Enter Cleopatra

ENOBARBUS  Hush, here comes Antony.

CHARMIAN                 Not he, the Queen.

CLEOPATRA                                       Saw you my lord?

ENOBARBUS  No, lady.

CLEOPATRA               Was he not here?

CHARMIAN                                         No, madam.

CLEOPATRA   He was disposed to mirth, but on the sudden

A Roman thought hath struck him. Enobarbus!

ENOBARBUS  Madam?

CLEOPATRA               Seek him, and bring him hither. Where’s Alexas?

ALEXAS           Here, at your service. My lord approaches.

Enter Antony with a Messenger

CLEOPATRA   We will not look upon him. Go with us.

Exeunt all but Antony and the Messenger      (1.2.65-72)

 

Why does Enobarbus mistake Cleopatra for Antony? Editors disagree. Is it that he expects the two of them to be inseparable, one always accompanied by, necessitating the other? Perhaps. That might make sense of the rather lost and drifting Cleopatra who enters here, looking for Antony: Saw you my lord? It’s a low-key, straightforward request for information, no extravagant epithets here. No, lady: Enobarbus partly picks up on lord, to which lady is the obvious counterpart, but it’s also a reply in keeping with how ordinary Cleopatra is being, not the great queen, but a woman looking for her partner, perhaps her husband, even, which is what my lord can also specifically suggest here. (It’s further ironized by the way in which Cleopatra so very obviously dominated their relationship in the previous scene.) Are you sure, was he not here? I thought I saw him… No, madam; Charmian is firm. I’ve lost him, replies Cleopatra, in effect: he was disposed to mirth, the fun was just getting started, we had great plans for the evening—and then, on the sudden, a Roman thought hath struck him. Groan, Rome; this is tilting back towards the familiar Cleopatra, sardonic and dismissive. A Roman thought: duty, both political and marital. Quelle bore!Antony’s conscience has got the better of him (yet again, is perhaps the implication). And so, Enobarbus! (the other Roman, who might be able to reclaim Antony from his sense of duty.) Seek him and bring him hither. A similar instruction is surely about to be given to Alexas, but it’s pre-empted: see, my lord approaches. And Cleopatra’s back in control, of herself and the scene; can’t show her vulnerability, that she momentarily felt lost, not herself, alone without Antony. Magnificent and contrary once more: we will not look upon him. Go with us.