JULIUS CAESAR
The Real Man
The Play
The Characters
JULIUS CAESAR – THE REAL MAN
A historic figure who lived from 100 to 44 BC
 Military Leader and Ruler of Rome
 Statues currently exist in museums today
 Caesar’s biography was written in Plutarch’s
Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans
 Caesar was assassinated by his fellow senators
in 44 BC
 Multitude of cultural references exist for Caesar

JULIUS CAESAR – THE PLAY
Shakespeare retained many facts from
Plutarch’s biography of Caesar, Antony and
Brutus
 But he added, deleted and altered to suit his
dramatic purposes
 Took 3 years and telescoped it into 6 days of
action
 Speeches in the Forum (famous lines in the
play by Brutus and Antony) – no historical
precedent

JULIUS CAESAR – THE PLAY
The emotional and fickle mob – Shakespeare’s
creation to add drama
 Characters of Casca, Octavius, Portia and
Calpurnia – greatly expanded by Shakespeare
 The raw material of the real historic figure of
Julius Caesar is true in the play
 BUT the finished product is entirely
Shakespeare’s creation

THE PLAY
Characteristics of Shakespearean Tragedy
 Tragedy: a drama in which a series of actions
leads to the downfall of the main character
 Tragic Hero: usually the title character – but in
Julius Caesar not so
 The tragic hero is a person of high rank, whose
fate has an impact on society
 Hero has a Tragic Flaw – a fatal error in judgment,
a weakness in character that contributes to
his/her downfall

THE PLAY
Soliloquies (asides) – speeches given by an
actor alone on state that express thoughts that
are hidden from the other characters
 “Beware the Ides of March” – famous line, but
a real reference to a date on the calendar –
March 15th

JULIUS CAESAR – THE MOVIE
THE CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
Julius Caesar and his wife Calpurnia
BRUTUS AND CASSIUS
Marcus
Brutus
Cassius
THE CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

Portia, wife of Brutus
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

Marcus Antonius (Marc Antony)
Antony
giving his famous speech
to the people of Rome
in Act 3 Scene 2
Act 1
Runner in the Lupercal Games
touch Calpurnia for good luck
THE CHARACTERS
In Act 3 Scene 1 – the conspirators assassinate Caesar
The conspirators:
Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Trebonius, Caius Ligarius, Decius Brutus,
Metellus Cimber, Cinna (not the poet)
THE CHARACTERS
In Act 1 Scene 2 – a Soothsayer (fortune teller)
warns Caesar to beware of the 15th of March –
known as “the Ides of March”
FAMOUS QUOTES - CAESAR

“I could be well moved if I
were as you.
If I could pray to move,
prayers would move me.
But I am constant as the
Northern Star…”
“Et tu Brute”
FAMOUS QUOTE - ANTONY

“Friends, Romans,
countrymen, lend me
your ears;
I come to bury Caesar,
not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives
after them;
The good is oft interred
with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.”