. Antony, rather than persevere with the battle, follows his lover, leaving his troops with no leader. Although the Romans have a low opinion of Cleopatra as a person, they do not blame a woman for fleeing a battle. Instead they blame her for bewitching Antony and...