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What is Power? The Government
What is Power? The Government
Important role of power in politics
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The Fictional Character Cleopatra
The fictional character of Cleopatra has captured the imaginations of people the world over. Helen of Troy was said to have had ‘the face that launched a thousand ships.’ Cleopatra was not simply a beautiful and passive face, but indeed commanded navies as well as the heart of the powerful Mark Antony. Looking at these two facts from the play one may see the political brilliance in her affections, but also the dichotomy. Which one of her loves is true, and which is of an illusory nature? There is a constant battle between her passion towards the mighty Roman and her yearning for sovereignty and the glory of Egypt on her own terms. This question certainly embroils the mind of Mark Antony, at least. All of this however, only adds to her enigmatic depth of character and mystique.
Cleopatra, despite being cunning and even manipulative can be defined as one of literature’s great lovers. She was a lover of men and a lover of her country. A figure more driven in these categories would be hard to find. Yet parallels can be drawn with Queen Elizabeth I of England. Both were ardent, patriotic leaders descended from powerful rulers (in the case of Elizabeth, Henry VIII, and in Cleopatra’s instance the Ptolemeic dynasty). Wielding great authority themselves, Cleopatra also used her charms as a courtesan to bend the wills of her political peers. Elizabeth used her unmarried status to manage numerous suitors to her political advantage. Their intelligence is another common trait. “Elizabeth’s linguistic ability is well attested, not only by her tutor Ascham, but by visitors to the English court who speak of precisely this facility in replying to ambassadors either i...
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...e. This simple carpenter preached transcendence and many believe he save the world by the surrender of his life. Cleopatra found release through surrendering as well. She broke the conflicting chains of passion, governance, and the other illusions of reality by surrendering her life.
Bibliography
Boyce, Charles. Shakespeare A to Z. Roundtable Press: New York, 1990
Chauveau, Michel. Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra. Cornell University Press: Ithaca and London, 1997
Falconer, Colin. When We Were Gods. Crown Publishers: New York, 2000
Greenblatt, Steven. ‘Antony and Cleopatra’. The Norton Shakespeare Tragedies. W.W. Norton & Company: New York, London, 1997
Neely, Carol Thomas. Broken Nuptials in Shakepeare’s Plays. University of Illinois Press: Urbana and Chicago, 1993
Smith, Marion Bodwell. Dualities in Shakespeare. University of Toronto Press, 1966
Stacy Schiff author of Cleopatra strives through her book to denounce all historical myths surrounding Cleopatra. With the rigor of a true historian she is able to distinguish historical veracity from historical myth surrounding the queen from antiquity. The author highlights Cleopatra’s role as a powerful woman and in particular how she attempts to manage the various political or economic predicaments she faced. Stacy Schiff gives us a story that is masterfully reconstructed, allowing the reader insight into the historical context of the time- shedding new light on a woman whose greatest fault was not being a man.
Changing social habits of a contemporary society have seen Cleopatra depicted in many different ways. Whilst few artefacts remain of the true image of Cleopatra, we see from her portrait on the coins (Fear, 2008, p, 21 Fig 1.4) that despite being no legendary beauty, she had the power to captivate two of the greatest Romans of her time. Cleopatra consummated her union with Julius Caesar, which strengthened her grip on the throne, following his assassination; she formed alliance with Mark Antony, in opposition to Octavian, a coalition that would lead to her downfall as both Antony and Cleopatra’s combined forces would be defeated against Octavian in the battle of Actium in 31 BCE. (Fear, 2008, p.7)
Shortly after the Battle of Britain Sir Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain, is quoted as exclaiming, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." The few that Churchill was referring to were the brave aircrew that undertook the daunting task of repelling the massive offensive by the dreaded German air corps, the Luftwaffe. In the year 1940 Adolf Hitler ordered an offensive in coordination with an attempted invasion of the isle of Britain. The only way Hitler was going to accomplish this great feat was the assert the power of his Air Force. In November of 1940 after months of constant bombardment of the English coastal cities, the Royal Air Force of Britain was ordered to begin attack on Germany. This rather inexperienced group of rookie pilots was successfully able to repel the German attacks and force Hitler into a direct attack upon London. It was this major flaw in the German invasion plan that caused the defeat of Germany just a few years later. The unknown story is that of the pilots that defeated the German squadrons. Of these pilots roughly sixty percent were Canadian born pilots and over seventy-five percent were Canadian trained. Without the contribution of the Canadian Royal Air Force contingent, the British would not have been able to affectively defend England from the attack of the German Luftwaffe.
The Romans were immensely furious with Cleopatra and had primary influence over what sources were left behind about her. So certainly this is going to lead to biases and inaccuracies in the depictions we have. Furthermore, we are all well aware of how Hollywood likes to dramatize and embellish stories in order to generate ticket sales and is not worried about the accuracy of the historical anecdote. Because of this and her popularity, our knowledge of Cleopatra has been flooded with twisted truths. When examining Cleopatra’s full reign beyond her love affairs, reveals Cleopatra put all of her effort forth in order to solve the conflict between Egypt and Rome and should be recognized for her masterminded and commanding leadership
Feminine sexuality and power has been a controversial topic since the dawn of time. In many ancient societies, females exist as the lesser beings. They were meant only to bear children, and to stay loyal to their husband. Cleopatra VI became one of the first prominent females to exert her power. She reigned as queen of the entire Egyptian kingdom and bowed to no one. Cleopatra used her beauty to get what she wanted and needed for her country, and by doing this, she conquered some of the most politically important men of the Roman republic. Yet for many years, the life of this formidable queen was left unrecognized. The story of Cleopatra VI came back into intrigue with the production of three films: Cleopatra by Cecil B. de Mille in 1934, Cleopatra by Joesph L. Mankiewicz in 1963, and Cleopatra Jones by Jack Starrett in 1973. Each of these productions represents the historical Cleopatra in modern glory and power. They meant to appeal to both men and women; to the woman’s want and need for power in a still male-dominant world, and to the man's lust for an intellectual, and beautiful woman. All three of these films served their purpose accurately; they maintained a close connection to the historical context of Cleopatra, yet successfully attracted their target audience.
Similar to the 1963 film Cleopatra, in Plutarch's The Life of Antony, sexism is maintained in the passage and compatible with its message. Through the author's portrayal of Cleopatra and Antony, he spreads the message that obsession with power is bad and the idea that manipulation and attempts at domination are signs of a bad ruler. Sexism is compatible with such messages because as indicated by Plutarch, Cleopatra utilizes sexist expectations of women in order to manipulate Antony through her aspirations of domination. Therefore, similar to the films Cleopatra and Quo Vadis, because Cleopatra is unsuccessful as she commits suicide in the end and is found "lying dead upon a golden couch," as well as is portrayed as an immoral ruler in Plutarch's Life of Antony, sexism is portrayed in the passage as a negative quality that leads to failure. (Plutarch, Life of Antony, 85) However, Plutarch differs in his treatment of sexism and attitude towards Cleopatra to the extent that he appears to place the fault with Cleopatra. While he maintains that sexism is a negative quality through his portrayal of Cleopatra playing into sexist expectations, by casting Cleopatra as a manipulative woman, Plutarch appears to be blaming Cleopatra for her own weaknesses as a ruler as well as for Antony's downfall. Although the film Cleopatra displayed how Cleopatra got power by using her sexuality and having Caesar and Antony fall in love with her, Plutarch Life of Antony portrays her as even more of a manipulator of men. For example, the author mentions that Cleopatra "pretended to be passionately in love with Antony herself, and reduced her body by slender diet; she put on a look of rapture when Antony drew near, and one of faintness and melancholy when h...
20) In the Greek belief system, sacrifice played a huge role because it was an important ritual done in Greek religion. It showed dedication and respect to the gods they performed for at alters. They also gave gifts to their gods, hoping that they would receive favor and protection from the gods.
Sacrifice within the social context can be transgressed into two aspects, one relating to the offender, and the other being the offended one, God. “If individuals entered a state incongruent with good relations with God, they had to undergo rites to restore them to a normative status” (Davies, 1985;155). Thus the sacrifice encompassed this social dimension. The part played by God in the social ...
Cleopatra’s upbringing, specifically her education, falls under one of the influences which provided her with the necessary ...
Butts, Mary. Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra. Sun & Moon Press, Los Angelos: 1994.
For those who do not know what fan fiction (fan fic / fics) is, “fan fiction is fiction written by fans of a television show, move, etc. Book characters and scenarios of the series with a different plot” (dictionary.com) Fan fictions that follow this description are known as canon fics. they feature a slight twist to the plot and character behavior though this is not the only type of fic. One other type of fic does not have just the characters of the original fictions movie, television show etc. But also characters the fanfic author created which known as Original Characters (OCs). OCs are seen as trademarks for a fanfic authors they are characters the fanfic author came up with and integrated into their plot of the fic in thus adding twists to scenarios, adding more flex ability to the plot, most likely to have personality quarks that are attributes of the fanfic author and add more dynamic and change characters of the original piece in away making an completely different piece. Another type of fan fiction is an AU or alternate universe fic these fan fics tend to have a different time, scenery, scenario the personality’s of certain characters for instance the Naruto from Ghost Child ( a newer Naruto...
Under her relationships with these men it shows that she uses sex as one of her many strengths and not as a sign of submission. She does not allow men to define what and who she is as a person, which makes her a force to be reckoned with, because there was no man that could really show her soft side. When women think of empowerment, they look for someone who is admirable in showing they can be independent and maybe even rule an entire country. Cleopatra is not only the queen of Egypt, but she is the idea of Egypt itself. She is full of character including enjoyment, playfulness, sensuality, and passion. (Cedar
• "Cleopatra." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography In Context. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
... middle of paper ... ... Saying that she was devoted to her empire and raising her children doesn’t seem fitting enough for all that Cleopatra has done. She would be the last Egyptian queen we would ever know, but also the most famous female ruler in world history. Bibliography Burstein, Stanley Mayer.
By now a lot of people outside the odd world of fandom are aware of fan fiction existence, though no one is definite on whether to treat it as a literary genre or just an unusually entertaining hobby. They know that there are exceedingly many stories that are reader generated hovering about on the Internet based on characters from books, TV and movies. Fanfic has been there for a long time. However, it has attracted a remarkable amount of media interest lately. A number of significant papers have dedicated artic...