ENTJ 8w9 Characters

Cleopatra is a ruthless strategist who decides things from her head rather than her heart until she gets involved with Mark Antony. She negotiates with Caesar to put her on the throne by promising him the riches of Egypt through an alliance. She sees before he does the risks involved in displeasing his friends in Rome, and urges him to not attend the senate, while also telling him to accept the offer of ruling the Roman Empire (not Rome itself), as a stepping stone to his eventual emperorship of Rome. Cleopatra clings to this idea long after his death, in how she tries to protect her son and ensure his enduring legacy. Cleopatra is a visionary in her own right, anticipating and planning defensively against strategies coming at her, putting herself on the table as an offer to Caesar to get her brother/husband deposed, using grain and riches to broker good deals with Rome, etc. She also shows a lot of impulsive, opportunistic behavior, risking her life to see Caesar, leaving Rome the instant she learns of his death, and getting herself into an ill-fated war alongside Mark Antony, whom she takes as her lover one night after they argue at a banquet. She is sensual, strong-willed, and ruthless, ordering one of her servant girl to drink the poison the girl tried to give her, even though the girl begs her for mercy and said they threatened to kill her if she did not wipe poison on the rim. As the story unfolds, Cleopatra shows more and more low Fi. Cleopatra shows it early on when she tells Caesar he can burn whatever he likes, his armies can rape as many Egyptians as they like, but it insults her he burned the Library of Alexandria, something she values more than the lives of her people (all the knowledge it contains). She becomes emotionally reactive and irrational when she falls for Mark, snubbing him in public, humiliating him, and threatening her alliance with Rome. She refuses to let Octavian take him as a prisoner of war and tells him he will have to kill them both. Then she goes to Mark and berates him for his “cowardice.”

Enneagram: 8w9

Cleopatra is very assertive and self-confident, always pushing the men she falls in love with or forms alliances with to spread their power and influence, while ensuring that she keeps control over Egypt and increases her own power. She stands up to Caesar and Mark Antony easily and, when provoked, reminds them of her place (shaming Mark by making him “bow” to her and calling him the “supplicant” when he comes before her to request help for his armies). Cleopatra slaps him across the face, then takes a smack in return from him, without being shaken by it. She pushes her men too hard and too fast, alienating powerful people. Her own ambitions cause her to over-reach in convincing Mark to give her what she wants, which cause him to fall out with Octavian and eventually leads to a war she cannot win and her own defeat (rather than be taken, she kills herself). She survives in every situation in which she finds herself, until there’s nowhere for her left to go without being raped or humiliated, and then takes her own life rather than give Octavian the satisfaction of controlling her. She has a great deal of disdain for Mark’s weakness, and shames him for it by calling him emotional, a coward, and pathetic for turning and running in battle.