Shakespeare's great tragedy of love opens in Egypt, where Mark Antony, one of three rulers of the expanding Roman Empire, is enjoying the hospitality and love of Queen Cleopatra. The play's gorgeous language describes Cleopatra as irresistible. Such is Cleopatra's attraction that Antony finds himself unable to stay in Rome even after he has married the sister of his co-ruler Octavius Caesar. Turning his back on Rome, his wife, and Caesar, Antony unites himself with Cleopatra as the two go to war together in their efforts to make the Empire their own.
