Emotions and Passions Leading to Rise and Fall of Leaders:A Study of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra

The paper seeks to review the recent literature devoted to Emotional Intelligence, discuss the role and importance of passions and emotions in leading and how even the best leaders cannot escape the difficulties involved in managing and balancing them, taking Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra as a case study. There was a time when it was widely believed that leaders need to suppress their emotions and passions to succeed, as for the fulfillment of higher goal one has to work with mind and not heart. But in the present situation with the publication of Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence (1995) this idea is rejected and emphasis is placed on the leader's need to develop the ability to understand, balance, and manage their emotions as well as of the followers. Shakespeare's plays are now widely acclaimed for imparting leadership and management lessons. His plays demonstrate the different roles a leader can take and the different skills needed to be successful. Play after play has taught the 16th century audiences lessons about how leaders organised their rise to power and how their failures precipitated their decline and these lessons are still relevant for modern leaders. In-fact, Antony and Cleopatra gives an insight into the heart and mind of two great leaders and their strengths and weaknesses. On one hand a Roman General known for his bravery and on the other side an Egyptian Empress known for her charm and beauty. The play beautifully portrays the passions and emotions of true lovers but at the same time it arouses many questions related to the dilemmas, doubts, fear and anxieties of leaders.