ENGL 4313/5583: Shakespeare: Tragedies

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Study Guide 3: Julius Caesar

Revised 9-9-10

 

Popularity and Accessibility

Julius Caesar has a long history of popularity on the stage and on the page.  It has often been the first Shakespearean play taught to high school students because it

  • is one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays
  • uses language that is relatively straightforward and easy to understand
  • contains no sexual references

 

Background and Sources

  1. In what year and in which Elizabethan public playhouse was Julius Caesar first performed?  When was this theatre built?
  2. The following political conditions were found in England when Julius Caesar was written. How is each relevant to what happens in the plot of Julius Caesar? 
    1. The current reign of the Tudors had been preceded by a long period of civil war in the 1400s.
    2. Queen Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudor monarchs, was old and had not designated a successor.
  3. What is Shakespeare’s main source for Julius Caesar?  Whose English translation of this source does Shakespeare use?  The English prose in this source is of such high quality that Shakespeare uses more of its exact words than he does of the source for any other play. 
  4. In addition to being a tragedy, Julius Caesar is classified as one of Shakespeare’s Roman plays.  What are Shakespeare’s other Roman plays?  Why do some authorities not consider Titus Andronicus to be a Roman play?
  5. Although Julius Caesar is based on Roman history, it is not classified as one of Shakespeare’s history plays.  Why?  What is the definition of a Shakespearean history play? 

 

Chronology

45 BCE: opening scene, celebration of the feast of Lupercal

44 BCE: assassination of Julius Caesar

42 BCE: the two battles of Philippi (20 days apart)

  1. The events of three years in Roman history are compressed into only five days, with long lapses of time between some acts and scenes.  For example, more than one year elapses between the end of act 3 and the beginning of act 4.  What significant political changes have occurred between these two acts?
  2. What is an anachronism? What makes the stage direction “Clock strikes” (2.1.191) an anachronism? Do you find any other anachronisms in the play?  Extra-credit research:  When were striking clocks invented?  What kinds of clocks were used in ancient Rome?

 

Settings

1.1 – 4.1          Rome

4.2 – 4.3          Conspirators’ camp near Sardis in western Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey)

4.4 – 5.5          Plains of Philippi in northeastern Greece

  1. Extra-credit research:  Find and mark these three locations on a map of the ancient world.  Show your map in class on the document camera.

 

Plot

This section concerns aspects of plot not covered under other headings of the study guide.

  1. What is the definition of each of the following in the context of ancient Rome?  (Use a college dictionary or online dictionary such as www.merriam-webster.com, or do a Google search.)
    1. patrician(s)
    2. plebeian(s)
    3. tribune(s)
    4. triumvir(s), triumvirate
    5. republic, republican
    6. monarchy, monarchist
  2. Some critics consider it a flaw that the first scene of the play introduces two tribunes, Flavius and Murellus, who never appear again.  Why do you think Shakespeare includes these two characters?  What function do they serve in the play?
  3. What is the definition of “portent”?  Which definition of “prodigy” is similar to that of “portent”?   What portent or prodigy that anticipates the assassination of Julius Caesar occurs in connection with each of the following?  
    1. a thunderstorm
    2. a fire
    3. a screech-owl
    4. meteors
    5. a lioness
    6. ghosts
    7. Calphurnia’s dream
  4. What event constitutes the crisis or turning point of the play, after which the plot moves in an entirely different direction than before?
  5. Which two characters deliver orations at Julius Caesar’s funeral?  Which of the two orations is more effective in influencing the crowd?  How can you tell?  In what sense does this more effective oration constitute another crisis or turning point?
  6. After the assassination, three joint rulers eventually (by 4.1) take over the government of Rome: Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar, and Lepidus.  These three rulers are called triumvirs (pronounced “try-UM-verz”) or the triumvirate.  How does each of the following issues reveal problems or disunity among the triumvirs?
    1. their decisions about who must die (4.1)
    2. Antony’s attitude toward Lepidus (4.1)
    3. military plans before the first Battle of Philippi (5.1) 
  7. After the assassination, the main political opponents of the triumvirs are two conspirators: Cassius and Brutus.  In 4.3, how does each of the following issues reveal disunity between Cassius and Brutus?
    1. Lucius Pella takes bribes
    2. Cassius sells offices
    3. Cassius refuses to send Brutus gold to pay troops
  8. What is the immediate reason Cassius commits suicide?  What makes this an “ironic suicide” like Romeo’s?

 

The Character of Julius Caesar

Throughout history, Julius Caesar has often been viewed as a larger-than-life figure. He had the same initials as Jesus Christ, the month of July was named after him, and even the “Caesarean section” got its name from the way he came into the world.  In Renaissance England, ancient Rome was held in awe, and the assassination of Julius Caesar was the most widely known event of Roman history.  In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius reminisces about having played the part of Julius Caesar in a play when he was a university student.

 

Two competing interpretations of Julius Caesar’s character were available to Shakespeare:

  • Monarchists tended to be pro-Caesar and anti-Brutus, emphasizing the greatness of Caesar.  Dante, for example, placed Brutus and Cassius along with Judas Iscariot in the three mouths of Satan in the pit of hell for betraying Caesar.
  • Republicans tended to be anti-Caesar and pro-Brutus (though usually not in favor of his murdering Caesar), emphasizing the weakness of Caesar.  In theatrical tradition before Shakespeare, Caesar was often depicted as aspiring too high and even being a Senecan tyrant.  Plutarch, Shakespeare’s source, saw Caesar as great and Rome as in need of his strong rule.  However, since Plutarch was a republican, he believed Caesar was corrupted by his desire for kingship (or even godhead). 

 

  1. What admirable character traits does Caesar have?
  2. Despite the fact that Shakespeare and his society supported monarchy, Shakespeare gives Caesar character weaknesses not mentioned in Plutarch (and invents situations to magnify his weaknesses). 
    1. According to Decius Brutus, what proves Caesar’s vanity (2.1.207-08)?
    2. How does the manner in which Caesar is tricked into going to the Senate show his ambition?
    3. How does Caesar’s last speech before the assassination show his pride?
  3. Shakespeare also emphasizes Caesar’s physical weaknesses, some of which are not mentioned in Plutarch.
    1. Shakespeare borrows from Plutarch the barrenness of Caesar’s wife.  In what scene is Calphurnia’s barrenness evident?  What physical weakness in Caesar could her infertility suggest?   
    2. According to Cassius, what happened when he went swimming with Caesar in the Tiber River (1.2)?  (Shakespeare invented this episode.)
    3. According to Cassius, what illness did Caesar manifest in Spain, and how did it cause him to behave (1.2)?
    4. What illness strikes Caesar during the feast of the Lupercal? 
    5. What auditory disability does Shakespeare give Ceasar (1.2.213)?  How does this disability become apparent in the play?  What might this disability be intended to suggest or symbolize?
  4. Despite Caesar’s weaknesses and death, he is still great.  His spirit gets revenge on the conspirators, as they themselves frequently acknowledge.
    1. Under what circumstances does the spirit of the dead Caesar become an actual character on stage?
    2. When Brutus sees the suicide of Titinius, what does he say about the power of Caesar’s spirit (5.3.94-96)?  What does Brutus mean?
    3. What other lines refer to Caesar’s spirit?

 

The Character of Brutus

Plutarch thought Brutus’s motives were pure but not his actions in assassinating Julius Caesar.  Shakespeare makes Brutus more virtuous than he is in Plutarch. 

  1. What are Brutus’s personal virtues or outstanding character traits?
  2. Shakespeare omits the following details about Brutus.  How would the inclusion of these details make Brutus’s killing of Caesar seem even worse?
    1. Brutus may be the illegitimate son of Caesar.
    2. In a previous rivalry between Brutus and Cassius, Caesar favored Brutus.
  3. In Antony’s last speech, how does he evaluate Brutus’s character (5.5.68-75)?  What is the significance of the fact that this evaluation comes from Antony?
  4. Brutus can’t identify any previous action of Caesar that justifies his being killed.  What, then, is Brutus’s justification for the assassination (2.1.10 ff.)?
  5. The Italian Renaissance political theorist Machiavelli advised politicians, “The end justifies the means.”
    1. What “end” or goal for Rome does Brutus have in mind?
    2. What “means” does Brutus adopt to achieve this end?
    3. In your opinion, does Brutus’s end justify the means he uses?
  6. It has been said that Brutus is corrupted by reason or by overconfidence in his own reason and virtue.  Does the play support this assertion?
  7. Brutus’s motives and expectations do not match the outcomes of the assassination.  What is ironic about Brutus’s desire for each of the following?  In other words, how are the outcomes different from his expectations?
    1. He wants the killing to be a “sacrifice,” not a bloody slaughter:  “Let’s be sacrificers, but not butchers” (2.1.166).
    2. He wants to kill the “spirit” of Caesar: “We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar” (2.1.167).
    3. He wants to preserve the Roman republic and freedom.
  8. Brutus, however, is not practical in political matters.  After agreeing to help murder Caesar, he naively believes he can continue to act according to conscience.  How does each of the following decisions turn out to be a mistake or error in judgment?  Who knows better but yields to Brutus’s decisions?
    1. He excludes the great orator Cicero from the conspiracy.
    2. He refuses to kill Antony.
    3. He allows Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral.
    4. He insists on forcing a battle at Philippi.
  9. Does Brutus’s suicide reveal strength or weakness in his character?

 

Caesar or Brutus?

Each of these discussion questions could be answered in a few sentences or, for more points, in several pages.

  1. Does Shakespeare “take sides” between Julius Caesar and Brutus?  Does the play show  one character to be more sympathetic or admirable than the other, or is it deliberately ambivalent about their relative merits?  Support your opinion.
  2. Critics disagree about whether Julius Caesar or Brutus should be considered the tragic hero of this play.  In your opinion, which character better fits Aristotle’s criteria for a tragic hero?
    1. To what extent does each character demonstrate nobility of status and nobility of character?
    2. To what extent does each character fall from happiness to misery?
    3. To what extent does each character demonstrate hamartia, an imperfection that causes his fall?  What is the hamartia of each?
    4. To what extent does each character experience recognition?
    5. To what extent does each character suffer more than he deserves?
    6. What other factors can be used to determine which character is the tragic hero?

 

Portia and Calphurnia

  1. How and why does Brutus’s wife, Portia, physically harm herself on two occasions (pages 1160, 1172)?  What are we told about her family background that helps to explain her behavior?
  2. What inconsistency concerning Portia appears in 4.3?  Could include extra-credit research:  In what different ways can this inconsistency in the text be explained?
  3. In 2.2, what main purpose does Caesar’s wife, Calphurnia, have in mind?  Is she successful in achieving this object? 
  4. Prior knowledge or extra-credit research:  How is Calphurnia’s behavior in the play similar to that of Nancy Reagan in the years following the attempt to assassinate President Reagan in 1981?
  5. What similarities and differences do you see between Portia and Calphurnia in their relationships with their husbands?  Which couple has a more mutual, trusting relationship?

 

Cassius

Like Caesar and Brutus, Cassius is a fairly round or complex character.

  1. How does Cassius serve as a “tempter” to Brutus, drawing him into the conspiracy?
  2. What are Cassius’s motives for assassinating Julius Caesar (see, for example, 2.1)?  How do Cassius’s motives differ from Brutus’s?  (Cassius is a foil to Brutus.)
  3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with each of the following contrasts that critics have drawn between Cassius and Brutus?  Support your answers.
    1. Cassius is a realist; Brutus is an idealist.
    2. Cassius clearly foresees the implications of the immoral actions he contemplates; Brutus is self-deceived about the morality and consequences of his actions.
  4. According to what Caesar tells Antony, why does Caesar mistrust Cassius (1.2.192-210)?   Is Caesar correct in his opinion of Cassius?
  5. Although Cassius obviously manipulates Brutus for his own purposes, it has been argued that Cassius also genuinely admires him.  What lines or scenes reveal Cassius’s admiration for Brutus? 
  6. How does the quarrel between Cassius and Brutus in 4.3 reveal Cassius’s psychological need for Brutus’s approval?

 

Mark Antony

The play presents various, almost contradictory, sides of Mark Antony’s character but does not necessarily weave these strands into a well-unified whole. 

  1. What lines in the play show that Antony has the reputation for being a lover of pleasure and parties?  Shakespeare develops this side of Antony’s character much more fully in Antony and Cleopatra, which we will read at the end of the course.
  2. Antony calls himself “a plain blunt man” (3.2.218), and Plutarch depicts him this way.  To what extent is this an accurate description of Antony’s use of language in Shakespeare’s play? 
  3. Another of Shakespeare’s sources, Appian’s Civil Wars (1578), depicts Antony as a scheming politician who uses his oratorical powers to mislead the masses.  What aspects of the play show Antony to be a highly manipulative and amoral politician?
  4. In Antony’s funeral oration, where and how does Antony use each of the following techniques to move the crowd?
    1. He uses elevated language.  (Compare the language in Antony’s and Brutus’s funeral orations.)
    2. He repeats ironic lines that constitute a refrain.
    3. He builds the audience’s desire for him to reveal privileged information.
    4. He uses emotionally powerful visual props.
  5. How does Antony treat a captive taken in battle (5.4.26-29)?  What does this action reveal about Antony’s character?

 

Octavius Caesar

Octavius, also called Octavian, was Julius Caesar’s grandnephew and designated heir.  Caesar was just a family name, not a title of an emperor, as it later became. Octavius was only nineteen years old when his great-uncle was assassinated and he became a triumvir. Historically, he was not present at the two battles of Philippi.  After Octavius became the first Roman emperor, he was known as Caesar Augustus.  Octavius is a major character in Antony and Cleopatra.

  1. In Plutarch, Octavius is charming and witty; in Shakespeare, he is bland and detached.  What insulting label does Cassius give him (5.1.61)?  What else in the play shows Octavius’s unappealing character?
  2. At the beginning of 5.1, how does Octavius assert his power over Antony?
  3. What is indicated by the fact that Octavius has the last speech at the end of the play?

 

Famous Lines

What are the location, context, and significance of each of the following famous lines in the play?

  1. “Beware the ides of March.”
  2. “[He] has a lean and hungry look.”
  3. “It was Greek to me.”
  4. “Et tu, Brute?”
  5. “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”
  6. “This was the noblest Roman of them all.”