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The Roman play "Julius Caesar" - Coggle Diagram
The Roman play "Julius Caesar"
sources
based on Plutarch's historical biography and available to Shakespeare through Thomas North's English translation.
BUT there are some differences:
In Shakespeare's version, the conspiracy remains a secret until the murder takes place but is foreshadowed by prophecies and dreams which Caesar ignores.
Shakespeare focusing on the relationship between Cassius and Brutus.
Caesar is killed by a few men, not by the crowd.
plot
3.The conspirators flee Rome because of the crowd's revolt against them.
Cassius commits suicide.
2.The conspirators deceive Brutus and convince him to kill Caesar, who dies stabbed repeatedly in the Capitol.
Mark Antony and Octavius fight Brutus who is defeated and then he too commits suicide.
1.After Caesar's triumph in Pompeii, he returns to Rome, causing Cassius and other conspirators to fear that Caesar might become emperor.
main themes
"public and personal interest"
The main characters in the play are all motivated, even if in different ways, by public interest and do not act out of personal feelings and loyalty. Everyone relinquish their humanity and are transformed into ruthless political agents.
Brutus refuses to be persuaded by his wife Portia's pleas and participates in Caesar's murder thinking it is in the public interest and also betrays his friend Caesar.
Cassius only develops his public image, has no private life and is driven by ruthless ambition and a total lack of personal honour.
Caesar rejects personal interests, giving more importance to public image, and believing in his omnipotence, puts his life in danger by not listening to a series of warnings.
"power and ambition"
Caesar's growing power and ambitions lead Cassius to believe he must eliminate him because in his opinion he was a dangerous threat to the Roman republic. To eliminate him, he even goes to so far as to deceive Brutus, Caesar's friend, by using false documents.
"the leader and the danger of tiranny"
Caesar's numerous victories lead him to believe he is invincible and this conviction will lead to his death because he will not listen to the advices of the people close to him.
Caesar additionally led the people to detest him and fear that he would become a tyrant because he did not focus on the welfare of the community but only on increasing his individual power. ("the exact opposite of the "servant leader")
main characters
Caesar is a proud man who gratifies himself with the homage he receives from other people. His inability to separate the private and public selves makes him believe he is immortal and will lead to his death. Although he dies as a man, this sense of immortality finds a form of confirmation in the final act, when Brutus believes that his and Cassius' misfortunes reflect Caesar's power from beyond the grave.
Brutus, the true tragic hero of the play and the most complex character, is in conflict between his personal and public values. Brutus acts according to principles that will lead him to personal and political ruin. His participation in Caesar's death is motivated by the (misplaced) conviction that it is in the interests of Rome.
Antony possesses all the strengths that Brutus lacks and never permits public virtue to dominate his self-interest. He emerges as a skilful and unscrupulous politician, capable of reacting to the needs of the moment and is able to persuade the people through his skills as an orator.
dramatic technique
the language of rhetoric
One of the most distinctive features of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is the role of language as an instrument of persuasion. Language is used by the various characters in the play as a political tool through which they can shape history and alter the course of events. Language is also a powerful tool that characters use to move the crowd and gain political power. The most formidable public speaker in the play is surely Antony, who uses his skills to convince the audience that the conspirators who killed Caesar were traitors to the state.
the absence of the hero
Another distinctive feature of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is the limited role actively played by the title character of the play.Caesar, the 'protagonist' of the play, has a very limited role and disappears at the beginning of Act III. It is through his disappearance that Caesar gains his power: the play explores how historical facts can be manipulated to support different political views and shows that its main purpose is not the dramatic representation of a historical fact, but the exploration of the limits of power, the danger of tyranny and the many ways in which language can construct, deconstruct and reconstruct a historical fact.