The Great Importance of Lepidus and His Show of Courage and Strength to Caesar

The Great Importance of Lepidus and His Show of Courage and Strength to Caesar

I must not think there are

Evils enough to darken all his goodness

His faults in him seem as sports of heaven,

More fiery by night's blackness, hereditary

Rather than purchased, what he cannot change

Than what he chooses

Shakespeare makes sure that every character he writes for, in any play, always has a purpose and something to add to the play. Lepidus in Antony and Cleopatra is no exception. Although not in any way a main character, he portrays a person who is far too trusting and who believes the best in people, which brings up the question of if it is a good and honorable quality to have or not, which in Lepidus's case, it's not. It shows as a weakness and will ultimately lead to his downfall. In the passage above, however, Lepidus openly disagrees with Caesar about Antony's vices and virtues. It is unusual to have certain faults of a character exploited by having that character do the exact opposite of his faults, but in this passage, it is exactly what Lepidus does. Not only does this passage show Lepidus and his flaws but it also shows how Antony is perceived by Lepidus, a character who does not get a lot of say in this play.

In the passage, Lepidus says "His faults in him seem as the sports of heaven/More fiery by night's blackness". Lepidus is trying to reason with Caesar and for once, is openly contradicting, telling him that his faults are hardly anything as compared to his virtues and all the good he has done. This could be also construed as Lepidus hinting that all of the good that Antony has done is nothing compared to all the wrong Caesar has done. Caesar could perhaps be the "night's blackness" Lepidus refers to. It also could bring up the subject of how, if a person does so much good in their life, does that outweigh any of the terrible that might also occur at their hand? If so, Lepidus could be again hinting at Caesar that he has done enough good in his life that Antony has done for Rome so his night's blackness will always just be black. It is clear from these lines, however, that Lepidus truly does care for Antony. He respects him. He has a high opinion of Antony and all that he has done for Rome. These lines also are Shakespeare's way of showing who Lepidus truly is as a person and how badly he wants to believe in the good of everyone. It is, in a way, almost foreshadowing that these qualities Lepidus possesses will be his downfall.

Another interesting line from the passage is "heredity/Rather than purchase, what he cannot change/Then what he chooses." These three lines really almost sum