Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare was a tragedy about Julius Caesar’s death. Julius Caesar is the central character of this play. He was murdered by his own friend Brutus and other Roman senators. Julius Caesar was assassinated at Brutus’ request, because he believed Julius Caesar was becoming too powerful and would start a monarchy; Julius Caesar is reminded of this several times throughout the play. Caesar was originally named by his uncle Julius Caesar and eventually he becomes Julius Caesar himself after Julius Caesar is killed (Julius and Caesar sound and look very similar).
Julius Caesar also had a wife called Calpurnia; Julius married her in about 59 B. C. Julius met Calpurnia when he was young before Julius became Julius Caesar, where Julius worked as a clerk to the town magistrates (officials of ancient Rome or Greece who were responsible for administering laws) before going on to being a politician. William Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, Julius Caesar , is one of the mastermind’s greatest works combining history with drama, action and plot twists.
In all, Julius Caesar is an extremely well-written and highly entertaining work of art that can be appreciated by anyone with a sense for drama. Julius Caesar was written during the Elizabethan era in which there were no televisions or radios, therefore people depended on theater to entertain them; Julius Caesar would have been performed at such entertainment venues. Julius Caesar is also considered (or it could be said) to be one of Shakespeare’s best works because not only does it incorporate history, but it uses several different plots alongside Julius’ death.
The tragedy begins in Julius’ camp where he is meeting with his fellow Roman senators to tell them about a vision he had that seemed to predict Julius’ death in a way similar to how Julius will die near the end of the play. Julius is also visiting his wife Calpurnia to let her know he won’t be home until the morning because Julius has a strange feeling Julius will be murdered if Julius goes to the Senate meeting that day.
Julius believes this despite knowing he could die in battle instead, but Julius feels it’s more likely Julius will be murdered by Brutus and his other friend Cassius who are plotting against Julius with several Roman senators such as Decius and Casca. After Julius leaves Calpurnia, Brutus and the other senators arrive to tell Julius about their plot against him through bribery and persuasion which they believe is moral because they want Rome to be free from tyranny; prior to decimating Caesar’s men at Battle of Phillipi, Pompey and Julius were great friends.
Julius is not convinced and Julius also knows that Brutus had a hand in Julius’ death; Julius tells them he won’t ever turn his back on the Roman Empire. Right after this scene, there is a quick sequence where Julius goes to the Senate meeting anyway despite him knowing something bad could happen because Julius wants to get it over with (he anticipates betrayal) . At the Senate meeting, Julius passes by Cinna while saying hello and then Cassius tells Casca “Strike, if you love me! which some people believe was Shakespeare’s way of foreshadowing what will happen later in Act III.
After some talking and persuading from all the senators involved, Julius leaves for home while saying he will stay home the next day to avoid treachery, but Julius is followed by several Roman senators including Brutus and Cassius. Julius also sees someone holding a knife behind Julius before Julius leaves the Senate building. Julius also warns his trusted friend Artemidorus not to come Julius’ way while going home that night because Julius believes something bad may happen.
Julius then gets another warning from his wife Calpurnia who was dreaming about Julius Caesar’s death beforehand, but Julius doesn’t pay much attention to this either. When Julius arrives home he sends away some of his servants and tells others there won’t be any food or water until morning; this is when Portia shows up with her servant Lucius which puzzles Julius since Portia is supposed to be at home, but Julius knows he can’t say no to Portia because Julius also loves her.
Julius is confused about why Portia came over after telling Lucius not to let anyone inside of Julius’ house; Julius says this because there are still some people following Julius (including Cinna the Poet). Julius tells his servant Lucius to find out who all these people are and then send them away, but Julius also warns him that if they don’t go away then Julius will call the police on them for disturbing Julius. Lucius does as he’s told and finds out Brutus is among those outside so Lucius brings him inside after warning Brutus about what’s going on.
Brutus was Julius Caesar’s most trusted friend, but that trust was broken on March 15th 44 B. C. , the Ides of March, when Brutus betrayed Julius Caesar by joining a conspiracy to assassinate him. The background of Julius Caesar is he had become king of Rome after his victory over all other co-rulers in The Great Roman Civil War. Julius’s time as king was supposed to be until he died, at which point another ruler would ascend to power.
Julius did not want this and eventually declared himself “Dictator for Life. ” This got people worried because Julius made himself seem like another King who rules for life, or dictator who makes any decision they want without formal consent or procedures put into place. Julius made some decisions that concerned people, for example Julius appointed his friend Pompey as his son-in-law against the rules of the Senate. Julius also played into the hands of the “Populares.
Julius knew this power wasn’t good but instead just used it to gain favor with the common people, who Caesar cared about more than anything, because Julius felt they were being discriminated against by the “optimates. ” After Julius was done using his power he planned on restoring it to its rightful ruling body, The Senate. This didn’t work out too well though because Marcus Brutus came in between Julius and his plan. At first Julius was really upset/angry at Marcus for not giving him correct information, Julius was so mad he wanted to kill Marcus but the two made up.
Julius then began planning his assassination because of all the people who were scared Julius would become a King again and never give back power. Julius realized he needed to be careful with whom he trusted or else someone could easily overthrow him. Julius also knew that if he was killed by one of his close friends it would look bad for Rome, like they didn’t have good enough security; therefore Julius had to kill someone really popular with Rome to make sure this wouldn’t happen.
Julius decided on Marcus Brutus who was Julius’s best friend at the time, because Julius knew how much people loved Brutus and figured if Julius killed him no one would try to overthrow Julius out of a fear of a public revolt. Julius could have been right, Julius’s other friends were scared after Julius told them what he was going to do and one even tried to persuade Julius not to kill Marcus Brutus or his other friend Cassius
On the Ides of March Julius called for a meeting with the Senate again because Julius thought that if Marcus Brutus saw him in front of all the people in Rome it would make him look bad and make people think twice about overthrowing Julius. But when Julius got to the Senate house, which was full because everyone wanted to hear what Julius had to say, there was no one inside because a servant warned everyone not come because something big is about to happen.
