A Complete Cleopatra Essays -- Cleopatra Different Perspectives Essays

A Complete CleopatraIn the tragic play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare comments, Whats in a key? That which we call a rose / By any other(a) word would smell as sweet (2.1.85-86). A word butt end have many meanings depending on a persons perspective. Cleopatra is a rose that has been depicted under many names. Throughout history numerous authors have sought to depict her character and their differing opinions have made her name one which resounds in very different ways. The Roman historian Plutarch created Cleopatra the political manipulator John Dryden illustrated Cleopatra the ultimate sexual woman George Bernard Shaw offered Cleopatra the uneducated zealous young child-queen and, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of Cleopatra the martyr of love. The character of Cleopatra presented by Shakespeare is a complex combination of each of these traits and is thus the most memorable and meaningful depiction.The Cleopatra that emerges from Plutarchs composing is a manipulative and scheming politi cal woman who dominates both Julius Caesar and phiz Antony. In his Roman Lives, Plutarch offers a biased historical account of lettuce Anthony with frequent references to Cleopatra. According to M.S. Mason, Plutarch does not fulfill his role as an bearing historian and deliberately vilifies the character of Cleopatra (Mason). It is almost a completely cast out portrayal of the Egyptian queen. She is referred to as a charmer (Waterfield 343) with devastating cause on Caesar (514). Her eloquence and argumentative cunning (382) are described as a means of drugging and bewitching her men (392). Plutarch describes one built in bed when Cleopatra is afraid of Octavias political power and she goes about weeping and sharp-set herself to manipulate... ...the Egyptian queen, it can be found in the character that emerges in Antony and Cleopatra.BibliographyBernard Shaw, George. Three Plays for Puritans. London Penguin Books Ltd., 2000. Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Shakespeare Tragedies. spic-and-span York W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1997.Helvarg, David. Cleopatra What Kind of a womanhood Was She, Anyway? American Theatre 144 (Apr. 1997) 5-8. Jones, Chris. Still tempting After All These Years. American Theatre 14.4 (Apr. 1997) 4.Mason, M.S. The Allure of Cleopatra. Christian light Monitor 93.297 (25 Jan. 2002) 13.Noyes, George R., ed. Selected Dramas of John Dryden. Chicago Scott, Foresman & Company, 1910.Percival, Florence. Chaucers Legendary Good Women. New York Cambridge UP, 1998.Waterfield, Robin, trans. Plutarch Roman Lives. New York Oxford UP, 1999.