William Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar
Shakespeare
• Julius Caesar is a play about a political
assassination.
• The question it asks is:
• Is it ever right to use force to remove a ruler from
power? You can answer that question in terms of
your own experience But if you’re going to figure
out what Shakespeare thought, you’ll have to
know something about the values and concerns
of the Elizabethan world in which he lived.
Elizabethan Period
1558-1603 “The Golden Age”
Where the play was held?
Elizabethan Period
• History plays were popular during
Shakespeare’s lifetime (1564-1616) because
this was the Age of Discovery, and English men
and women were hungry to learn about worlds
other than their own.
• The Elizabethans also saw history as a mirror in
which to discover themselves and find answers
to the problems of their lives. A play like Julius
Caesar taught the Elizabethans about Roman
politics; it also offered an object lesson in how to
live. What was Shakespeare trying to teach his
contemporaries?
Elizabethan attitudes toward
monarchy and order.
• (A) MONARCHY
• Today we believe in democracy and are
suspicious of anyone who seeks unlimited
power. We know what can happen when a
Hitler or a Stalin takes control of a
government, and we know just how
corrupting power can be. But Shakespeare
and his contemporaries had no such
prejudice against strong rulers.
Queen Elizabeth 1st
Queen Elizabeth
• Their queen, Elizabeth I, ruled with an iron hand for fortyfive years (from 1558 to 1603), yet her subjects had
great affection for her. Under her rule the arts flourished
and the economy prospered. While the rest of Europe
was in war, mostly between Catholics and Protestants,
England enjoyed a period relatively free from war.
• To Shakespeare and his contemporaries the message
was clear: only a strong ruler could protect the peace
and save the country from plunging into chaos.
• Shakespeare would probably not have approved of
the murder of Caesar.
Old Queen???
• ORDER
• In 1599, when Julius Caesar was first
performed, Elizabeth was old.
• She had never married and had no children to
succeed her.
• Shakespeare and his contemporaries must have
worried greatly that someone (like Brutus? like
Cassius?) would try to grab power and plunge
the country into civil war.
What did people of this time
know???
• World was round, and that the earth was one of
many planets spinning in space.
• They knew from explorers that there were
continents besides their own.
• But most believed that the universe was ruled by
a God, and that everything had a divine purpose
to fulfill. The king’s right to rule came from God
himself.
• Forget chance: if something went wrong, then
someone had broken God’s laws, the laws of the
universe. Many would suffer, but in the end the
guilty would be punished and order restored.
Roman History
Roman History
• Julius Caesar opens in 44 B.C., at a time when Rome
ruled territories stretching from as far north as Britain to
as far east as Persia.
• Rome was governed by a senate. Rome's senators
became factionalized causing problems, which allowed
the more successful military generals gain power.
• ALSO, the state suffered from class divisions, and the
plebeians had managed to win the right to elect
"tribunes," or representatives, giving them some political
power. Women and most of the men were not allowed to
vote!. Rome showed some signs of democracy, the
majority did not participate in the general politics.
Roman History
• When you think of Senators, you naturally think of
elected representatives of the people. But in ancient
Rome the Senate was made up of wealthy people who
wanted to defend their privileges.
• Caesar was a reformer who wanted to reduce the power
of the Senate, and to share their lands and privileges
with the common people.
• 2 Generals: Pompey and Caesar eventually fight for
power.
• Pompey represented the interests of the Senators,—
• Caesar defended the reformers. In 47 B.C. Caesar
defeated Pompey; No wonder in the first act the people
are happy to see Caesar!!!
Julius Caesar – the play
List of Characters
•
•
Brutus - believes strongly in a government guided by the votes of senators. While
Brutus loves Caesar as a friend, he opposes any man to the position of dictator, and
he fears that Caesar aspires to such power.
only Brutus truly believes that Caesar’s death will benefit Rome. Torn between
his loyalty to Caesar and his allegiance to the state, Brutus becomes the tragic hero
of the play.
•
Julius Caesar - A great Roman general and senator, recently returned to Rome in
triumph after a successful military campaign. While his good friend Brutus worries
that Caesar may aspire to dictatorship over the Roman republic, Caesar seems to
show no such inclination, declining the crown several times. Yet while Caesar may
not be power-hungry, he does possess some flaws.
•
Antony - A friend of Caesar. Antony claims allegiance to Brutus and the conspirators
after Caesar’s death in order to save his own life. Later, however, when speaking a
funeral oration over Caesar’s body, he persuades the audience to withdraw its
support of Brutus and instead condemn him as a traitor.
List of Characters
•
•
•
•
•
Cassius - A talented general and long-time acquaintance of Caesar. Cassius dislikes
the fact that Caesar has become godlike in the eyes of the Romans. He slyly leads
Brutus to believe that Caesar has become too powerful and must die, finally
converting Brutus to his cause. Has no illusions how the political world actually
works.
Octavius - Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor. Returns after Caesar’s
death; he then joins with Antony and sets off to fight Cassius and Brutus. Paving the
way for his eventual seizure of Roman government.
Casca -Against Caesar’s rise to power. Casca tells Cassius and Brutus how Antony
offered the crown to Caesar three times and how each time Caesar declined it. He
believes, however, that Caesar is an actor,getting the people to believe that he has
no personal ambition.
Calpurnia - Caesar’s wife. Calpurnia invests great authority in omens and portents.
She warns Caesar against going to the Senate on the Ides of March, since she has
had terrible nightmares and heard reports of many bad omens.
Portia - Brutus’s wife; the daughter of a noble Roman who took sides against
Caesar. Becomes upset to find him so reluctant to speak his mind when she finds him
troubled. Brutus later hears that Portia has killed herself out of grief that Antony and
Octavius have become so powerful.
The Play!!
• JULIUS CAESAR In order to discuss
Shakespeare’s play intelligently you have
to make up your mind about (1) Caesar’s
character, and (2) Caesar’s threat to the
Roman Republic.
•
• Either Caesar deserves to be
assassinated, or he doesn’t. On your
answer hangs the meaning of the play.
Think!!!!
• On one hand, Caesar’s ambition poses a real danger to the
Republic. In that case, the hero of the play is Brutus.
• On the other hand, Caesar may be vain and arrogant, but he is the
only ruler strong enough to hold the Roman Republic together, and a
flawed ruler is better than none at all. In that case, Brutus becomes
an impractical idealist who is manipulated by a group of scheming
politicians.
• Whatever your position, there’s no doubt that Shakespeare wants to
show us the private side of a public man, and to remind us that our
heroes are, like the rest of us, only human.
• In public, Caesar is worshipped like a god; in private, he is
superstitious, deaf, and subject to fits of epilepsy. Caesar’s public
image is like a mask he wears to hide his weaknesses from others
and from himself. Yet at the moment of death his mask slips, and we
see another Caesar who values friendship above all.
Terms
• Ides of March - The Ides of March was a
festive day dedicated to the god Mars and
a military parade was usually held
• Feast of Lupercal - The mystery around
the beginning of Valentines Day dates
back to ancient times with the celebration
of the “Feast of Lupercal”, which was in
honour of the Roman God of Fertility. The
day is February 15th of each year.