Introduction
Reputation could be defined as views, opinions, thoughts and beliefs that are made about someone or something, it could be a result from the characteristics of this person or thing, the action and attitudes relating to this person or thing but at the same time there are other factors to affect reputation. In this TMA we are going to discuss the topic of reputation through a historical character that many opinions and views were held about, it is Cleopatra. Cleopatra's reputation will be discussed from many sides such as the reasons for her fame, factors that formed her reputation, the effect of culture in interpreting Cleopatra's life events that shared in forming her reputation and how her figure was used in movies and literature works. In fact we have to be cautious when building someone's reputation so in this assignment we will try hard to seek truth and distinguish it from myth in order to make an assessment for their effect on forming one's reputation.
Body
Cleopatra was a queen of Egypt one hundred years before Christ birth, she ruled Egypt for 21 years, she became one of the most famous characters in history for many reasons. Studies and researches about Cleopatra all represent a Roman point of view that no Egyptian opinions opposed. Roman authors were those to get Cleopatra into history. There are many absent points in understanding her real historical figure. Roman political life was a very hard and tough one that a politician reputation can be harmed by any act or words about him or her. Most today's opinions about Cleopatra are driven from the public opinion manipulation that politicians of that age and media of today tried to focus on specific views that tried to make Cleopatra look in a specific way they wanted. Her conflicts with men of the Roman history such as Mark Antony, Octavian and Julius Caesar helped to make her famous to the West. Cleopatra's image was related to the end of these characters as after killing Julius Caesar, Octavian defeated her with Mark Antony and both of them committed suicide which gave her such reputation of the loser.(The Arts Past and Present, Book1, Reputations, Chapter1)
When we want to discuss verifying the soundness of Cleopatra's reputation, we will find that this is accompanied by many problems. The figure of Cleopatra which is in the mind of most people of today is the figure that media, movies, poets and literary works presented. As movies of the twentieth century tend to put their own views on past events which is a problem as we do not really know what has happened. Another problem when trying to figure out what happened in history so as to make sure of Cleopatra's reputation is that history of ancient Egypt and Rome needs arranging which always lacks completion. Another problem is that past history is not facts but it is complicated views and opinions of poets, historians, authors and writers who had different attitudes and motivations while writing history which forces us to work as detectives to seek truth and be cautious with our own motives when describing Cleopatra as this may affect the presentation of her image by us. .(The Arts Past and Present, Book1, Reputations, Chapter1)
Cleopatra's reputation was constructed throughout history according to many factors that shared in drawing a picture of Cleopatra's reputation as a queen, a lover and a mother. Some of these factors shared more in constructing the reputation of Cleopatra. First of all it was her role in the Roman struggles in the first century ac which gave her the chance to be so mentioned in the Western history. Another factor is her relation with men such as Mark Antony as a lover and an ally to him and an enemy to a man such as Octavian who defeated her and Antony at last, these relations helped more than anything else in constructing the queen's historical reputation. It is historically recorded that the two greatest Romans at that time were captivated by Cleopatra but her failure in captivating the third destroyed her and what constructed her image most is her ending with the failure sides of all struggles. .(The Arts Past and Present, Book1, Reputations, Chapter1)
Cultures and times leave their effects on our readings of the events that are related to constructing reputations and as well as our interpretations to them. Ancient Egyptian culture and Roman culture were of the most effective and great cultures in the history the fact that made Cleopatra gain such great fame in historical writings. When we try to study the events that constructed Cleopatra's reputation, we are affected by the time she encountered. Cleopatra was not Egyptian, she came from a family of Macedonian Greeks, she was concerned with the relation with the Roman Empire. The reputation of her as a cruel ruler could be as a result for her Ptolemy origins who were famous for murdering attitudes and killing for power and ruling and Cleopatra killed her brother and her sister to prevent them from ruling. Those who portrayed Cleopatra such as Plutarch, Shakespeare and Hollywood moviemakers were mostly more influenced by their own times and cultures rather than those of Cleopatra's. There was little in their description about her life as a mother, a leader, a politician, a negotiator and a scholar which affects readers as well to look at the events included her from the points of views of those who portrayed her.
When constructing a reputation of a person, we must be cautious when dealing with historical and contemporary source materials portraying such a person. Roman propaganda, Elizabethan drama and the Hollywood movies shared in the great misconceptions in understanding Cleopatra. For example when we read poems wrote about Cleopatra such as Horace poetry, we must remind ourselves that this is not a historical record but it is a verbal art work which may tell about the feelings of people at that time and their opinions of Cleopatra. Reading poems about a person should not be our historical record despite the fact they are historical writings. Horace's poetry portrayed her as a wicked woman at some parts of his poems and as a beautiful admirable woman at other parts. We must give care to the writings before constructing a reputation, some writings about Cleopatra were made by persons who never witnessed the events she encountered but by people from Rome who just hated her. Plutarch also hated Cleopatra that he accused her to be sexually seducing men when she had a relation with Caser which could be understood differently as she might have needed a powerful man to be in her side and support her.(THE STORY BEHIND THE
Myth can be defined as ancient stories that may include supernatural elements, extraordinary creatures, gods and heroes with special powers, myth can be given to a powerful character through people's exaggerations. Myth is connected with legend and adventures to secret sacred places and when someone is referred to as a mythological character, people believe anything about this person as creation, ending lives or talking to spirits. Truth is completely different from myth as truth is related to facts, real situations and actions of people, it is related to logical action minds can accept and believe with proves and evidences. Truth represents reality, justified actions and stated facts about anything or anyone. Reputation construction is largely affected by myth and truth as people may give extra ordinary features for some people as Cleopatra in order to cast respect and fear over the character. Cleopatra was thought to be a Goddess which was some sort of myth so her reputation was affected, it was said that she was a witch, a killer and a woman of special powers.
The issue of "competing reputations" applies to Cleopatra as she was the queen who issued coins with her face on, she ordered to kill her brother and her sister in order to be the only one who could rule, she tried to be famous and tried to have competitive reputation over men kings and she did all her best to be famous for victories. Yet her efforts were not working for her most times as Romans were competing also to figure her as a witch, a whore and a killer woman with cruel heart and it seems that the Roman competed better than her as most what we know today about her came from Romans who hated Cleopatra.
Conclusion
Reputation is a very sensitive matter and we have to be as detectives when reading about famous people or when assessing them according to their reputations as it is not certain that those who portrayed them were so faithful and honest. Evidences are important when assessing someone's reputation and everyday there are new evidences to appear and it is possible that such new clues may change our attitudes and lead to new results which may be different from the ideas we already have about a person according to his or her reputation. It is interesting to know that there are new debates about Cleopatra telling she was black of African origins yet at last we are still having the influence of Elizabeth Taylor appearance as Cleopatra which proves how much media and art can leave their impacts more than anything else the fact that asks readers to be more cautious when constructing someone's reputation.
References
- (The Arts Past and Present, Book1, Reputations, Chapter1)
- http://learningenglish.
voanews.com/content/cleopatra- was-a-powerful-and-wise-ruler- 116280284/114309.html - (THE STORY BEHIND THE BOOK CLE
OPATRA THE GREAT ,The Woman Be hind the Legend .By Joann Flet cher)
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