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    The document summarizes several key themes in John Dryden's play "All for Love": 1) Passion is a central theme, as Cleopatra and Antony's love exceeds reason and leads them to make poor decisions that negatively impact their countries. 2) The personal and political are intertwined, as Antony abandons his duties to Rome to be with Cleopatra, damaging his reputation. 3) Other characters seek to manipulate and persuade Antony and Cleopatra for various political reasons.

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    The document summarizes several key themes in John Dryden's play "All for Love": 1) Passion is a central theme, as Cleopatra and Antony's love exceeds reason and leads them to make poor decisions that negatively impact their countries. 2) The personal and political are intertwined, as Antony abandons his duties to Rome to be with Cleopatra, damaging his reputation. 3) Other characters seek to manipulate and persuade Antony and Cleopatra for various political reasons.

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    55 views3 pages

    All For Love Themes

    Uploaded by

    Amritendu Maiti
    The document summarizes several key themes in John Dryden's play "All for Love": 1) Passion is a central theme, as Cleopatra and Antony's love exceeds reason and leads them to make poor decisions that negatively impact their countries. 2) The personal and political are intertwined, as Antony abandons his duties to Rome to be with Cleopatra, damaging his reputation. 3) Other characters seek to manipulate and persuade Antony and Cleopatra for various political reasons.

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    Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. More books than SparkNotes.

    Section Navigation

    All for Love


    by
    John Dryden

    0:00

    All for Love Themes

    Passion
    Perhaps the most important theme in the play, and what keeps Cleopatra and Antony in a magnetic pull towards
    one another the entire time, is passion. Both of the lovers feel passionately—in both a sexual and romantic sense
    —towards one another. The passion they feel for one another exceeds all reason, and it is what keeps Cleopatra
    and Antony continually making poor decisions on behalf of their respective countries.
    Passion, throughout the play, wins out against reason time and time again. Whenever Antony is on the brink of
    leaving Egypt once and for all, he is once again called back by his passion for Cleopatra. Likewise, at the end,
    after Antony has died, Cleopatra determines that she would rather die than live under Caesar. She chooses death
    over life because of her passionate love of Antony.

    The Political Ramifications of Love


    From the start, characters gossip about the political implications that Antony and Cleopatra's affair have had on
    the world. In this we see that their personal affairs are inextricable from the political realms in which they rule.
    Antony's love for Cleopatra has led him to abandon not only his family, but his country, and has wreaked havoc on
    his political reputation.
    Later in the play, Antony suggests that any success he has had is due to his love for Cleopatra. When he believes
    that Cleopatra is dead, he tells Ventidius, "I was but great for her; my power, my empire,/Were but my
    merchandise to buy her love;/And conquered kings, my factors." This suggests that any political success Antony
    had was due to his desire for Cleopatra, further conflating the personal with the political.
    Manipulation and Persuasion
    Many of the characters seek to manipulate or persuade one another in different ways. Ventidius tries to persuade
    Antony to leave Egypt several times in the play. Dolabella and Octavia also undertake to convince him to leave
    Cleopatra behind. Meanwhile, Cleopatra and her attendants, particularly Alexas, seek to strategize about how to
    keep Antony there. Time and time again, Alexas comes up with plots to keep Cleopatra and Antony together,
    manipulating information in order to ensure the union. Indeed, Ventidius does this also, persuading Antony that
    Dolabella and Cleopatra are having an affair when they are not.

    Power
    The play concerns two influential leaders, Antony, a Roman leader, and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. Both of
    these rulers wield a tremendous amount of power, but when the play opens, their power is faltering as a result of
    their affair. Cleopatra's attendants want her to continue her affair with Antony in order to sustain her power over
    Rome, while Antony's advisors want him to disengage from Cleopatra as he is neglecting his loyalty to the Roman
    republic. Thus, the force that is in direct conflict with love is power and its preservation.

    Jealousy
    In a last-ditch effort to win Antony back, Cleopatra takes Alexas' advice and makes an attempt to make him
    jealous. She judges that jealous love is not as pure as real love, but goes along with the plan to a point. Indeed,
    jealousy is a major currency and theme in the play, especially in terms of how it pertains to love. Antony is jealous
    of Cleopatra and Dolabella's connection, even though Dolabella is a trusted and beloved friend. Additionally,
    Octavia is jealous of the love that Antony gives so freely to Cleopatra, but refuses to give to her.

    Death
    By the end of the play, both Cleopatra and Antony choose death over a life apart. Antony commits suicide under
    the false belief that Cleopatra is dead. Then, seeing that Antony has killed himself, Cleopatra chooses to kill
    herself rather than face Caesar and his potential mercy. Both of the characters see a world in which the other is
    dead as an unlivable world, and so choose death. This is at once tragic and romantic, the ultimate sacrifice for
    one's beloved.

    Duty
    One of the main ways that Antony's advisors try to convince him to leave Egypt is by invoking the importance of
    duty. They often tell him that he needs to give up his individual romantic freedom in order to do what is best for
    Rome, but he is unable to pull himself away. Octavia, his wife, visits him and pleads with him that it is his duty to
    return to his family. She does not claim to be able to ignite the same passion that Cleopatra does, instead
    suggesting that it is her duty as a wife to remain loyal to him. Throughout the play, the Roman characters invoke
    the importance of duty, even when Antony is unable to access his own sense of obligation.

    How To Cite https://www.gradesaver.com/all-for-love/study-guide/themes in


    MLA Format
    GradeSaver "All for Love Themes". GradeSaver, 11 October 2021. Web. 11 October 2021.
    All for Love Questions and Answers
    The Question and Answer section for All for Love is a great
    resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss
    the novel.

    Refer to the historical background of “All write a C++ program which explain the All for Love
    For Love” concept of inheritance?
    Each of the novel's themes are covered in
    Dryden himself acknowledged that his Sorry, this is a short-anwer space for detail on GradeSaver's theme page for this
    1667 play All for Love is an imitation of literature. unit.
    William Shakespeare's Anthony and Asked by
    adnan k #1156398 Asked by
    Shama P #1117873
    Cleopatra, which was written in the early Answered by
    Aslan
    4 months ago Answered by
    jill d #170087
    8 months ago
    1600s). It is a heroic drama that follows 6/3/2021 6:48 PM 2/25/2021 7:26 PM
    many of the same story beats of
    Shakespeare's ...
    Asked by
    Abrar S #1157281
    Answered by
    jill d #170087
    4 months ago
    6/7/2021 5:20 PM

    Wikipedia Entries for All for Love


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