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Alexis DeJoy
Ms. Cvejic
English 10 Honors
6 June 2014
Fate in Translation
“Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about
great changes in a situation through very slight forces” (Caesar, The Civil Wars 3:68 ). The man
who gave this quote was a valiant warrior, conqueror, and leader; worthy enough to catch the eye
of one of the greatest writers in history. William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar tells the story of
Caesar’s assassination and the fictional lives of his murderers thereafter. These characters learn
that regardless of their actions, they are condemned to a fate that repays their heinous crime. In
his play Julius Caesar, Shakespeare uses his characters as examples to convey the message that
fate dictates a man’s life; a lesson he learned through his own life experiences.
During the earliest years of his life, Shakespeare learned the force by which fate
controlled his own life. He was born in the year 1546 (believed to be born on April 23) to parents
John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon (EGS Faculty, William
Shakespeare Biography). Shakespeare’s primary years were defined by chaos and tragedy. He
was born in the time of the bubonic plague; a deadly, flea-transmitted disease that was highly
contagious. Linda Alchin, an author specializing in English history, depicted how lethal the
plague was when stating in one of her articles on Elizabethan times that during one particular
epidemic in 1563, “…1000 people died weekly in mid-August, 1600 per week in September, and
1800 per week in October” (Bubonic Plague Death). There was no rhyme or reason to these
deaths; the time of the plague was a time of confusion and fear. Medicine was not advanced in
this era, and so death was inevitable once infected (Alchin, Bubonic Plague Death). Shakespeare
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grew up in a world where it was clear that fate was in charge of the lives of the inhabitants; one
could only hope to have the good fortune of a long life. Unfortunately, Shakespeare experienced
an instance of misfortune first-hand. The two eldest children born to John and Mary died of the
plague before he was even born, and their beloved daughter Anne died of this disease as well in
1579 at the young age of seven (Alchin, Shakespeare Brothers Sisters). Shakespeare’s household
was filled with utter despair, and although they were experiencing financial problems, it is
known that an expensive funeral was given in her honor (Alchin, Shakespeare Brothers Sisters).
After her death, Shakespeare and his siblings were pulled out of school, and he was unable to
attend a university (Alchin, Shakespeare Brothers Sisters). Facing such a devastating life at an
incredibly young age drastically shaped Shakespeare’s identity. He had witnessed fate at its
worst and understood that a person had no control over their own destiny. Many of his works
display this theme that one does not have the power to control his fate or prevent his death. In
this way, his identity was translated into his many poems and plays.
The lesson Shakespeare learned in his youth of fate being the deciding factor in a person’s life
is displayed prominently in Julius Caesar. A major conflict in the play occurs when the
characters ignore the omens prefacing their fate. For example, Caesar disregards the soothsayer
who predicts his assassination. These foolish acts ultimately lead each of the characters to their
downfall. Cassius best describes the characters’ folly when he tries to convince Brutus to join
him in assassinating Caesar and says, “Men at some time are masters of their fates: / The fault,
dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings” (1.2.140-143).
Shakespeare was in no way endorsing what his character was saying; rather, this statement is as
irony used to contrast the message he is trying to send. With this ignorant mind frame, Cassius
along with his fellow conspirators allow themselves to fall into deep trouble. Specifically, fate
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later catches up with Cassius when he commits suicide off a misunderstanding and kills himself
with the very sword he used to kill Caesar. In spite of all his maneuvers, he was unable to escape
his fate to live under the command of Caesar, even after he died. Shakespeare utilizes the
blindness of his characters to criticize the irrational mind frame of society. Humans tend to think
like Cassius and believe they can control or avoid their destiny, but Shakespeare’s play argues
otherwise. As hard as his characters may try, it is completely impossible for them to escape their
destinies. Their faults are used to warn the audience of the consequences of denying the
supremacy of fate in everyday life.
Shakespeare’s career in acting and writing gave him a clear understanding in the power of
fate and chance. After his marriage to Anne Hathaway and the birthing of their three children
(Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith) in 1585, Shakespeare’s whereabouts remain a mystery until the
year 1592; this unknown time period in his life is called, “the lost years” by many scholars (EGS
Faculty, William Shakespeare Biography). However, when Shakespeare began to reappear in
history, he did so with great success. He joined a theater company called “The Lord
Chamberlain’s Men” (later changed to “The King’s Men”) which quickly became the most
popular theater company in London (Alchin, William Shakespeare Timeline) By the year 1599,
they were able to buy their own playhouse, the Globe Theater (Alchin, William Shakespeare
Timeline). Shakespeare’s rise to fame was extremely rapid; he was mentioned in a pamphlet in
1592 as an “upstart Crow” who “supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the
best of you” (Greene, Groats-worth of Witte). In his pamphlet, Greene criticized actors and their
supposed feeling of entitlement to write as well. In particular, he attacked Shakespeare because
of the attention he received in such a small frame of time. Greene was angered with
Shakespeare’s sudden recognition because he knew how difficult it was to pursue a career in
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writing. Shakespeare found success with ease in a career filled with intense competition; a clear
sign that this is what he was destined to do. Ben Johnson, one of Shakespeare’s many admirers,
said of him in the preface of Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies, a
collection of thirty-six of his plays, “He was not of an age, but for all time”, meaning that
Shakespeare’s talent was unlike any other. His natural gift of writing put his destiny into place.
Shakespeare was ambitious enough to pursue careers in both acting and writing, which are two
of the most difficult professions to find success in. Nonetheless, fate was on his side and
Shakespeare became infamous in both fields. Possessing a background in both of these careers
gave Shakespeare a clearer outlook on the way fate controls the course of a person’s life.
Shakespeare’s career in theater heavily influenced his writing style in both the diction
and message of his works. Throughout his livelihood as an author, Shakespeare slipped theatrical
terms and phrases into his writing. During Julius Caesar in particular, Cassius says while the
conspirators are bathing themselves in the newly-deceased Caesar’s blood, “How many ages
hence / Shall this our lofty scene be acted over/ In states unborn and accents yet unknown,”
(3.1.116-118). Cassius does not refer to this event as a “scene” on accident; it is a humorous pun
recognizing that the actors saying these lines are actually performing a scene. More importantly,
it compares the conspirators’ and Shakespeare’s fate to live in infamy. With this remark, Cassius
knows that he is partaking in a defining moment in history. Clearly, he is aware of the
importance of Caesar’s assassination and of his own fate to be remembered for it. With this
quote, Shakespeare too believed that he was of equal importance. If Cassius was to be
remembered forever as an important historical figure in his play, then Shakespeare would also
live in infamy with him. Julius Caesar was written in the same year the Globe Theater was
opened, and by this point in time it was already established that Shakespeare was to be a huge
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success (Alchin, William Shakespeare Chronology). It is unlikely that he knew the extent to
which he would be remembered, but when Shakespeare wrote this line for Cassius, he knew that
he was intended to be a great playwright and poet. Henceforth, Cassius was right; both the
conspirators’ assassination of Caesar and the play it was enacted in would fulfill their destiny to
be remembered by people of many languages and places for all eternity.
It was sheer fate that Shakespeare was born in the era he was. Shakespeare was alive
during the Elizabethan Age, otherwise known as the “Golden Age” of European history. Queen
Elizabeth I ruled from 1558-1603, and during this time unified her kingdom under the Church of
England, defeated the invading Spanish armada in 1588, and established Britain as one of the
leading world powers. In addition to these outstanding accomplishments, she was known for
being a vast patron of the arts (The Royal Household, Elizabeth I). She sponsored numerous
architectural feats, such as the Longleat House and Hardwick Hall, and encouraged the creation
of paintings and poetry. However, one of her favorite art forms was theater, and one of her
favorite playwrights was Shakespeare. Both she and her successor King James I supported his
company financially and attended many of his plays (The Royal Household, Elizabeth I). It was
only by her support that the dramatic arts grew to be the massive success it did; Eric P. Olson of
The World & I magazine stated when discussing the way actors were viewed in society that, “In
1545 itinerant actors were defined by statute as rogues and subject to arrest; by the ascension of
James I, Shakespeare's company, the King's Men, was recognized by royal patent and its
members were officially attached to the court as Grooms of the Chamber”. Queen Elizabeth I
was responsible for the popularity of live performances as well as the rise of Shakespeare
himself. Destiny placed Shakespeare in such a time where he was able to become the great
sensation he is known for today.
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Regardless of this perfect matchmaking of fate, Shakespeare’s discontentment with Queen
Elizabeth is made poignantly clear in his plays. Notably in Julius Caesar, many parallels can be
drawn between the falling Republic of Rome and the British kingdom under Queen Elizabeth I.
Both Caesar and Queen Elizabeth I were known to have declining health problems, no successor,
and civil strife occurring in their reign of territory, which makes it possible that he was using
Caesar as a representation of the queen(The Royal Household, Elizabeth I). The tone used to
describe Caesar by the characters suggests that he is unfit to rule, and therefore the assumption
can be made that he felt the same about Queen Elizabeth I. After Brutus states that Caesar has
epilepsy, Cassius responds by saying, “No, Caesar hath it not. But you and I / And honest Casca,
we have the falling sickness” (1.2.252-253). Shakespeare uses this metaphor to imply that Caesar
is the disease that is killing Rome, and in the same way Shakespeare cunningly used his plays as
a way of expressing his opinions on the monarchy in a time where any words spoken against the
throne were punished by death. He used his characters to express his own opinions, and through
his writing he was given a voice in a period of silence. Julius Caesar is essentially a story about
the political struggles in Shakespeare’s own time period placed in another (Bevington 43).
Shakespeare believed that after the death of Elizabeth, Britain was destined to fall just as Rome
did after Caesar, and his play is a warning of the possible doom its inhabitants were to face.
Fate was a major idea in the culture Shakespeare was raised in. He was born just after the
Italian Renaissance, which was a period of major artistic and philosophical influence. One major
idea of the Renaissance was humanism, a philosophy glorifying the accomplishments of the
individual (Sheils, Shakespeare Problems Humanism). The idea of humanism would have been
taught extensively in schools during Shakespeare’s time, and even with his limited education he
would have been well acquainted with it (Sheils, Shakespeare Problems Humanism). The
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common themes of humanism are revealed throughout quite a few of Shakespeare’s plays,
including when Polonius advises his son, “This above all: to thine own self be true” (Hamlet
1.3.79). In this particular instance, Shakespeare tells the reader to focus on themselves and on the
ways they can find success; a strong ideal humanists hold. Humanism ultimately discusses how
each person has their own destiny and that it is their duty to pursue it. The Italian Renaissance
also brought with it a new appreciation for ancient Greek and Roman texts. One author who
influenced Shakespeare in particular was Plutarch. His book Parallel Lives was a collection of
biographical accounts of important people during the first century. Shakespeare gained much of
his historical knowledge from Plutarch’s works and used Parallel Lives: Life of Caesar as the
main source of research for Julius Caesar. Rolf Soeller says in his book Shakespeare’s Pattern
of Self-Knowledge that Plutarch described Brutus as, “…the ideal personality, Roman style; but,
since many features of this type were taken by the humanists, Plutarch’s Brutus resembled the
humanist pattern of perfect,” which is very similar to the way he was characterized by
Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s access to the knowledge and ideas of the Italian Renaissance was a
major contributor to the formation of his identity and his idea of fate.
Shakespeare uses this humanistic characterization of Brutus to prove that one’s fate
initially directs the course in which their lives will run. Over the course of the entire play, Brutus
feels that it is his destiny to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps and dedicate his life to protecting
Rome. While making his decision about how to deal with Caesar, he says, “O Rome, I make thee
promise: / If the redress will follow, thou receives / Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!”
(2.1.56-58). Brutus recognizes that it is his job to look after the future of Rome, no matter what
the cost. It is this sense of duty that eventually leads him to commit suicide because he would
rather die than see his beloved country of Rome be taken over by his enemy. Brutus is the
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ultimate hero for humanists in that he lives a life characterized by purpose, but Shakespeare
argues that this purpose is what leads to his demise. Brutus’ self-appointed identity led him
towards his true destiny of becoming the person who assassinated Caesar and ultimately changed
the status of Rome in a way he had not previously intended. As much as he tried to protect
Rome, Brutus could not avoid his fate of bringing it to its downfall. Shakespeare uses his
character to demonstrate that a man has no control over their overall purpose in life even when
they believe they do.
The human race tends to believe that they have some form of control over the events in
their lives, but William Shakespeare and Julius Caesar themselves knew this to be false. The
occurrences in Shakespeare’s life shaped an identity in which he believed that he was subject to
the mighty force of fate, and he tried to deliver this message to the world while writing his play
Julius Caesar. His characters, along with the Roman Republic itself, suffer terrible tragedies that
they cannot avoid by any means and provide the reader with the knowledge that they too cannot
escape fate’s grip on their lives. Shakespeare has become such a famous author today because of
his ability to capture the dark and cruel realities of the world. The harsh message of Julius
Caesar is all too true; one is completely unable to avoid the success or tragedy that is destined to
come their way.