Ch.Balaswamy Asst.Prof of English dept has authored a paper was published in "A Peer-Reviewed Multi-Diciplinary International Journal Contemporary Research in India"

Introduction

We hear the words ?right? and ?wrong? several times a day in our lives. The basic question one can ask is how  we know, what is right, and what is wrong? Is there any scale which measures whether we are right or wrong? The answer is ?yes? there is. It is ?principled living?. Life based on principles will be right and leads towards success. But if someone follows a wrong principle, definitely they would face their doom. Shakespeare?s Antony and Cleopatra explores this concept and proves that life based on right principles wins and life based on wrong principles fails. In this connection, Stephen R Covey says, ?The Character Ethic is based on the fundamental idea that there are ?principles? that govern human effectiveness ? natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as unchanging and unarguably ?there? as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension?principles are like lighthouses. They are natural laws that cannot be broken.?²

 Mark Antony, being one of the triumvirates breaks the laws of principles and follows a wrong principle called ?Pleasure Principle? and so he is doomed. Octavius, being in the same position as that of Antony, follows ?Duty Principle? and so succeeds in his endeavours and comes out victorious. This article is a study of Pleasure Principle of Antony and Duty Principle of Octavius. When there is a struggle between the two, which one would be victorious?  This article also tries to answer the question, even though Octavius is right in what he has done, why does he lose the hearts of his audience? Antony, being wrong, why are audience?s sympathies  with him?