CW: suicide

EROS   My sword is drawn.

ANTONY                                 Then let it do at once

The thing why thou hast drawn it.

EROS                                       My dear master,

My captain, and my Emperor: let me say,

Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell.

ANTONY ’Tis said, man; and farewell.

EROS Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now?

ANTONY                                 Now, Eros.

[Eros stabs himself]

EROS Why, there then, thus I do escape the sorrow

Of Antony’s death.

[He dies]                                  (4.15.87-94)

 

Suspense, terrible, drawn-out tension as both Antony and the audience wait. My sword is drawn, says Eros. What are you waiting for? says Antony, and a little testiness would be justified; enough of the running commentary, then let it do at once the thing why thou hast drawn it. Get on with it, just do it! But Eros has a little speech to make: my dear master, my captain, and my Emperor—so loyal and deferential, so loving, all those titles which Antony has now lost, or as good as—let me say, before I strike this bloody stroke (get on with it! Make it brief!) farewell. A note of bathos, picked up by Antony (because the tension is still terrible, he’s braced for a sword stroke, and for death): ’tis said, man—you’ve just said it, farewell; and farewell to you too. Goodnight and good luck. It can get a laugh, which makes the tension all the more uneasy. Eros delays again, seemingly nervous, or too punctilious: farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? He’s nervous, entirely understandably; he doesn’t want to get this wrong, it seems. Now, Eros. Just.Do.It. But, in a shocking twist, Eros stabs himself. Why, there then, thus do I escape the sorrow of Antony’s death. I just couldn’t bear it, couldn’t bring myself to do it. Killing myself is the only way out, the only alternative if I want to avoid the grief of seeing my master Antony’s death, let alone being the cause of it. And so he dies. And Antony has to open his eyes, turn around, and see…