Throughout Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, readers are constantly thrust into the middle of a battle between Roman and Egyptian values. Antony, noble warrior of the Romans, is the character who seems to have the most difficulty between this dichotomy. He is constantly torn between reason (Rome) and passion (Egypt) and has difficulty making transitions. Cleopatra is the character who stays most true to her roots, but begins to adopt the values ​​of the other side towards the end of the story. She makes a smoother transition than Antony, which can be attributed to her confidence and open-mindedness. Antony is a constant source of back and forth while Cleopatra seems to possess Egyptian qualities until the end of the book, when the reader's eyes are opened to her new Roman ways. Shakespeare presents Antony as someone who was once very noble and respected. in the Roman Empire, but then as someone who was blinded by love and lost their sense of identity to an Egyptian queen. The Romans believed that Antony was a military hero, but he seems to have willingly abandoned his reason to pursue his passion (Cleopatra) in Act 1. Antony vacillates between the Western and Eastern paths, feeling influenced by both his duty towards the Roman Empire and its strong desire for pleasure. Readers see another example of Antony going back and forth in Act 2 when Antony dismisses Caesar's messenger and returns to Rome to rule his country. Another example of Antony's wavering feelings is when he marries Octavia to reestablish ties to his Roman roots and his association with Caesar, but he still longs to be with Cleopatra and eventually returns to her. In one of the final scenes of the book, when Antoine committed suicide, readers were truly... middle of paper... a whore. Cleopatra could have decided not to commit suicide and hoped that she could rely on her sexual appearance and favors to advance higher than Caesar or take control of Caesar. This would have been a decision based on emotion. Instead, she allowed Roman reason and pride to override her emotions and ended her life so as to escape the inevitable and join her noblest Antony in the future. beyond. While Antony and Cleopatra represented Roman and Egyptian values, Cleopatra transitioned a bit. better than Antoine. The degree of ambivalence Antony felt and the blindness he felt because of his love for Cleopatra could have made his terrible battle between Roman and Egyptian values ​​the symbol of an out-of-control pendulum. Cleopatra, on the other hand, used her self-confidence and assertiveness to make the shift from Egyptian to Roman values ​​less noticeable..