Literature Network » William Shakespeare » Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
First written between the years 1600-01, first performed in 1623.
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, approx. 47 BC (an Early Tragedy)
Marcellus and Flavius criticize the commoners for celebrating Caesar's recent military defeat of Pompey since they feel it's actually a sad day. During a victory march, a soothsayer warns Caesar to "Beware the Ides of March" (March 15); Caesar ignores him. A race is run, wherein Marc Antony, in the course of competing, touches Caesar's wife Calphurnia in hopes of curing her infertility. During the race, Cassius tries to convince Brutus that Caesar has become too powerful and too popular. Brutus neither agrees nor disagrees. Caesar confers with Antony that he fears Cassius is evil and worth fearing. Casca explains to Brutus and Cassius that shouting they heard was caused by Caesar's thrice refusal of a crown offered to him by Antony (though confusing, the commoners rejoiced that he had refused it for it indicated he is a noble man). At the third offering, Caesar collapsed and foamed at the mouth from epilepsy. Afterwards, Caesar exiled/executed Flavius and Marcellus for pulling scarves off of Caesar's images (statues). In a thunderstorm, Casca meets Cicero and tells him of many ominous and fearful sights, mostly of burning images, he has seen. Cassius then meets Cicero and tells him the storm is a good sign of the evil he and his other cohorts plan to do to Caesar. It seems the senators plan to crown Caesar King, but Cassius aims to prevent it, or else commit suicide. Casca agrees to help Cassius. Cinna informs Cassius that Decius Brutus (actually Decimus), Trebonius, and Metallus Cimber will help them to kill Caesar.
Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to join too. Brutus, unable to sleep, tells himself that he fears Caesar will become a tyrant if crowned king. Cassius et al. come to Brutus and resolve to murder Caesar the next day (March 15). Metallus also convinces Caius Ligarius to join their cause. The men leave and Portia (Brutus' wife) begs Brutus to tell her what is happening, but he does not (though he does tell her before he leaves for the Senate). At Caesar's house, Calphurnia begs Caesar to stay home for fear of danger (based on a foreboding dream and the night's storm). Holy priests pluck the entrails of an animal and find no heart in it, another bad sign. Caesar declares he will stay home, to calm his wive's fears. Decius, though, convinces Caesar to come to the senate. On the way, the soothsayer Artemidorus tries to warn Caesar of impending death, to no avail. At the Senate, Trebonius leads Antony away from Caesar, then the conspirators murder Caesar. They cover themselves in his blood and go to the streets crying, "Peace, freedom, and liberty." Antony comes back and mourns Caesar's murder. Antony pretends to support the clan, yet yearns for great havoc to occur as a result of the death. Brutus explains to the crowd that they killed Caesar because he was too ambitious. Antony replies with reverse psychology to incite the commoners to riot in grief over Caesar's murder. Antony also reads them Caesar's (supposed) will, wherein he leaves money to all the citizens, plus his private gardens. In the ensuing riots, Cinna the poet is wrongly killed by a mob that believes him to be Cinna the conspirator.
Antony forms a triumvirate with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, to rule Rome. However, Brutus and Cassius are raising an army to defy them. Brutus learns that his wife Portia kills herself by swallowing hot coals. Messala tells Brutus that the triumvirate has killed 100 senators. Titinius, Messala, Brutus, and Cassius decide to confront Antony's army at Phillipi. At Brutus' tent, the ghost of Caesar comes and tells Brutus he will see him at Phillipi. The battle indeed ensues at Phillipi. Cassius confers to Messala that it is his birthday and that he fears defeat. In battle, Titinius is captured by Octavius. Cassius convinces Pindarus to help him commit suicide. Pindarus, in grief, flees after the deed is done. In a twist, Brutus overthrows Octavius and Cassius' army, defeating part of Antony's army. Titinius, in grief over Cassius' death, kills himself with Cassius's sword. The battle turns again, this time against Brutus' army. Cato is killed and Lucilius is captured, while pretending to be Brutus. Brutus successively asks Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius to help him commit suicide, yet all refuse. Brutus finally convinces Strato to hold the sword while he (Brutus) runs onto it and dies. Thus, Antony and Octavius prevail, while Cassius and Brutus both commit suicide, assumedly partly in grief over murdering Caesar.
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This play is a story primarily about a conspiracy to murder Ceasar. The conspirators' plan has many flaws and they must struggle with the aftermath of what they have done. Brutus the "noblest roman" is the leader and the prime driver is Cassius who is both dangerous, ambitious, and manipulative, and turns Brutus away from Ceasar, for, who "Tis not that I don't like him, but for the general" kills Ceasar in the name of Rome. Brutus must fight the ghost of Ceasar for the rest of the play and Shakespeare makes it clear that although Brutus's action may have been justified and Ceasar may have become a tyrant, he is still the tragic hero of the play. Shakespeare also entertains humanic proportions for all characters, in this endeavour to not merely label characters bad guys-good guys but rather fully human and fragile to manipulation and flattery. He also uses contrasts between characters and relationships such as Cassius and Brutus, Octavius and Antony. Portia, Brutus, Calpurnia, and Ceasar also paint a picture of severe differences, strengths, and weaknesses. Cassius is always having to submit to Brutus's demands and leadership shortfalls, and Ceasar's complete self-absorption when dealing with Calpurnia. The play is extremely thick with magnificent speeches and supernaturalism and is a great read. I would recommend anyone to read the play even if you can't understand it, because it entertains an insight into the human manipulative world that Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in.--Submitted by tim clark.
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Recent Forum Posts on Julius Caesar
help for my test
in my exercise book they have given this question "what really kills caesar" what is the answer .please help me to answer this:yawnb: :yawnb: :)
Posted By sarah evans at Mon 28 Jul 2008, 8:22 AM in Julius Caesar || 3 Replies
Calphurnia & Portia(Julius Caesar)
I have been asked to write the contribution made by Calphurnia & Portia in the paly Julius caesar.......Please help!!!!
Posted By archie at Tue 3 Jun 2008, 2:17 PM in Julius Caesar || 1 Reply
Essay Due Friday!!!
Alright, I am trying to get through my English 2 class and I have an essay on The Tragedy of Julius Caesar due Friday 5/23. The theme we have to write about is 'power'. I've started a bit, but everything I seem to write comes out wrong...could anyone help me on some assertions maybe?? Anything would help me at this point. Please and thank you!! :D
Posted By aechick042 at Tue 20 May 2008, 8:57 PM in Julius Caesar || 1 Reply
Please help with essay
Hi, im a sophomore in high school and im struggling to pass this class for the year and in order for this i need to turn in this essay and has to be phenomenal. This essay is on who i believe is the pro and antagonist for the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. I need evidence to from the book as well to back up my answer. I really have no idea on how to start this essay and if anyone has any ideas that could help me out i would be extremely thankful. Im sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forum but I could really use the help thanks.
Posted By ilovebooks420 at Wed 14 May 2008, 5:21 PM in Julius Caesar || 4 Replies
Who Is Protagonist NEED HELP!!
I have to wright an essay on who is the protagonist and antagonist for this play. I have no clue how to start it off and if Brutus is the protagonist or antagonist. I need evidence from the play to back up my answer and if anyone has any clue on what to do I will be really thankful. thanks!
Posted By ilovebooks420 at Wed 14 May 2008, 4:54 PM in Julius Caesar || 2 Replies
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i need to find a way to compare barack obama to julius caeser in shakespeares play, if possible?
Posted By dave cruce at Wed 14 May 2008, 3:04 PM in Julius Caesar || 2 Replies
Help!!!!!!!!!!
well...here's the dilemma..:eek2: i'm having a REALLY BIG test tomorrow that i'm not sure if I'm ready for.. you see, I'm not so good at writing essays in thirty minutes...:sick: so if you have any possible themes that would appy to Julius Caesar, please PLEASE write!!!!!
Posted By Beautifull at Thu 8 May 2008, 11:58 PM in Julius Caesar || 0 Replies
A very racy (but scholarly) interpretation of JC (this is probably PG13 or higher)
Ok, take a deep breath. I blushed reading this, so be warned! :blush: In all seriousness, though, do you guys think this has any merit as an interpretation? I feel like some of these puns are quite a stretch. I think it would be hilarious if they staged the play with all of the words that she inserts in brackets included, though ;) The article is "The Whore of Babylon and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar" by Barbara L. Parker. Here is her basic thesis: "It is this concept-prodigious or unnatural love--which, I will argue, constitutes the subtextual theme of the play. Conveyed primarily through a pervasive pattern of sexual puns, this theme is part of a larger satire on papal Rome, with Caesar the parodic savior or Antichrist." Here is an excerpt: Caesar's marital frigidity is affirmed in his dialogue with Decius, which pointedly juxtaposes that with Calphurnia. The conspirators' chief concern is "Whether Caesar will come . . . to-day" (II.i.194), a double entendre repeated six times in the first fifteen lines of dialogue between Decius and Caesar. Caesar, however, declines to "come," not, he insists, because he "cannot" or "dare not" but because he "will not" (II.ii.62-4). Caesar qualifies this refusal with a further sequence of sexual puns that, together with Decius's explication of Calphurnia's dream, reveal the full significance of Caesar's "femaleness." Caesar claims that the cause of his refusal is in his "will" (penis) and that this reason should "satisfy" (sexually gratify) the Senate. However, for Decius's "private satisfaction," and because, as he assures Decius, "I love you," he reveals Calphurnia's dream of his statue... ...Caesar's phallic enormity is at once the root of Cassius's jealousy ("Such men as he be never at heart's ease / Whiles they behold a greater than themselves" ) and of Caesar's political power. "Common suitors" (II.iv. 35; the phrase applies equally to the patricians), attracted by his hugeness, perpetually throng around him, jockeying for his favor in a ceaseless ritual of Petrarchan adulation. The journey to the Capitol is accordingly construed as a series of rival solicitations, all of which Caesar, true to his vow of sexual abstinence, rejects. The first is that of Artemidorus: Here will I stand till Caesar pass along, And as a suitor will I give him this. The missive is signed "Thy lover, Artemidorus" (II.iii.7-10). Caesar, however, insists that "What touches us ourself shall be last serv'd" (III.i.8), a statement presaging his posthumous union with the mob. He likewise declines the "suits" of Trebonius (III.i.4-5), Metellus Cimber (III.i.33-5), Brutus (III.i.52-4; note also II.iv. 42-3), and Cassius (III.i.55-7), all conceived in Petrarchan terms: Brutus kisses Caesar's hand and Metellus proffers "curtsies" and "sweet words" (III.i.42-3), Metellus, Cassius, and Brutus each bowing or kneeling to Caesar in a show of abject adoration (III.i.36, 56, 75). The article is quite long, but if you would like more of it, I would be happy to post it. She talks about the "group marriage of the Conspirators" and the "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech as "subtextually replicat all the stages of the sex act, from arousal to coitus to orgasm." All I can say is...oh my goodness
Posted By Cassius at Sun 27 Jan 2008, 2:06 PM in Julius Caesar || 2 Replies
A New Twist on Cassius?
I find Cassius to be an extremely captivating character, and I would love to discuss any alternative interpretations of him that you might have. I think it is possible to view him as a very sympathetic and complex character, and I am not convinced that he is truly more villainous than the "noblest roman of them all." As a starting point, I would like to share one theory that several scholars hold (Johnson, Capell, Furness and Hunter) that I came across and which I find crucial in assessing Cassius. Cassius' soliloquy at the end of act one, scene two is often believed to reveal Cassius as a heartless Machiavellian, aware of his own corrupting influence but fully committed to killing Caesar at any price, even the honor of his friend. The words, at first glance, certainly suggest this: Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, Thy honourable metal may be wrought From that it is disposed: therefore it is meet That noble minds keep ever with their likes; For who so firm that cannot be seduced? Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus: If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, He should not humour me. I will this night, In several hands, in at his windows throw, As if they came from several citizens, Writings all tending to the great opinion That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at: And after this let Caesar seat him sure; For we will shake him, or worse days endure. When he says "Therefore it is meet, that noble minds keep ever with their likes," it seems that Cassius is admitting to lacking nobility and acknowledging that he is "seducing" Brutus. It is possible, however, to read Cassius' comments regarding Brutus' ability to be seduced as an expression of concern that Caesar is seducing Brutus. There is a passage in Plutarch, one of Shakespeare's main sources for this play, that could echo this. Howbeit, Cassius's friends did dissuade him from it ... and prayed him to beware of Caesar's sweet enticements, and to fly his tyrannical favours: the which they said Caesar gave him, not to honour his virtue, but to weaken his constant mind, framing it to the bent of his bow. (Brutus, pp. 110-11) Therefore, Cassius would still be showing a willingness to manipulate Brutus, but it would be because he truly cared for Brutus and did not desire him to be corrupted. I find this very compelling, but wondered what you thought. Is it too revisionist? Any other theories that you might have regarding Cassius would be very welcome :). I just love his character.
Posted By Cassius at Sat 26 Jan 2008, 4:22 PM in Julius Caesar || 4 Replies
Cassius vs. Antony
I have been asked to write a compare/contrast essay on Cassius vs. Antony. Any ideas??? Comments?? Help???
Posted By floridagatorfan at Tue 22 Jan 2008, 2:00 PM in Julius Caesar || 2 Replies