Recently in English class we started the play "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare. Before we started the play, we read short explanations on topics such as the Roman republic, Aristotle’s view on tragedy, ancient superstition, the life of Caesar, William Shakespeare, the Elizabethan stage, background on the play, and how to read the play.
To better understand the political sphere during the time of Julius Caesar, we read about the Roman Republic. Starting in the early 6th century, the Roman republic was intended to provide more voice to the common people. However, as only the rich were allowed to hold office, the elite tended to control all legislation and make decisions that only benefitted themselves. This led to greater authority for the aristocrats, which is how Caesar attainted his control of Rome.
The play is about the assassination of Julius Caesar, the story taken from a text called “The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans”. During the time period in which the play was set, Rome was in constant war. Generals such as Caesar had enormous power, and they fought other generals for more control. Caesar rose above the other generals and became dictator of Rome for 10 years. The jingoistic senators planned to expunge Caesar by assassinating him because his power was too great and went against the Roman Republican belief (where a single man holding more power than the rest was an anathema), and that is where the play begins. The life of Caesar ended dramatically and unexpectedly. Despite many warnings and prophecies stating when Caesar would be killed, Caesar didn’t acknowledge them and continued on to his demise, exhibiting his temerity. His death is ironic because his friend Brutus was an accomplice to Caesar’s death, and although Caesar suspected him of treachery he still continued to listen to Brutus. Caesar also conducted improper sacrifice, which is a very bad omen; all these negligent actions led to his premature death.
Since the play was written by William Shakespeare, we also read about his life. The life of William Shakespeare started just as any man’s would during his time period. When he grew up he became an actor and performed in many plays. He also went to college and wrote many of his own plays which were compiled by his colleagues; the first full play to be compiled was “Julius Caesar”. Shakespeare wrote all his plays in the same form--blank verse poetry. It duplicates natural speech and utilized iambic pentameter, which makes the writing “sing-songy”. In Shakespeare’s plays, the main characters were given more poetic lines than the less important ones. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed on an Elizabethan stage.
The Elizabethan stage utilized simple props, settings, and sound effects, and required the audience to use their imagination. The first stage, called “The Great Dome”, was moved across the river and called “The Globe”. It was circular, 30 feet high, 40 by 30 feet, had a trap door, and had a small inner stage called “the heavens”. Only males could act until 1660, so even women parts were played by men. All types of plays were performed at The Globe, including tragedies.
Aristotle believed that tragedy was meant to arouse pity and fear in the audience as a way for spectators to purge their negative emotions. The hero of a tragedy must be better than the average person so that the audience is fearful since even though the hero is better than them, he still received punishment. However, the hero must create the problem themselves so that they deserve the punishment; this problem usually exemplifies the hero’s tragic flaw, or fundamental character weakness. The play “Julius Caesar” is a tragedy, and follows these guidelines.
Superstition was in no way extraneous to the plot of "Julius Caesar"--in fact, it was highly valued during the time of the play. There were many symbols of bad omens, and dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Animals were also used frequently for good or bad luck, as they were believed to be the souls of ancestors. Roman politicians used these superstitions to control the common people.
This article regarding the effects of superstitions relates to “Julius Caesar” because the play essentially revolves around superstition; most of the characters’ actions are because of superstitious beliefs.
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