After reading Titus and Richard III, it is a welcome to read Julius Caesar, a play without murder and plot. Oh wait, it is full of murder and plots. That and suspicions, fate, and prophecies.
One thing that I noticed about Shakespeare’s recent play is that he includes a lot of references on the supernatural world. A soothsayer predicts Caesar’s ultimate death. His fate is handed to him and yet he goes against it.
First of all, the inclusion of the prediction of the death builds up the play. The audience knows of the plot on the new King’s life and they also know of the prediction of his death. The audience is let in on the secret of the play. Shakespeare didn’t just write a play like this, he must have planned it. He must have wanted to include the audience, to engage them, to convince them that they knew the secret, hook them on the plot and reel them in. Brilliant Shakespeare.
Although, I suggest that there are other reasons Shakespeare decided to include the idea of fate. It must have been prevalent during this time period. People were expected to make sense of diseases running rampant without much medical or scientific knowledge. Fate was how people made sense of things. The people were trying to make some meaning of life, something that people are still trying to do today.
Caesar’s character is much like any man. He wants to succeed, to be powerful and have money. He is the Roman story of rags to riches (and then death, but that is neither here nor there). He is persuaded by his wife to stay home but then his pride and Decius are enough to change his mind.
The arguments running through his head are spoken through out the play. Caesar says, “ What end can be avoided whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?” (2.2.27). He seems to realize the fate he has been handed and is willing to accept that nothing can be done about it. He goes on to say, “Cowards die many times before heir deaths; valiant never taste death but once,” (2.2. 32-33). Caesar is prideful. He would rather face death and save face, then be thought of as a coward. And being thought a coward is precisely what Decius says the senate will think of him if he doesn’t go to the meeting. This isn’t unlike most people today. How many shootings are there based on the fact that someone’s pride was hurt. Or people showing up to fights they know that they will lose because they would rather suffer a black eye and bruised ribs than be thought of as weak. This play is about power. And power is something that heavily relies on seeming powerful, so not showing up because of a fortune would be categorized as something weak. Thus ends act two, with Caesar walking towards death and Portia and the Soothsayer predicting it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think the fact that Shakespeare constantly knows he's writing for an audience is something that's not as easy to pick up on in his writing compared to seeing an adaption. You're obviously very right about the fact that Shakespeare includes the audience in on the plot to kill Caesar, almost as if they are co-conspirators. I really like this observation as it can lead to so many more thoughts about how Shakespeare went about writing this play. For instance, when Brutus and Antony are giving their speeches after the death of Caesar to the 'masses of Rome' (who are most likely just a few actors on stage) I feel like the audience would be a stand in for these masses. Looking at the play this way it's intriguing to see how Shakespeare uses his language in order to include his audience, especially by making them privy to the prophesies and fate of the characters on the stage as you've pointed out.
ReplyDelete