8-10 page Essay Questions for Harpur 101N – Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh

The following three topics are suggested as themes for your essays. The draft, at whatever stage you may have completed your work, but preferably at least half of your final paper (4-5 pages of writing), is due through Turn It In in MyCourses by 11:59pm Sunday, October 21 – the more you provide in a draft the more feedback you get, so do as much as you can. A draft constitutes significant thought and the beginnings of at least your introduction, body text or possible conclusions. A good essay has all three. I know this may seem simplistic, but it is a good, basic standard for understanding how to present academic material in ways that your instructors and peers will recognize and often expect. You must use Schiff and Roller, and you may also use other academic resources if properly cited.

The draft will be returned to you with comments and suggestions, and your Final Complete essay will be due through Turn It In in MyCourses on Sunday December 2 at 11:59 pm.

Do not be late, but always submit, even if it is late, because the time stamp will let me know when you submit it, and I want you to adhere to deadlines or accept consequences for late work.

Cite these two as follows, a modification of the Harvard citation method, in your bibliography on the last sheet of your paper.

Roller, D.W. 2010. Cleopatra: A Biography. New York.

Schiff, S. Cleopatra: A Life. New York. (closest or major city of publication is key here)

You may use true footnotes or in text citation for any borrowings from these texts, whether you quote them directly or paraphrase their arguments or conclusions. These should be cited as follows: Roller. 2010: 78-79; Schiff. 2010: 140-42, to indicate pages cited. If you cite other works, such as chapters of other books or articles from journals, see pp. 220-221 of Roller for models of citation with the following modifications.

Article: Balsdon, J.P.V.D. 1958. “The Ides of March.” Historia 7: 80-94 – journal title in italics, page numbers after volume number.

Chapter in edited volume: Alfano, C. 2001. “Egyptian Influences in Italy.” In S. Walker & P. Higgs, ed. Cleopatra of Egypt, 276-91. London

The topics from which to choose as outlined before:

1) Consider Stacy Schiff’s statement, “It is not difficult to understand why Caesar became history, Cleopatra a legend.” (Schiff. 2010: 5) Consider how gender and ethnicity differences factor into this seeming divide. Discuss this observation from both sides, first presenting information and your own conclusions from both of your texts that suggest that our understanding of Caesar is more historical and of Cleopatra more legendary/fabulous, but also by making sure that you balance this with a refutation indicating that Caesar has plenty of ways in which he has been and can be legendized and that Cleopatra is an historical character deserving of historical analysis and truth-seeking. You should try to tie this essay together by discussing how the genre of biography (as presented by your two authors’ different methodologies) feeds both sides of this divide. Biography allows for the application of historical material in ways that address personalities and possible motivations as part of a process of sorting out biases in ancient sources. It can however allow facts to give way to narrative, and may demand more reflection to sort out modern biases and conclusions that interfere with seeing through the legendary to the historical.

2) Think of Cleopatra’s many roles as a woman: mother, daughter, sister, lover, partner, queen/pharaoh. How does she negotiate all these roles, so far as you can tell, for good or bad, in the progress of her life, and how can you argue that she folds all the other roles together into her capacity as sole monarch of Egypt? Be prepared to acknowledge what we do not and cannot know as much as you state the little we do know or can determine from the information provided to us. This essay should be constructed as a broad-ranging statement of how Cleopatra exhibits her womanhood in all aspects of her life, but that will also mean that you have to think of how she blends often overly generalized and gendered roles into her critical life as a ruler. She may often be acting in ways that challenge the male dominated thinking of her day, and that in many ways persists in our own without justification. How do men affect and react to this substantial female presence?

3) In a creative essay, develop two characters from Cleopatra’s Egypt, one upper class nobility (a priest, adviser, wealthy merchant, or influential citizen) and one a lower-class servant (a personal slave, a free citizen of the lower classes in Alexandria or maybe even a village council leader outside the capital, a tradesman or laborer). Have these characters comment on Cleopatra, positives and negatives for both to give balance, and have them address their perspectives on what Cleopatra’s rule means for them and their lives. How do they see her actions and reactions as beneficial or detrimental to Egypt? What do they know and not know, understand and not understand, see and not see about how their country operates? How much does their life depend on her decisions, and how will they negotiate life similarly or differently if Rome turns out to be their ruler, as may very much be in their future? Do they see her womanhood as an asset or a detriment to their futures? Do they respect and honor her, but also carry their own personal opinions of her whether in keeping with or contrary to the gossip or propaganda that she and her ministers or the increasingly powerful Romans are spreading around Alexandria?