Like Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra is an archetypal love story but of more mature lovers.

However, the play isn't only that; it is also an epic rife with political machinations. In addition, it is a character study, revealing Antony beset by very human emotions and a tragic weakness, and Cleopatra, as a self-deluding, aging siren. Of course, Antony pays for his weakness as does Cleopatra. Yet even in death, they are united, buried together and linked by scholars and lovers for all time.