Unlike the other titular characters in Shakespeare's plays (e.g. '' Hamlet '', '' Henry V ''), Caesar is not the central character in the action of the play, appearing in only three scenes and dying at the beginning of the third Act. The central Protagonist of the play is Brutus and the central psychological drama is his struggle between the conflicting demands of Honour , Patriotism , and Friendship .
The play is notable for being the first of Shakespeare's five great tragedies (the others being '' Hamlet '', '' Othello '', '' King Lear '' and '' Macbeth '').
Most Shakespeare critics and historians agree that the play reflected the general anxiety of England due to worries over succession of leadership. At the time of its creation and first performance, Queen Elizabeth , a strong ruler, was elderly and had refused to name a successor, leading to worries that a Civil War similar to that of Rome's might break out after her death.
Cassius commit suicide rather than be captured. The play ends with a tribute to Brutus, who has remained "the noblest Roman of them all" (V.v) and hints at the friction between Mark Antony and Octavian which will characterise another of Shakespeare's Roman plays, '' Antony And Cleopatra .''
''Julius Caesar'' was first published in the First Folio in 1623 . The Folio text is notable for its quality and consistency, generally leading scholars to believe that it was prepared from a theatrical promptbook. The play's source was Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch 's ''Life of Brutus'' and ''Life of Caesar''.
- Julius Caesar
- Octavius Caesar , Marcus Antonius , M. Aemilius Lepidus , Triumvirs after the death of Julius Caesar
- Cicero , Publius, Popilius Lena, Senators
- Marcus Brutus , Cassius , Casca , Trebonius , Ligarius , Decius Brutus , Metellus Cimber , Cinna, Conspirators against Julius Caesar
- Flavius and Marullus, Tribunes
- Artemidorus, a Sophist of Cnidos
- A Soothsayer
- Cinna, a poet
- Another poet
- Lucilius, Titinius, Messala, Young Cato, Volumnius, Friends to Brutus and Cassius
- Varro, Clitus, Claudius, Strato, Lucius, Dardanius, Servants to Brutus
- Pindarus, Servant to Cassius
- Calpurnia , wife to Caesar
- Portia , wife to Brutus
- ''Julius Caesar'' 1950, starring Harold Tasker as Julius Caesar
- '' Julius Caesar '' 1953, starring Marlon Brando as Antony
- ''Julius Caesar'' 1970, starring Charlton Heston as Antony
- ''Blackadder the Third'' (the play Julius Caesar is a play watched by Blackadder and the Prince Regent), 1985
- traveller in London , Thomas Platter , recorded seeing a performance of a play about Julius Caesar on September 21 , 1599 - this was probably the original production of Shakespeare's play. He also described the actors dancing a Jig at the end of the play, a convention of the Elizabethan Theatre .
- appeared in an arena scene not featured in Shakespeare's play; a similar number of girls danced as Caesar's captives; a total of three thousand soldiers took part in the battle sequences.
- ' famous production at the Mercury Theatre drew fervoured comment as the director dressed his protagonists in uniforms reminiscent of those common at the time in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany , as well as drawing a specific analogy between Caesar and Mussolini . Opinions vary on the artistic value of the resulting production: some see Welles' mercilessly pared-down script (the running time was around 90 minutes without an interval, several characters were eliminated, dialogue was moved around and borrowed from other plays, and the final two acts were reduced to a single scene) as a radical and innovative way of cutting away the unnecessary elements of Shakespeare's tale; others thought Welles' version a mangled and lobotomised version of Shakespeare's tragedy which lacked the psychological depth of the original. Most agreed that the production owed more to Welles than it did to Shakespeare. However, Welles's innovations have been echoed in many subsequent modern productions, which have seen parallels between Caesar's fall and the downfalls of various governments in the twentieth century.
- All Julius Caesar Provides a summary of the play; and background on Shakespeare and Julius Caesar including historical background on Julius Caesar and a character analysis of Caesar.
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