"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare

When I was thirteen years’ old I went through a massive Shakespeare phase and the first thing I did was re-read all the plays that I had read before and then, I finalised to start a new one. The new play I started first and foremost was “Julius Caesar” and I can honestly say that even though I did not have high hopes for the play to begin with, I was absolutely entranced by the end of it. I did not want to play to be over, it was absolutely fascinating to see exactly how the conspiracy worked, and ultimately, why it didn’t work. The characters were each individual, even the guy who has his identity mixed up with a guy who has the same name as him and gets himself arrested. The symbols, ghosts and violence of the play is extreme and even the language is just what you’d expect from Shakespeare - multiple layers in which you definitely won’t get it all first time. From the plot which climaxes with the assassination of Julius Caesar to the downfall in which suicide and war are the only options, this play has everything you could want in a terrifying tragedy. It has the supernatural, the satirical, the murderous, the torturous, the conspirators, the violent, the fiery, the brutal and ultimately, the suicidal. It is possibly one of Shakespeare’s most violent plays after “Titus Andronicus” and I can honestly say that every time I have taught this play, it has been nothing but appreciation for Shakespeare’s over-the-top violence and gore. From start to finish, it was a masterpiece that thirteen-year-old me first opened up, only to be consumed by future re-reads throughout my teen years and beyond. It was like reading into a great painting from history. You don’t quite get it all first time - but when you see Rome covered in blood, you think you’re finally on your way to understanding what it is all about. At least, you hope so.

When it comes to themes, there is definitely a theme of death tapping around throughout the play and it is seen in several different ways. When I was reading it for the second or third time, I noticed the way in which death was presented as first, a concept. The fact that Rome would die if everyone was celebrating instead of working - this is seen in the very first scene of the play when Caesar returns from war with Pompey the Great. The second is as a prophecy. We have the Ides of March and this dramatic irony means that the audience are well aware that this means Caesar will die on the 15th of March. But, Caesar chooses to ignore the soothsayers. The third is as a symbol, mainly of blood. Rome is ‘covered in blood’ when the conspirators bathe their arms in Caesars blood and go around slathering their hands on various parts of Rome. The fourth is as a representation, the ghost of Caesar appearing means that we see a manifestation of the actual death presented to us as a form of guilt by the antagonist. The fifth is as means - we have the suicides which are a different means of death from murder. Portia, Cassius and others including, Brutus, represent the suicidal aspect of the play. The regret and the unwillingness to accept fate. The seventh and final method is via physical death. Every single character that dies seems to die in a different state of mind. Cassius is guilty, Portia regrets and mourns, Caesar is all-powerful and yet, feels as if he has been cheated, Brutus is scared of what may happen and there are others.

Whenever I re-read this book I make sure to tell myself about the power that Caesar had harnessed and how Brutus and co. thought that this was way too much for one man to handle. If you tell yourself this, it gives more reasoning to the play and yet, it will leave you in a strange conflicted mind. This conflicted mind is the reason you will keep coming back to the play each and every time.