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Sextus Pompey
The sister of Octavius. After the death of his wife Fulvia, Antony marries Octavia. She does not seem to realize, though, that he has no intentions of leaving Cleopatra, and is only marrying her as part of a political scheme, an attempt to bring him and Octavius closer together. When Antony and Octavius start to feud, she finds herself torn between obedience to her brother and to her new husband. When she goes to Octavius in Rome, she learns that Antony has left her for Cleopatra, and so stays in Rome with her brother.
Octavia Quotes in Antony and Cleopatra
The Antony and Cleopatra quotes below are all either spoken by Octavia or refer to Octavia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2, Scene 2
Quotes
To hold you in perpetual amity,
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unslipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife; whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men;
Whose virtue and whose general graces speak
That which none else can utter. By this marriage,
All little jealousies, which now seem great,
And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing: truths would be tales,
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both
Would, each to other and all loves to both,
Draw after her.
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Act 3, Scene 4
Quotes
A more unhappy lady,
If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
Praying for both parts:
The good gods me presently,
When I shall pray, 'O bless my lord and husband!'
Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud,
'O, bless my brother!' Husband win, win brother,
Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway
'Twixt these extremes at all.
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Act 3, Scene 6
Quotes
Octavius:
Where is he now?
Octavia:
My lord, in Athens.
Octavius:
No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra
Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire
Up to a whore; who now are levying
The kings o’ the earth for war.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Octavia Quotes in Antony and Cleopatra
The Antony and Cleopatra quotes below are all either spoken by Octavia or refer to Octavia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2, Scene 2
Quotes
To hold you in perpetual amity,
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts
With an unslipping knot, take Antony
Octavia to his wife; whose beauty claims
No worse a husband than the best of men;
Whose virtue and whose general graces speak
That which none else can utter. By this marriage,
All little jealousies, which now seem great,
And all great fears, which now import their dangers,
Would then be nothing: truths would be tales,
Where now half tales be truths: her love to both
Would, each to other and all loves to both,
Draw after her.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 4
Quotes
A more unhappy lady,
If this division chance, ne'er stood between,
Praying for both parts:
The good gods me presently,
When I shall pray, 'O bless my lord and husband!'
Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud,
'O, bless my brother!' Husband win, win brother,
Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway
'Twixt these extremes at all.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, Scene 6
Quotes
Octavius:
Where is he now?
Octavia:
My lord, in Athens.
Octavius:
No, my most wronged sister; Cleopatra
Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his empire
Up to a whore; who now are levying
The kings o’ the earth for war.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
