CHARMIAN    Please you retire to your chamber?

CLEOPATRA              Lead me.

He goes forth gallantly. That he and Caesar might

Determine this great war in single fight!

Then, Antony—but now! Well, on.

Exeunt (4.4.35-8)

Suddenly the stage is very empty and very quiet. Just Charmian and Cleopatra (although a production might supply other silent attendants). No more febrile excitement, flirtation, bravado. No men. No Antony. There needs to be a pause, I think, before Charmian speaks; not much to say, but something must be said, a decision needs to be made about what to do now. Please you retire to your chamber? Get some privacy, get some sleep, withdraw—and wait. Nothing more to be done about this battle. Just the waiting; it’s what women do. Ancient epic is full of heroes who self-define by leaving women behind, after all… Lead me, is all that Cleopatra can reply at first. You’ll have to take me there. All the energy has gone out of her, all the capacity to self-direct. And a heart-breaking little sequence of fragments to close the scene: he goes forth gallantly! Trying to rally: didn’t he look good? So brave, so chivalrous. Another tack: that he and Caesar might determine this great war in single fight! A single combat, as Antony proposed: wouldn’t that have been exciting? (Cleopatra’s thinking of the glamour, the sense of extremism, rather than the sparing of the lives of common soldiers. But also terrifying, and final.) Then Antony—what would happen? Who knows. But now! She doesn’t want to think, to speak. Well, on. Let’s go. We go on. Nothing to be done. Happy days…