In his play, Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents duty and desire on a metaphorical spectrum through the individual narratives of several characters including Antony, Cleopatra, and Pompey. In presenting duty and desire in Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare does so in such a way that duty is an expression of honor and desire is an expression of selfishness. To present this spectrum, then, Shakespeare uses Cleopatra to show desire, Pompey to show duty, and Antony to show conflict when duty and desire are exercised simultaneously. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayCleopatra represents desire in the form of her constant selfish pursuit of power and affirmation. An example where Shakespeare reveals this to the audience is when Cleopatra asks Antony to "tell her how much" he loves her, "if it be love indeed." Her request for Antony to prove her love shows the audience Cleopatra's tendency to act on her desires and, in this example, for the purpose of affirmation. Another way Shakespeare shows Cleopatra's desire is her interactions with one of her attendants in which she asks them to "see where he is, who is with him, what he does", and whether he, Antony, is particularly happy to report that she is "suddenly ill", or if she is particularly sad to report that she is "dancing". By ordering someone to psychologically manipulate Antony and report his exact state, Shakespeare shows the audience Cleopatra's desire for power and assertion, as he wants to assert that whatever Antony might feel or do as a direct consequence of something she herself has started. Shakespeare also takes pains to show the audience how little Cleopatra values ​​duty and demonstrates this through Cleopatra's reaction to Antony's marriage to Octavia. Cleopatra bursts into the dialogue by saying: "dissolve Egypt in the Nile" and calls on the inhabitants of Egypt, her followers, to "turn everyone into serpents". This presentation of Cleopatra consolidates her representation of desire as she curses and condemns her own people and her land (symbol of her duty) simply because of the supposed failure of her personal relationship: the dissatisfaction of her desires. Antithetical to Cleopatra, Shakespeare presents Pompey as a character completely focused on duty and therefore honor. Early in the play, Shakespeare reveals Pompey's beliefs to the audience when Pompey proclaims that "if the great gods be just, they will assist the deeds of the most just men." Pompeo's beliefs are significant information for the public because they outline Pompeo's duty: to follow and honor his beliefs at all times. With the revelation of Pompey's beliefs as the basis, Shakespeare continues to elaborate the ideal of duty through the character of Pompey when Menas approaches him during the celebratory dinner with the triumvirates. Menas asks Pompey to "let him cut the cord", giving him the chance to kill the "three sharers of the world", so that once they cease to exist "all there is is yours". Shakespeare uses Menas in this scene as a temptation to try to persuade Pompey against his moral beliefs, thus testing his honor and furthermore his value of duty. Shakespeare allows Pompey to reveal his temptation to the audience when he replies "this you should have done and would not have spoken of it", and if Menas had done it, he would have "found it then well done". suggests analyzing how he would have reacted to Menas if he had done so without asking consolidates the temptation. However, the temptation shown by Pompeo does not necessarily do so.