Kate Tiffany
Honors 141
October 24, 2002
Fiction Report
I. Complete Bibliographical Reference
Butts, Mary. The Classical Novels, The Macedonian/ Scenes from the
Life of Cleopatra. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1933 and 1935.
II. Brief Bibliographical Sketch of the Author
Mary Butts was born on December 13, 1890 in Poole Dorset, England.
Her father, Frederick John was a retired Naval captain from the
Crimean war, and her mother, Mary Jane was a homemaker. Mary Butts
attended Westfield College, London University from 1909 until 1912.
In 1918 she married John Rodker, a poet and publisher, and they
had a daughter. However, soon after their daughter was born, Mary
and John divorced, in 1920. Mary then proceeded to live with her
friend Cecil Maitland, a painter and writer, until she remarried
in 1930. She married Gabriel W. Aitken who was a painter as well
as a cartoonist. They were later separated in 1934. Mary Butts died
on March 5, 1937 from a perforated ulcer and diabetes. Mary Butts
was a poet, a short story writer, and a novelist.
III. Brief Account of Historical/Cultural Background of the Work
Mary Butts wrote The Macedonian and Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra
at the end of the First World War as well as a time during the reemergence
of spirituality and a great interest into the occult. This would
explain the topic of Cleopatra for a novel, because of the religiousness
of Egypt. Mary Butts was also addicted to opium beginning in 1921
throughout the rest of her life.
IV. The Principal Sources Used and the Traditions Followed
Mary Butts appears to have concerned herself with historical accuracy
to an extent. She claims to have used ancient sources, such as Plutarch,
however there are some major discrepancies, as well as that she
took some liberties with the story-line. She places Cleopatra in
many of the places that she did visit, however Mary Butts takes
liberties with the relationships between the characters, which is
to be expected considering the fact that it is a novel.
V. A Summary of the Plot or Thesis
The Macedonian is completely not about Cleopatra; however it is
bits and pieces of the life of Alexander the Great that may have
occurred. I am not completely versed in the history of the Life
of Alexander the Great, however I do believe that she bases some
of what she wrote on fact, but she does tell the reader that she
adds in a few of her own characters. Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra,
however, is about the life of Cleopatra. Like The Macedonian this
tells little stories about Cleopatra's life, which is based on some
of the known facts, however she still gets some stuff wrong. Mary
Butts also builds the relationship between Cleopatra and Iras and
Charmion to be perhaps more close than it really was, but we are
not really sure how close they were. Mary Butts also implies that
Caesar had claimed Caesarian as his son, which is not likely from
what we know.
VI. Evaluation of the Historical/Cultural Accuracy
The accuracy in this novel is not wonderful. First of all Mary Butts
refers to Cleopatra as "Cleopatra VI" and her father as
"Ptolemy XII". I believe that she mainly just got confused
with the fact that they all have the same name. Also the issue with
Caesar perhaps claiming Caesarian as his son may not be accurate.
However some things that she says are more accurate, as in that
Cleopatra went to Rome and stayed in Caesar's house on the Tiber.
Also, the death of Caesar is accurate, as well as Cleopatra requesting
that Marc Antony have Arsinoe killed is perhaps accurate, or at
least supported by some scholars.
VII. Characterization of the Portrait of Cleopatra
Cleopatra is portrayed as a very emotional and loving woman as well
as a good mother. She confides greatly in her friends (as they are
shown as) Iras and Charmion. Cleopatra is shown as a Greek as well
as Iras, and they are both contrasted with Charmion who is Egyptian.
This again goes back to the convention of one to be light and the
other dark, Iras and Charmion that is. Cleopatra's relationship
with her sister Arsinoe is down-played. They are no longer as intent
on killing the other person, but more of a relationship where one
of the had to rule and the other was to be taken by Caesar for his
triumphal parade, and according to Arsinoe, Cleopatra cheated by
becoming romantically involved with Caesar and thus winning his
favor. Cleopatra is shown as being intensely in love with Marc Antony,
enough that it makes her rather crazy, but she is not shown as any
sort of ruthless tyrant, or tramp, but is viewed more favorably
as a mother and a good woman. I think that this has a great deal
to do with the fact that this was written by a woman, whereas most
of the Cleopatra literature that we read is written by men, and
in thus book, the author may be trying to relate the life of Cleopatra
more closely to her own,
VIII. Representative Passage Illustrating the Above
"Exhausted with crying, Cleopatra lay by the bed, her knees
on the floor, her torn hair streaming. A bed as neat as a grave.
Pillows in the center and for one only.
She flung herself round, choked with the weeping that disfigures,
the racked sobs of despair; her eyes blazing inside scarlet circles,
the lashes clotted to points.
'Bring him back to me, Charmion. Bring him back. You have the wisdom
of the Egyptians; and what is wisdom if it will not bring back the
lover to the lover? Two lovers to the other. Wisdom is nature's,
and nature is torn when lovers are torn. Torn. Torn.' She tore her
dress open, dragging her nails at the skin between her breasts."
(314-315)
IX. Overall Evaluation as a Work of History
This novel is not a good work of history. This accuracy is not very
good at all, however it does have some redeeming values in the fact
that it is from a women's perspective on Cleopatra, which is something
that we have no really studied. We have heard men's accounts that
women did not approve of Cleopatra, however up till now I had not
seen Cleopatra from a female perspective. I think however, that
Mary Butts is trying too hard to redeem Cleopatra and make her seem
like a completely misunderstood character of history, and a wrongly
condemned woman.
X. Overall Evaluation as a Work of Art/Literature
This book is not a very good piece of literature, and I would not
recommend it to any of my friends. First of all as a novel it is
severely lacking in everything that people read novels for, it has
no action, romance, or historical accuracy. It is not a very entertaining
work, nor is it something that I would ever read again. The lack
of historical accuracy begins to become frustrating as well as that
the story is really boring. There is no real story-line, and the
whole thing is just random stories about Cleopatra's life and they
are not even accurate. I can really only say that it gives a women's
perspective of Cleopatra, however I would have hoped for perhaps
a better perspective and a better book about Cleopatra.
Bibliography
Gale Literary Databases, Contemporary Authors. Gale Group, Thomson
Corporation Company; 4/29/96. 10/21/02 <http://ezproxy.rmc.edu:2158/servlet/
GLD/hits?c=1&secondary=false&origSearch=true&u=CA&t=KW&s=2&r=d&
=DataType&n=10&l=d&locID=vic_randolph&NA=Mary+Butts#PersonalInform
ation>
Roslyn Reso Foy. "Brightness falls": magic in the short
stories of Mary Butts. Studies in Short Fiction, Fall 1999 v36 i4
p381. Newberry College; 1999. McGraw-Page Library Expanded Academic
ASAP. 10/21/02 <http://ezproxy.rmc.edu:2084
/itw/infomark/64/29/29044233w2/purl=rc1_EAIM_0_A90990566&dyn=9!
xrn_4_0_A90990566?sw_aep=viva2_rmc>
Mary Butts Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript
Library, Yale University. 10/21/02 http://webtext.library.yale.edu/xml2html/beinecke.
BUTTS.con.html
Summary: