Julius Caesar is a great and intriguing play as it is a tale of betrayal and tragedies. Caesar was a great leader of Rome and an overtly ambitious general and what follows is a series of betrayals from some quarters that felt his power was becoming overbearing and so they needed they curb his excesses. Brutus led the successful assassination attempt and what follows the death of the great Caesar is now history.
The editors of the essay, Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine clearly stated that
William Shakespeare demonstrated his artistic prowess and this is actually true as he showed his adept ability to effectively use his mastery of words and his great oratorical skill to persuade readers to view things from his own point of view.
The most compelling and interesting moment in the play comes when Marc Anthony, a loyal servant of Caesar gave a soul rendering and thought provoking speech at the funeral of Caesar. Taking a critical look at the event that followed Anthony’s speech, it would be seen that it was this great speech that made the crowd turn their backs against Brutus.
Though, the play is full of tragic details and serious political rivalries, it falls short of Shakespeare’s later tragic plays in terms of the intensity in style. Taking an analytical look at Barbara and Paul’s opinion on the murder of Julius Caesar, it could be deduced that Shakespeare was not really sure if Caesar’s murderers were right in killing him and this leaves readers to either be in the defense of Brutus or totally be against his dastardly act.
I would say that the tragic death of Julius Caesar came to me as a shock as the climax that beclouded his assassination is unexpected. Having to read that the mighty Caesar was brutally murdered by Brutus before the senate is unbelievable and this is what adds to the intriguing details in the play.
Though, the murder of Caesar by the conspirators was expected as they did not like the idea of Caesar being the supreme emperor, but the timing was not expected as one would have thought that Caesar would have won so many hearts and even those of his killers before he met his waterloo at the hands of his killers as this was not to be.
Caesar, being the supposedly protagonist should have lived up to the last pages of the book, but the details of his death somewhere in the middle pages of the book leaves readers to believe that he is not the major lead in the book as Marc Antony or probably the followers of Brutus played more active roles in the book.
The thought provoking tales in the book is something that arouses one’s consciousness and broadens one’s imaginations on the event that led to Caesar‘s death as it makes the ardent readers to have a kind of feeling that they were really there in the middle of the action and the events that took place during that period.
Sincerely, this book is a must read for every lover of history and every fan of the emperors of Rome. It just shows us that no man is too great to be slaughtered and that no matter the protection that we feel we have, somebody, somewhere could bring us down as we see how Marcus Brutus successfully brought the great Emperor Julius Caesar down.
Kudos must be given to the great William Shakespeare for relating this intriguing and interesting story to lovers of history. As he has once again shown that he is the greatest historian, and author of all time.