Source: "Doing and Undoing: The Value of Action in Antony and Cleopatra," in Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 32, No.3, Autumn, 1981, pp. 295-304.

[Berek locates the source of the play's dualism in the verbs "to do" and "to undo." He notes the play's frequent focus on the paradox that "doing" or completing an action also ends it, or "undoes" action. Berek remarks further that in Antony and Cleopatra, the verb "to do" refers both to making love as well as to waging war. Finally, he observes duality at work in the paradox that Antony and Cleopatra find the ultimate expression of their life and love together through suicide]

Antony and Cleopatra is a Play in which mighty opposites meet, struggle, and embrace. Rome encounters Egypt, Reason feels Emotion, Spirit wars with Flesh, Duty yields to Leisure. These fatal conflicts corrupt Mark Antony (in the older view of the play) or...