Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) Essay, Research Paper
The reader cannot study Julius Caesar
with an eye to learning Roman history. As usual, Shakespeare significantly
alters actual sequences and events. For instance, the play is compressed
into six days’ time, while the events, as recorded in history, took place
over the space of three years.
The play’s central figure turns out to
be not Julius Caesar at all, but Brutus, who (like Hamlet) feels compelled
to commit a murder for the sake of a principle. All his life noble Brutus
had been faithfull- and through a labyrinthine tangle of plots, politics,
and power bids, he had distinguished himself for his integrity, honor,
and courage, so that, even after his defeat, his enemies recognize him
as their moral superior.
Aside from the political intrigue of the
plot, the play is filled with brilliant speeches, timeless both for their
declamatory techniques and for the passions they reflect and evoke. Read
from Cassius’ speech as he fumes over Caesar’s faults; or turn to the touching
plea of Brutus’ wife for her husband to surrender and return home to her.
And certainly, the two speeches delivered by Brutus and Antonius at the
funeral are classics in oratory.