Julius Csar

Authors Avatar

Ishak Ibisevic        English        Julius Cæsar

Julius Cæsar

‘The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar,’ more commonly known as ‘Julius Cæsar,’ is a  by  written in . It portrays the  against the  , Julius Cæsar, his assassination and its aftermath. It is the first of his Roman plays, based on true events from .

In the play, Shakespeare places a strong emphasis on the themes of friendship and betrayal. In a scene where Cassius and the other conspirators discuss killing Mark Anthony and Julius Cæsar, the main theme is that of treason. Cassius would not have dared to contemplate this if he did not have the power to do so. Although he argues that his actions are for the good of Rome, his motives are ultimately selfish. Other themes such as manipulation, murder, divine order, honour and war are also at the heart of the play.

The Elizabethan Era () is the period in which Shakespeare’s plays were written and introduced to the masses. Many consider it ‘a ’ in . At the time, people believed in divine order, which meant rulers were God given; their power was divine. Rulers were therefore God’s rulers on Earth, removable only by God and not by men. This led to a strong following and respect for the ruler due to their special bond with God. Therefore, any play drawing on the lives of rulers would greatly affect audiences, especially as they were very religious.

In the play, we can see three different groups of the ‘audience.’ Firstly, the plebeians were those that saw firsthand Julius Cæsar. This group is within the play, they are the ones that react to Brutus first positively and then turn on him because of his words and actions. Secondly, there are the people of the Elizabethan period. This group saw the play first hand while it was performed during Shakespeare’s life. The tradition was that if they did not like it they would throw objects such as vegetables at the actors performing the play. The third audience is the people that read the play after Shakespeare’s time, which includes today’s readers. For today’s reader the themes discussed are probably still very relevant as humans have not changed much with the same themes still existing. The main difference is that today’s reader will take away and understand a different message than those in Elizabethan times as there are different values and beliefs, for example, the idea of divine power.

Join now!

The main part of the play involves Julius Cæsar being stabbed by the conspirators and Brutus and Mark Antony give their speeches. In his speech, Brutus uses prose in order for the plebeians to feel like he is one of them. Brutus starts his speech by saying “Romans, countrymen and lovers,” which shows that he was patriotic towards his country. Mark Antony uses blank verse because he was brought up with the language. His first words were “friends, Romans and countrymen” which shows that he too wants them to feel that he is one of them.

One of the most ...

This is a preview of the whole essay