Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateB+, July 1996

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The teacher is not a very tough grader. good summary of her career, but made little use of the primary source available (Plutarch)

The movie entitled Cleopatra presents a moderately accurate portrayal of the events that transpired from 48 B.C. to 44 B.C in Roman history. From the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus to Caesar's assassination, the movie does a satisfactory job of presenting the actual events of the period. The second half of the movie from 44 B.C. to 30 B.C., does not accurately depict the events that occurred. This segment basically dissolves into a love story, and does not illustrate the actual history of that time. The creators of this movie did have evidence to back up the love interest between Cleopatra and Anthony,and needed to make the movie interesting to modern audiences.

There appears to be some undertaking to match the performers to the actual countenance of Caesar, Anthony, Cicero and Octavian.

However, they failed in casting Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. Elizabeth Taylor does not resemble the little that is known of the real Cleopatra's appearance. From studying her image on coins and reading the descriptions written by ancient writers, the overall impression of Cleopatra is not one of a beautiful woman. The general appearance of Cleopatra is one of a woman with large eyes, a long hooked nose, a rather prominent chin, and with hair in a bun at the nape of the neck. Elizabeth Taylor does not fit this description. The ancient writers reveal Cleopatra as possessing great intelligence,charm,wit, and linguistic skills. There are not many scenes in this movie that show Cleopatra's great intelligence, wit, or her charm. The movie states that she was proficient in seven languages, but in actuality she could converse in eight languages. The only way in...