By
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Caesar is all-powerful in Rome. The
Roman Senate is subservient to him.
All but the semblance of democratic
government has been lost. What is a
patriotic Roman to do?
Shakespeare's classic play of
political intrigue, assassination, and
civil war in Ancient Rome—
Julius Caesar.
102/100 BCE: Gaius Julius
Caesar was born (by Caesarean
section according to an unlikely
legend) of Aurelia and Gaius
Julius Caesar, a praetor. His
family had noble, patrician
roots, although they were
neither rich nor influential in
this period. His aunt Julia was
the wife of Gaius Marius, leader
of the Popular faction.
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The play reflected the general anxiety of
England due to worries over succession of
leadership. At the time of its creation and first
performance, Queen Elizabeth, a strong ruler,
was elderly and had refused to name a
successor, leading to worries that a civil war
similar to that of Rome's might break out after
her death.
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Julius Caesar
Octavius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, M. Aemilius Lepidus:
Triumverate after the death of Julius Caesar
Cicero, Publius, Popilius Lena: Senators
Marcus Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Trebonius, Ligarius, Decius
Brutus, Metellus Cimber,Cinna: Conspirators against Julius Caesar
Flavius and Marullus: Tribunes
Artemidorus: a Sophist of Cnidos
A Soothsayer (Also called Fortuneteller)
Cinna: a poet, who is not related to the conspiracy
Lucilius, Titinius, Messala, Cato the Younger, Volumnius: Friends
to Brutus and Cassius
Varro, Clitus, Claudius, Strato, Lucius, Dardanius: Servants to
Brutus
Pindarus: Servant to Cassius
Calpurnia: wife of Caesar
Portia: wife of Brutus
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Marcus Brutus is Caesar's close friend; his ancestors were
famed for driving the tyrannical King Tarquin from Rome
(described in Shakespeare's earlier The Rape of Lucrece).
Brutus allows himself to be cajoled into joining a group of
conspiring senators because of a growing suspicion—
implanted by Caius Cassius—that Caesar intends to turn
republican Rome into a monarchy under his own rule.
Traditional readings of the play maintain that Cassius and
the other conspirators are motivated largely by envy and
ambition, whereas Brutus is motivated by the demands of
honor and patriotism; other commentators, such as Isaac
Asimov, suggest that the text shows Brutus is no less moved
by envy and flattery. One of the central strengths of the play
is that it resists categorizing its characters as either simple
heroes or villains.
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The soothsayer's (fortuneteller) warning to
Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has
forever imbued that date with a sense of
foreboding. But in Roman times the expression
"Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a
dark mood—it was simply the standard way of
saying "March 15.“
Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and
October; the 13th in the other months)
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full title · The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
author · William Shakespeare
type of work · Play
genre · Tragic drama, historical drama
language · English
time and place written · 1599, in London
date of first publication · Published in the First Folio of
1623, probably from the theater company’s official
promptbook rather than from Shakespeare’s manuscript
publisher · Edward Blount and William Jaggard headed
the group of five men who undertook the publication of
Shakespeare’s First Folio
narrator · None
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protagonists · Brutus and Cassius
antagonists · Antony and Octavius
setting (time) · 44 b.c.
setting (place) · Ancient Rome, toward the end
of the Roman republic
point of view · The play sustains no single
point of view; however, the audience acquires
the most insight into Brutus’s mind over the
course of the action
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tense · Present
foreshadowing · The play is full of omens,
including lightning and thunder, the walking
dead, and lions stalking through the city (I.iii).
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tone · Serious, proud, virtuous, enraged,
vengeful, idealistic, anguished
themes · Fate versus free will; public self
versus private self; misinterpretation and
misreading of signs and events; commitment to
ideals versus adaptability and compromise; the
relationship between rhetoric and power;
allegiance and rivalry among men
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motifs · Omens and portents, letters
symbols · The women in the play, Portia and
Calpurnia, symbolize the neglected private
lives of their respective husbands, Brutus and
Caesar. The men dismiss their wives as
hindrances to their public duty, ignoring their
responsibilities to their own mortal bodies and
their private obligations as friends, husbands,
and feeling men.