Empowerment of Women through the Film Cleopatra

One main message Cleopatra is presenting to society in the 1960s is the empowerment of women. Although Cleopatra is depicted in many different ways in other films and plays, the 1963 film portrays her as a ruler who tried to bridge gaps between men and women. She overthrew her brother’s power and exiled him and Cleopatra wanted to be seen as equal by both Caesar and Antony. This reflects the women’s movement of the 1960s when women mainly stayed at home and took care of children. On December 14, 1961, John F. Kennedy established the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. Led by Eleanor Roosevelt til her death on 1962, this board had twenty members that examined equality of women in school, at work, and by the law. Gender-based restrictions such as hours of work and wages were inspected as well as issues like lack of education and federal insurance and tax laws that were unequal. In 1963, the PCSW issued their report which condemned the discriminations American women face in society. The report concluded with ways to protect women’s rights. The board members wanted for the Fourteenth Amendment to be fully extended to women and even though already entitled to this amendment, women needed for it to be enforced. Recommendations such as equal hiring practices, salaried maternity leave, and inexpensive child care were included in the report. After the release of their final report, the Committee was abolished. Just as John F. Kennedy used his place of power to make necessary differences, Cleopatra did the same. She was one of the most powerful rulers of the ancient world and the fact that she was a woman gave her a sort of control over both Caesar and Antony by seducing them. She allowed Egypt to be independent for...

... middle of paper ...

... stabs himself. He did not die and was taken to her; she was hiding in her own tomb. Antony died in her lap and Octavian overtakes the city, including Cleopatra’s tomb. He wanted for the pharaoh to be taken to Rome as his prisoner to show off his successful battles. Cleopatra pried him to know about the fate of her son Caesarion, and she knew he was also killed. Without Octavian’s knowledge, she wrote her dying wish and has her servants bring her a basket of figs containing a poisonous asp. Her and her two servants die of bites by the lethal creature. Octavian found Cleopatra dead in a golden robe and found her dying wish; to be buried with Antony. The film epilogue reveals Octavian respected her last wish, received his warm welcome in Rome, took his new name of Augustus, and gave himself the title of emperor of the Roman Empire with its new district; Egypt.