3rd Annual Academic Symposium - Kendra Lisec

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, played a significant role in the history of the ancient world and has left her mark as well on Western culture in opera and film. This project compares the historical account to the operatic and cinematic representations to discover both consistencies and discrepancies in the presentation of this character. Cleopatra in Handel's opera Guilio Cesare and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film Cleopatra were used as comparisons to the historical figure. Significant life events, personality traits, and relationships with others are factors considered in this analysis through the examination of historical documents, an opera score and libretto, movie scripts and costumes, and sound recordings. This submission will include a poster and a laptop presentation of film and sound clips.