The importance of wealth in Antony and Cleopatra and The TempestWealth and its relationship to poverty feature prominently in two of the plays we have read so far in class. In Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest, we deal with characters and situations that deal with wealth and poverty. However, more to the point, both plays have visions of an abundance of wealth that sometimes seem both corruptible and senseless. In Antony and Cleopatra, we have their excessive behavior and display, which turns out to be a vice that is holding them too tight. In The Tempest, characters stranded on a desert island have their own unique versions of achieving this abundance. Shakespeare treats the subject similarly in both plays and uses it to expose the very nature of abundance. For example, in Antony and Cleopatra, we are treated to many scenes depicting the level of excess in which the main characters are involved. In Act 3, Scene 6 Shakespeare writes: This is how it happened: In the market place, on a silver tribunal, Cleopatra and himself in golden chairs were publicly enthroned. At their feet sat Caesar, whom they call my father's son, and all the illicit trouble which their lust has ever since brought between them. He gave him the establishment of Egypt, made Lower Syria, Cyprus, and Lydia absolute queen (2-10). With this passage, Shakespeare (through Caesar) criticizes the lavishness and public displays of Antony and Cleopatra. He seems to find it grotesque to have them seated in front of everyone on “golden chairs”. Already earlier, Antoine's abundant behavior became evident. Shakespeare writes: “he fishes and drinks and wastes/The lamps of night in the middle of the paper… riches? His need for this abundance is like any other, compounded by the fact that at first he had no idea what it was. He had something better (even though some would consider him poor), and now a taste of wealth has changed him. Ultimately, looking at these two plays, we can see that wealth can indeed be a corrupting force in Shakespeare's world. Although wealth is not necessarily just money. This can take many forms; power, idleness, etc. And in today's world where winning game shows are what passes for culture and entertainment, this seems all the more relevant. Works Cited: The Riverside Shakespeare: Second Edition Houghton Mifflin Company Boston/New York G. Blakemore Evans and JJM Tobin eds. Shakespeare's The Tempest: World's Classics The Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford University Press New York/London. Ed. Stanley Wells