Homeric Loyalties in Antony and Cleopatra Angeliki Syrlantzi 12th Grade

Both in its steadfast and fickle forms, the theme of loyalty often shapes character traits and story arcs, serving as an insightful lens to the dynamics of temperament, morality, and nobility. In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare unfolds the events through the tumultuous relationship of the titular characters, where within the context of an imminent battle among triumvirs, they need to balance where their loyalties lie in response to their situation. The same association is present in Homer’s The Iliad, where Homer narrates the events of the Siege of Troy through Achilles and Agamemnon’s animosity towards one another, and being loyal is pivotal to winning the war. Interestingly, both works employ in medias res, among other parallel Homeric elements, heavily relying on devotion and betrayal to reach their respective tragic endings, evaluating whether true loyalty exists.

King Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean army, during his time in Troy, had taken Chryseis as a sex slave, among other loot. He bragged that he preferred her as a bed-mate to his wife Clytemnestra, because of her figure and charm: “A maid, unmatch’d in manners as in face, Skill’d in each art, and crown’d with every grace; Not half so dear were Clytaemnestra’...