Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599.[ It is one of several plays written by Shakespeare based on true events from Roman history, which also include Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.
Although the title is Julius Caesar, Caesar is not the most visible character in its action, appearing alive in only three scenes. Marcus Brutus
speaks more than four times as many lines, and the central
psychological drama of the play focuses on Brutus' struggle between the
conflicting demands of honor, patriotism, and friendship.
Synopsis:
The play opens with the commoners of Rome celebrating Caesar's triumphant return from defeating Pompey's
sons at the battle of Munda. Two tribunes, Flavius and Marrullus,
discover the commoners celebrating, insult them for their change in
loyalty from Pompey to Caesar, and break up the crowd. There are some
jokes made by the commoners, who insult them back. They also plan on
removing all decorations from Caesar's statues and ending any other
festivities. In the next scene, during Caesar's parade on the feast of
Lupercal, a soothsayer warns Caesar to "Beware the ides of March", a
warning he disregards. The action then turns to the discussion between
Brutus and Cassius. In this conversation, Cassius attempts to influence
Brutus' opinions into believing Caesar should be killed, preparing to
have Brutus join his conspiracy to kill Caesar. They then hear from
Casca that Mark Antony has offered Caesar the crown of Rome three times,
and that each time Caesar refused it, fainting after the last refusal.
Later, in act two, Brutus joins the conspiracy, although after much
moral debate, eventually deciding that Caesar, although his friend and
never having done anything against the people of Rome, should be killed
to prevent him from doing anything against the people of Rome if
he were ever to be crowned. He compares Caesar to "A serpents egg/ which
hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,/ and kill him in the
shell.", and decides to join Cassius in killing Caesar.
Caesar's assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play,
occurring in Act 3, scene 1. After ignoring the soothsayer, as well as
his wife's own premonitions, Caesar comes to the Senate. The
conspirators create a superficial motive for coming close enough to
assassinate Caesar by means of a petition brought by Metellus Cimber,
pleading on behalf of his banished brother. As Caesar, predictably,
rejects the petition, Casca grazes Caesar in the back of his neck, and
the others follow in stabbing him; Brutus is last. At this point,
Shakespeare makes Caesar utter the famous line "Et tu, Brute?"("And you, Brutus?", i.e.
"You too, Brutus?"). Shakespeare has him add, "Then fall, Caesar,"
suggesting that such treachery destroyed Caesar's will to live.
The conspirators make clear that they committed this act for Rome,
not for their own purposes, and do not attempt to flee the scene. After
Caesar is killed, Brutus delivers an oration defending his actions, and
for the moment, the crowd is on his side. However, Mark Antony, with a
subtle and eloquent speech over Caesar's corpse—beginning with the
much-quoted Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears—deftly turns public opinion against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the common people,
in contrast to the rational tone of Brutus's speech, yet there is
method in his rhetorical speech and gestures: he reminds them of the
good Caesar had done for Rome, his sympathy with the poor, and his
refusal of the crown at the Lupercal, thus questioning Brutus' claim of
Caesar's ambition; he shows Caesar's bloody, lifeless body to the crowd
to have them shed tears and gain sympathy for their fallen hero; and he
reads Caesar's will, in which every Roman citizen would receive 75 drachmas.
Antony, even as he states his intentions against it, rouses the mob to
drive the conspirators from Rome. Amid the violence, an innocent poet,
Cinna, is confused with the conspirator Lucius Cinna and is taken by the
mob.
The beginning of Act Four is marked by the quarrel scene, where Brutus attacks Cassius for soiling the noble act of regicide
by accepting bribes ("Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? /
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, / And not for justice?"[)
The two are reconciled, especially after Brutus reveals that his
beloved wife Portia had committed suicide under the stress of his
absence from Rome; they prepare for a war
against Mark Antony and Caesar's adopted son, Octavius. That night,
Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus with a warning of defeat ("thou shalt
see me at Philippi").
At the battle,
Cassius and Brutus, knowing that they will probably both die, smile
their last smiles to each other and hold hands. During the battle,
Cassius has his servant Pindarus kill him after hearing of the capture
of his best friend, Titinius. After Titinius, who was not really
captured, sees Cassius's corpse, he commits suicide. However, Brutus
wins that stage of the battle—but his victory is not conclusive. With a
heavy heart, Brutus battles again the next day. He loses and commits
suicide by running on his own sword, which is held by a soldier named
Strato.
The play ends with a tribute to Brutus by Antony, who proclaims that Brutus has remained "the noblest Roman of them all" because he was the only conspirator who acted, in his mind, for the
good of Rome. There is then a small hint at the friction between Mark
Antony and Octavius which characterizes another of Shakespeare's Roman
plays, Antony and Cleopatra.
Link to the review by The Morning Call here
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