Notes on the Play
Julius Caesar is a meditation on the nature of history: Every action by the characters in the story attempts to improve the condition of Rome but actually everything they do just makes it worse.
It is a play about class devisions, but also about ideology and everyone thinking that they are right.
Julius Caesar is essentially an adaption of Plutarch's The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans... Translated out of Greek into French by James Amyot: and out of French into English by Thomas North (1579; reprinted 1595). Most plot points are taken directly from Plutarch, but Shakespeare added and expanded a few elements in order to make the story more dramatic for the stage while also drawing on general traditions of Roman life and history. In addition, Shakespeare also condensed the lengthy narrative, picking and choosing what he wanted to present for his audiences. Notably, Shakespeare gives Caesar his last words, whereas Plutarch describes Caesar as pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.
In Shakespeare’s career, Caesar falls somewhere in between Henry IV 1&2 and Macbeth. This is clear in the themes and styles he plays with in this play: from personalized politics to ghosts of those betrayed to troubled leaders to mystical omens. Brutus especially is somewhere between Henry IV and Macbeth.
Julius Caesar reflects the Elizabethan unease about succession, as Queen Elizabeth never produced a proper heir and in her old age refused to name one. The English people grew uneasy and likely feared a civil war as depicted in Julius Caesar.
A characteristic of the Renaissance was admiration for the past, and Shakespeare uses this in order to make his audiences acutely aware of the lessons we can be taught by the past. There were no clocks in Ancient Rome, but Shakespeare has one in 2.1; this could be a mistake, or it could be Shakespeare reminding us of the double story: past and present. Past and present are a theme in Julius Caesar, made apparent by the character of Julius and Octavius.
One of the major themes of Julius Caesar is public vs. private. Each character has their public and private face, but most notably Caesar himself. Publicly, Caesar is like a god. Privately, he is weak and sickly. As Garber points out in Shakespeare After All, Cassius and Brutus killed the wrong Caesar. They killed the private man, not the public, so for the rest of the play they have to battle the myth of Julius Caesar which lives on.
It is a play about class devisions, but also about ideology and everyone thinking that they are right.
Julius Caesar is essentially an adaption of Plutarch's The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans... Translated out of Greek into French by James Amyot: and out of French into English by Thomas North (1579; reprinted 1595). Most plot points are taken directly from Plutarch, but Shakespeare added and expanded a few elements in order to make the story more dramatic for the stage while also drawing on general traditions of Roman life and history. In addition, Shakespeare also condensed the lengthy narrative, picking and choosing what he wanted to present for his audiences. Notably, Shakespeare gives Caesar his last words, whereas Plutarch describes Caesar as pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.
In Shakespeare’s career, Caesar falls somewhere in between Henry IV 1&2 and Macbeth. This is clear in the themes and styles he plays with in this play: from personalized politics to ghosts of those betrayed to troubled leaders to mystical omens. Brutus especially is somewhere between Henry IV and Macbeth.
Julius Caesar reflects the Elizabethan unease about succession, as Queen Elizabeth never produced a proper heir and in her old age refused to name one. The English people grew uneasy and likely feared a civil war as depicted in Julius Caesar.
A characteristic of the Renaissance was admiration for the past, and Shakespeare uses this in order to make his audiences acutely aware of the lessons we can be taught by the past. There were no clocks in Ancient Rome, but Shakespeare has one in 2.1; this could be a mistake, or it could be Shakespeare reminding us of the double story: past and present. Past and present are a theme in Julius Caesar, made apparent by the character of Julius and Octavius.
One of the major themes of Julius Caesar is public vs. private. Each character has their public and private face, but most notably Caesar himself. Publicly, Caesar is like a god. Privately, he is weak and sickly. As Garber points out in Shakespeare After All, Cassius and Brutus killed the wrong Caesar. They killed the private man, not the public, so for the rest of the play they have to battle the myth of Julius Caesar which lives on.