Julius Caesar

[Blade]

i was curious as if anyone could tell me why shakespeare entitled this "the tragedy of JULIUS CAESAR" from what i have noticed, in all of shakespeare's other tragedies, the tragic hero always meets his demise in act V. in "the tragedy of Julius Caesar", Caesar dies in act III and Brutus dies in act V. this being said, i belive that either the title should be the tragedy of marcus brutus, or, not classify this play as one of his tragedies, but instead place it as one of his histories...plz respond with your thoughts

8)

[Jay]

Hi and welcome

Why is it that much important to "kill" the tragic hero exactly in the same act? I'm not an expert in this, but does it say anywhere that the tragic hero must die in the fifth act? Sorry I know I didn't help you much... but that's pretty all I can think of right now :oops:.

[IWilKikU]

I dont think Shakespeare was trying to write the same play thirty times.

[Sindhu]

I dont think Shakespeare was trying to write the same play thirty times.

Precisely! And Shakespeare was much revilled because he didn't go with the three unities (sacriliege) or any of the other Prescriptions for drama at the time. Who wants a well constructed "aristotelean" play when you can have an original? And that what was Shakespeare was doing-telling the dramatic CONVENTIONS exactly where they got off!

[fayefaye]

my english teacher told me it was sposed to be a comedy.....

[Blade]

how could you contort Caesar into a comedy?

[Blade]

Hi and welcome wink

Why is it that much important to "kill" the tragic hero exactly in the same act? I'm not an expert in this, but does it say anywhere that the tragic hero must die in the fifth act? Sorry I know I didn't help you much... but that's pretty all I can think of right now oops.

that being said, why did he only do it in Julius Caesar?, none of the other tragedies vary from his original archetype.

all above points are valid(with the exeption of the comedy) but i still dont understand the reason in which this is a tragedy of Julius Caesar, sure he died, but so does just about everyone in his plays, it seems to me that Shakespeare goes into extreme depth into Brutus' inner thoughts and conceptions much more than Caesar....but then again i'm just a 16 year old kid.....what do i know wink

[IWilKikU]

I saw "The Reduced Shakespeare Company" perform Julius Ceaser in about 15 minutes. It was hilarius. But they did cut the text up a bit and leave out little parts here and there. In its entirety it most certainly is not a comody. And your english teacher needs to get his confused self on this forum now and explain to me what he's doing teaching the youth of the world that shakespeare thought the Ides of March were funny!

[Blade]

well said but i'm still looking for an explanation to my question

[Sindhu]

There are several critics who simplyfy the issue by assuming either that Shaespeare made a mistake in his title or that he couldn't care less about conventions. For a detailed analysis of your question, from several points of view, check out this link
www.fiu.edu/~comptalk/project2/caesar.htm
I think you'll find some answers there- and maybe we could discuss it later if you like.

[Blade]

8) ah thank you, and yes i would like to discuss this further, first of all what is your opinion on the subject?

[Vronaqueen]

I thinks its called The Tragedy of Julius Caesar because the play is not tragic because Caesar dies, its because of what Caesar represented. When he is murdered, the governing principles of the society are practically destroyed. I think that Caesar as a person is relatively unimportant but what he represented to Rome and its people is the key to realizing the power of this play.

You could say its a lot like the Kennedy Assassination. As a president and politician, he did very little--except almost start nuclear war with russia and cuba. Despite all this, he is beloved as a man, a perfect symbol (outwardly anyway) of the presidency and America.

When Brutus dies in Act five, its just a closer and justice being served for the tragedies he caused on the roman empire

[atiguhya padma]

He started the US mission to the moon, didn't he? I wouldn't call that unimportant.

[fayefaye]

I'm pretty sure my teacher had no idea what she was talking about. though I do think 'to part the glories of this happy day' is a funny way to end something with so much death.

[IWilKikU]

Originally posted by atiguhya padma
He started the US mission to the moon, didn't he? I wouldn't call that unimportant.

Do you REALLY believe the US landed on the moon, or is this another one of your clever rhetorical devices?