What’s it about? Caesar has many friends and many supporters, but apparently not quite enough. Some are beginning to question whether he has grown too tyrannical and needs to be stopped. A group of them, including Caesar’s trusted friend, Brutus, agree on a plan. They kill Caesar (”E tu, Brute?). But then…well, things don’t go exactly as planned.
What’s it really about? Some guys kill their friend/leader only to realize that the whole leading-a-country thing isn’t as easy as they thought it would be.
No, really, what’s it ACTUALLY about? Many things (so precise, I know), including fate, political power, rhetoric, and manipulation.
My thoughts:
When I was very young (I must have been about seven or so), my class went on a field trip to be a practice audience for a nearby production of Julius Caesar. This was my very first introduction to Shakespeare. The production was a good one, but as young as I was, there wasn’t anything I thought was particularly spectacular about it. But one thing has stuck in my mind ever since: Antony’s speech to the people after Caesar’s murder. I don’t remember anything else about seeing that play (not even seeing Caesar get stabbed), but I still quite vividly remember watching this guy dressed in his costume on stage holding stained white cloth, talking about Caesar’s murder. Looking at it now, with much greater understanding, the speech, and the entire play is very much about manipulation.
Very early in the play, we see Cassius persuade Brutus to participate in the plan to murder Caesar (and I think we can fairly describe his methods as manipulative). Caesar is then manipulated into attending the Senate on the Ides of March. We see Brutus then manipulate the people who have gathered following Caesar’s assassination, and then Antony be equally manipulative in pulling them back the other way. It’s everywhere in the play.
Political rhetoric is often associated with manipulation, but it is very present in normal day-to-day communication habits, too. So much so that I think we have to wonder if it’s even possible to avoid. I remember being told in school once that all writing is persuasive writing. Whether you’re writing an essay, a speech, a short story, or an epic fantasy, your purpose is to persuade your readers to believe in what you are saying. If that’s the case, surely all of our speech is designed to be persuasive as well. Is that all based on manipulation? I think we’re left to really think about the thin line between communication and manipulation, and whether they can ever really be separated.
And then there’s the question of whether or not manipulation is ever acceptable, and under what circumstances. Is Antony’s use of manipulation any more acceptable than Brutus’, simply because we consider Antony to be in the right? And of course authenticity/integrity and manipulation are not mutually exclusive.
Of course, like all of Shakespeare’s work, there are an infinite number of ways to view what this play is about. To me, Antony’s speech will always be the central and pivotal moment in the play, which means that Julius Caesar (in my mind) cannot be separated from ideas about politics, power, rhetoric, and manipulation.
Highlights:
Favorite line –
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.
(I’m sorry, I had to! The Fault In Our Stars is just too good.)
Funniest scene – So there are a lot of things that the 1953 film of Julius Caesar gets right. But the assassination scene is, shall we say, not one of them (in my humble opinion). I could not help but laugh, even though it should be one of the most tragic scenes in all of Shakespeare’s work. You can see for yourself here (start at about four minutes in).
