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Drama. Fiction. HTML: Although Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar is named after the legendary Roman political leader, the central character is thought by many to be Marcus Brutus, Caesar's friend turned foe who struggles throughout the play with conflicting obligations of friendship and duty. While Caesar is warned in a prophecy to "beware the Ides of March" the Roman senators, including Brutus are secretly plotting his assassination, hoping to rid Rome of the threat of a tyrant who they believe plans to overthrow democracy and install a monarchy. The source of the famous lines "Et tu, Brute?" and "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your earsâ?¦" this tragic history play is based on the real events surrounding the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC.… (more)
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It's strange reading about Roman history through compound filters: dramatization, Shakespearean England, what we know of the Roman Republic, modern norms.
") Such a tangle that it might not jump immediately to mind that there were probably not a whole lot of chiming clocks in the first century BC. We've got Centurions herein acting like they're on Queen Elizabeth's court. Strange.
This play is brief. Brief enough that it doesn't feel like a story so much as a string of exchanges. Brutus (who refers to himself in the third person and thus puts me in the mind of Tarzan or other deep-voiced simpleton) seems instantly swayed to subterfuge. Caesar is full of lofty exaltations but kind of amounts to nothing when you think about it. Marc Antony does show a bit of craftiness, and Cassius is devious.
I do like the way Casca responds to Cassius' invitation to dinner and I hope I can use it myself sometime: "Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating."
I do feel like that sometimes.
Anyway, what most struck me in re-reading JC was the character of Brutus. He's the anti-Hamlet. His duty tells him to kill the king, and so he does it, straight away. But wait -- was it really his duty, or was he merely duped by backbiting Romans who hated Caesar for his success? In the end, it doesn't matter. "The noblest Roman of them all" ends up dead, and the republic he meant to defend soon falls into the hands of another Caesar.
Brutus reminds me of Robert E. Lee. Both men were greatly admired and honored even by their enemies. But how much does honor matter if you fight for the wrong things? Lee's deep personal integrity and gravity lent a tinge of moral authority to the cause of white supremacy, for frak's sake. Brutus committed murder out of love. Maybe Hamlet wasn't so dumb to hesitate after all.
But betrayal is a hell of a thing.
This is a high point in my quest to read/re-read all of Shakespeare's plays.
Chicago script.
A good example of how power corrupts, as even the good guy, Antony, tries to manipulate his friends to gain more for himself.
As a twelve year old this wasn't the best book I've ever read. It was a little confusing with a lot of characters and action. I thought the book was going to be about Julius Caesar but it was more about the conspirators getting rid of him. One of the morals was don't murder anyone because you will have to live with the guilt the rest of your life. This play taught me a little about Rome and war. I really enjoy reading Shakespeare. Overall this was a good book.