 NAME : PUJA DAS

 CLASS : PG, 1ST SEMESTER

 ROLL NO. 123

 PAPER:103,17TH CENTURY
STUDIES

 UNIVERSITY:NORTH
BENGAL UNIVERSITY

 TOPIC: ‘ALL FOR LOVE’ AS

A TRAGEDY

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 INTRODUCTION
Before we analyse ‘All For Love’ as a tragedy let’s discuss something
about tragedy. So , what is tragedy? in literary term, ‘Tragedy’ is a form of
drama which represents the story of human suffering and ‘catharsis’, ‘hamartia’ or
downfall of the protagonists. Among various types of tragedy, John Dryden’s ‘All
For Love’ is a heroic tragedy. Heroic tragedy is a type of tragedy which was
prevalent in Restoration England during 1660s and 1670s. John Dryden is definitely
a dominant Restoration dramatist. Heroic tragedy was very much famous in first
ten years after the Restoration. So , what is the heroic tragedy is? It is a genre of
English drama with highly stylized poetic dialogue, larger-than-life heroes, idealized
heroines and sensationalistic actions often played out in exotic locales. John Dryden
is generally regarded as the master of this genre. ‘All For Love’ is a perfect example
of it. Heroic tragedy was well-suited to Restoration audiences but never became
the main pillar of the English theatre.

We can mention some rules of heroic play- firstly, the hero of the
Heroic drama must be powerful, adamant. Secondly, the play must be written in
heroic verse. Thirdly, the plot of the play should be connected with the fate of an
empire and fourthly, the play must focus on the subjects about national
foundations, mythological events or important and significant matter. We can see
all these traits in Dryden’s ‘All For Love’. The story was situated in Rome, and the
hero Mark Antony is the man of military might and temperament. The heroine
Cleopatra is the women of rare beauty. This play shows inner conflict between
love and honour.

Shakespeare’s Influence on Dryden’s ‘All For Love’

Shakespeare’s influence on Dryden is immense. This can be

proofed by Dryden’s own words- “ In my style, I have professed to imitate the
divine Shakespeare which that I might perform, more freely, I have
disencumbered myself from rhyme ” (Preface.Dryden.1909-14). In the case of
‘All For Love’ we can see an influence of Shakespeare’s ‘Antony & Cleopatra’. Dryden’s
‘All For Love’ is written in blank verse, in a well-thought-out imitation of
Shakespeare, but it can be said that it is not the direct reworking of Shakespeare’s
‘Antony & Cleopatra’ which was written in sprawling plot, that could not abide by
the Aristotalian unities, and it represents the unheroic portrayal of two lovers.
Shakespeare’s ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ was not performed in the Restoration period, even
in the 19th century it was performed on stage with frequently included passages
from Dryden’s ‘ All For Love’. The story of Antony and Cleopatra became “ the
subject of innumerable paintings, poems, plays, romances ” (Novac 1984:368).
So, Dryden’s play is best known as an original work on a fashionable European
theme rather than a reworking of Shakespeare. But Dryden could not catch the
spirit of Shakespeare, why it is said? Because there is need of wise saws, the
abstract of lifelong experience and the expansion of universality of which
Shakespeare is high priest. So, it is true that the merit of ‘All For Love’ wins our

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 keen approval but we cannot able to admire it like Shakespeare’s piece.

‘All For Love’ or ‘World Well Lost’ is a Tragic Story

Dryden’s this play is also known as ‘ World Well Lost’, opens With the
scene in which two priests of the temple of Isis, namely Serapion and Myris,
notice that there have been several outrages omens in Egypt recently. The water of
the Nile overflowed and left behind vast and cyclopean sea creatures. They express
their affright about the future of the kingdom, from when Mark Antony and
Cleopatra have recently lost the battle of Actium to Octavius for power in Rome.
Now Antony thought to free himself from the love of Cleopatra . His old general
Ventidius Tells Antony he has an army in lower Syria, but they will fight for
Antony if Antony leave Cleopatra . They do not want to fight for Cleopatra in
Egypt. Cleopatra was so mush depressed when she hears that Antony decides to
leave her for his responsibilities of his kingdom. Cleopatra’s eunuch Alexas
requests Antony for seeing Cleopatra for the last time, because she wants to die.
Antony decides that he cannot leave Cleopatra who loves him so much. Then to
the Egyptian court Octavia(Antony’s wife) came with her two daughters to tell
Antony that she is still loyal to him as his wife despite his abandonment of her.
Ventidius and Dollabella requests Antony to take back Octavia. Octavia tells her
two daughters to go to their father. In their company and embrace Antony’s mind
was changed and he again decides to leave Cleopatra . Cleopatra became very sad
to hear this again. She encounters Octavia in a palace and the two women
exchange insults. Antony asks Dollabella to inform Cleopatra the news of his
departure. On the other side, Alexas tells Cleopatra to use Dollabella’s feelings to
make Antony jealous because he knows that Dolabella has feelings for Cleopatra.
Then Ventidius and Octavia braught the news of Cleopatra’s betrayal to Antony.
Antony gets furious to Dollabella and banished him from Egypt and decides that he
and Cleopatra will never meet again.

On the other side Octavius continued to fight disastrously in Egypt.

Egyptian navy surrenders without a fight and join Roman forces, which Antony
watches from the roof. Antony becomes sure that Cleopatra betrayed him to
Octavius. Meanwhile, Alexas makes another plan and recommend Cleopatra to hide
into her monument and inform Antony that Cleopatra is broken and she has killed
herself. Hearing this and believing in Alexas’s words Antony’s hope for life ends
and he also wants to die and tells Ventidius to kill him. But instead killing him
Ventidius stabbed himself. Then Antony falls on his sword and bleeding severely.
Hearing this Cleopatra rushes into the room and Antony Dies in her arms.
Cleopatra dresses herself in her royal robs and decides to die with Antony as his
wife with the wish of joining Antony afterlife . As she dies, she challenges
Octavius to ever separate them now. So, the story ends with the death of main
protagonists Antony and Cleopatra.

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 Tragic Elements In This Play

‘All For Love’ or ‘World Well Lost’ is tragedy of Restoration period.

It is a heroic tragedy. We can see many traits of heroic tragedy in it. In a heroic
tragedy the hero is always placed between the conflict of love and responsibility
or duty. It is believed that this pattern is taken from the French playwrights,
especially, Corneille. Usually , the hero has to get into the conflict In which he
has to choose one between his responsibility as a king for his nation and his
relation with his beloved. Throughout the play Mark Antony is involved with the
conflict between his love for Cleopatra and his responsibilities for Roman empire.
In act-I, Antony discusses with Cleopatra about the nature and depth of their love,
neglecting his duties for her-

“ Let’s Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch

Of the ranged empire fall ”

In the next scene, Antony worries that he is about to “ lose self in dotage ” and
expresses his fear that his wife died which one of the ills that his “ idleness doth
hatch ”. Thus Antony is placed between Rome of his duty and Egypt of his love
.

Secondly, Dryden portrays Cleopatra as a true heroic tragic heroine. She is a model
perfection. However, in this play she is not banished, but she parts from her
steadfast love for Antony, and she says-

“ I love you more, even now you are unkind

Than you have love me most ”

She believes that her love for Antony is immortal, even, when she pretends to be
in love with Dollabella we can see her unwillingness. Even she commits suicide
for her love Antony with the wish of meeting with him afterlife. She is a perfect
portrayal of tragic heroine.

Thirdly , for a successful tragedy a perfect tragic hero is very much

necessary. Mark Antony is a perfect tragic hero with her noble birth and heroic
qualities. But his fate puts him in the face of destruction. He fails to win his fate
for some flaws of his personality, and tragic flaw is very common for a tragic
hero. He avoids his political duties for his love, Cleopatra. His irresponsibility,
inner conflict, disbelief is the cause of his downfall.

Fourthly, in a heroic tragedy we can see the fall of the kings and
royal personage because of flaw of the character of heroes. In this tragedy we can
see the fall of Mark Antony. Why it is so? The reason is his dilemma, his inner
conflict between his responsibilities for his kingdom and his beloved Cleopatra. He
loses the battle with Octavius because of Cleopatra’s actions. When Antony comes
out of his solitude in the temple of Isis in Alexandria, he says Ventidius his
faithful general that he curses the day he was born and he and Ventidius weep
together by thinking the reality that Antony himself brought destruction of Rome
for his love for Cleopatra, which he confessed through his words.

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 Fifthly we can observe Heraculean qualities in Mark Antony, which is another
trait of heroic tragedy. In ‘All For Love’ Antony’s love for Cleopatra is unbounded
for which he ignores his duties for Rome, but though he does not leave his
position as an emperor anywhere in the play. Throughout the play we can see the
description of his glorious past. Even, Antony does not show any interest in the
matter of state though Ventidius tries his best to convince him. At the end of the
play we cannot see any heroic view of Antony, but a love-sick man who is dying
in the hand of his beloved giving the last kiss to her, which is shown here. We
can see a very different picture of Antony in the last scene.

Finally death scene in the ending of the play is the most important trait Of a
tragedy, especially the death of hero and heroine. Five people commit Suicide in the
final act of the play Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Ventidius and two maids. The
suicide of Antony and Cleopatra is historically true but others are doubtful. The
suicide of these people mainly for their affection for someone is an important
characteristic of heroic tragedy. Antony and Cleopatra died for each other’s love
with the hope that they will be one again in after world. The play ends in a
tragic ending with the note of immortality of their love.

Out of Tragic Elements

Though there are traits of heroic tragedy in ‘All For Love’, but we can observe
an odd characteristic in it. What is it? We see that it is not written in heroic
couplets, it is written in blank verse. The language of this play is also different
from heroic tragedy. Even there is no double plot. There is the missing of
“amorous geometries, tragicomic mingling, and quick turns” (Sherman
2004:29), which are present in Dryden’s earlier plays. Extreme amplification of
passion and the typical traits of heroic tragedies are missing here. We cannot find
any incredible events in this play. The surprise victory of Antony over Octavius
without the help of Ventidius is quite outstanding. But, the magnificent traits of
the hero of heroic tragedy cannot be seen in Mark Antony.

Conclusion
‘All For Love’ is a tragedy which focuses on neoclassical unities and it has a
resemblance with French tragedies of Dryden’s contemporary Racine. Like Racine’s
play we cannot see quick turns surprises in this play, but the incidents are
presented in slow movements, which leaves a clear impression on the mind, and it
culminating in Antony’s meta dramatic verbal compression of “ten years love”.
The theme of ‘All For Love’, is a love story which is against the world. The power
which drives its plot is that, it is difficult to be emotionally honest, of knowing
the heart of one’s lover and of knowing the heart of one’s emotional self. In this
play the characters continuously questions about their position in their relationship.
It is the idealisation and refinements of ‘illicit love’, but it has “innocence and
purity” (ibid:376) in Dryden’s word. Dryden’s Antony and Cleopatra gain victory
by their death. They become known as the two greatest lovers in history. But, the
glory of this tragedy cannot able to reach the height of the earlier heroic tragedies.
The characters are presented in a domestic and realistic way, even they are human

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rather than superhuman, which marks later development in British drama. So, All
For Love is the best literary work, a finer heroic tragedy, and a great contribution
in Restoration period of English literature.

---END----

WORKS CITED

1. Dryden,s ‘All For Love’ by Som Deva, Prakash

Book Depot

2. www.studymood.com

3. www.jstor.com

4. www.litcharts.com

5. www.scribd.com

6. www.m.green.com

7. www.academia.edu

8. www.enotes.com

9. www.muse.jhu.edu

10. www.bartleby.com

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