Antony and Cleopatra

From the passage, Plutarch seems to view   Cleopatra as some sort of femme fatale, manipulating Antony for her own uses and unmanning him somehow.   Though he   (Plutarch) seems not to regard Cleopatra as any great beauty, he admits to her being charming and having great force of character (Fear 2008 p10). The   only real admiration, Plutarch seems to show for Cleopatra is in the manner of her death, committing suicide, rather than be used as a trophy and paraded by Octavian.

On the other hand, Plutarch portrays Antony as a man entirely under Cleopatra's sway, saying that she brings out his worst traits, while suppressing his manly Roman virtues. “ For him (Plutarch) and the Roman moralising tradition, within which he writes, mutual attachment and love are not redeeming qualities and Antony's presumed infatuation with Cleopatra was seen as an indication of his self indulgence and lack of self control” (Fear 2008 p11).   Plutarch seems to view Antony as rather a weak man, dancing to Cleopatra's tune and a pawn in Cleopatra's clutches.
Plutarch's view seems to be that, as previously stated,any sign of love between Antony and Cleopatra was a sign of weakness and lack of self control, by someone who was previously highly regarded as a Roman statesman and general.
Plutarch regards Antony's love for Cleopatra as “ The final and crowning mischief that could befall Antony” (Fear 2008 p9) and says “ ever contributing some fresh delight and charm to Antony's hours of seriousness and mirth, kept him in constant tutelage and released him neither night or day”   ( Plutarch in AA100 assignment booklet 2011 p 18)
Though Plutarch seems wholly of the opinion that Cleopatra uses Antony to enhance her and Egypt's power and that in her doing so she completely unmans Antony,   Plutarch is really putting over   the Roman   or rather Octavian's view view of making Antony a poor weak innocent trapped by the feminine wiles of an expert manipulator. Though as Plutarch was writing, some 150...