Cleopatra · Chapter
VII: Of the Veiled Words of Charmion; Of the Passing of Harmachis Into the Presence of Cleopatra; and of the Overthrow of Harmachis explained
Harmachis prepares to assassinate Cleopatra, but Charmion, who loves him, warns him with veiled words.
What happens
Harmachis prepares to assassinate Cleopatra, but Charmion, who loves him, warns him with veiled words. When Harmachis enters Cleopatra's chamber, she seduces him with a kiss and a drugged wine, then disarms him and reveals she knows of the plot. She spares his life, leaving him utterly defeated.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Betrayal
Charmion's unrequited love for Harmachis leads her to despair, while Cleopatra's seduction betrays Harmachis's plot and his loyalty to Egypt.
Fate and Destiny
Charmion speaks of Fate in labour of a great event; Harmachis feels the night is heavy with doom, and the narrative marks the moment as changing history's course.
Power and Corruption
Cleopatra's power corrupts Harmachis's resolve; she uses her beauty and wit to turn the tables, corrupting his mission and his honour.
Characters to notice
- Harmachis
Sits alone with the dagger, resolves to kill Cleopatra, but is overcome by her seduction and drugged wine; his plot fails.
- Charmion
Pale and hollow-eyed, she speaks in riddles about dreams and fate, kisses Harmachis's hand, and later stands in anguish as he goes to Cleopatra.
- Cleopatra
Lies on a silken couch, seduces Harmachis with a kiss and drugged wine, then draws the dagger from his robe and spares him, laughing in triumph.
- Paulus
Mentioned as guarding the gates, well primed with wine.
- Sepa
Mentioned as lying hid without with his force.
Key passages
“For the fantasies of dreams are wonderful, seeing that they have no stability, but vary like the vaporous edge of sunset clouds, building now this thing, and now that; being now dark and heavy, and now alight with splendour.”
Dreams are unstable and changeable, like the shifting colors of sunset clouds, sometimes dark and sometimes bright.
Charmion uses this metaphor to suggest that the events of the previous night might still be altered.
“Ay, that smile marks the moment when the stream of history changed its course. For had I never seen it on her face Octavianus had not bestridden the world, and Egypt had once more been free and great. And yet it was but a woman's smile!”
That smile was the turning point of history; without it, Octavian would not have conquered the world, and Egypt would have been free again—yet it was only a woman's smile.
The narrator reflects on the immense consequences of Charmion's despairing smile.
“I've won! she cried, shaking back her long hair. I've won, and for the stake of Egypt, why, 'twas a game worth playing!”
She exclaimed that she had triumphed, and that the gamble for Egypt was worthwhile.
Cleopatra's victory cry after disarming Harmachis.