ANALYSIS: JULIUS CAESAR

 

LITERARY ANALYSIS: JULIUS CAESAR BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

William Shakespeare is one of the known writers of all time. His tragedy Julius Caesar is less well known. Therefore I would like to give an analysis of this extremely exciting work and go straight into his life and the history of English theater using my Academic Notes.

The author: William Shakespeare

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. At the age of seven he was sent to the parish Grammer School. Shakespeare became acquainted with the theater early on, since at that time comedy troupes traveled through the country and presented their plays. In 1592, Shakespeare made his name in the theater for the first time and achieved great prosperity through his financial acumen. He was a co-owner of the famous "Globe Theatre" in London, where most of his plays were performed. Shakespeare revolutionized theater and introduced a new type of drama. While in the ancient tragedy man breaks at the imposed fate, in Shakespeare he carries out the conflict within himself and fails due to the contrast between reason and passion. The realistic, individualized depiction of people is also new. In Shakespeare, various mixtures of styles find their way. Thus the Englishman inserted comic scenes into the tragedies, alternated between high state actions and concrete folk scenes, used verse and prose in one play. Shakespeare respected neither the unity of time nor that of place. His dramatic actions often span years and decades, and the scenes change in quick succession because the Shakespearean stage knew no backdrops. Thus his dramas, tragedies and comedies were already highly esteemed during his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it. individualizing representation of man. In Shakespeare, various mixtures of styles find their way. Thus the Englishman inserted comic scenes into the tragedies, alternated between high state actions and concrete folk scenes, used verse and prose in one play. Shakespeare respected neither the unity of time nor that of place. His dramatic actions often span years and decades, and the scenes change in quick succession because the Shakespearean stage knew no backdrops. Thus his dramas, tragedies and comedies were already highly esteemed during his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it. individualizing representation of man. In Shakespeare, various mixtures of styles find their way. Thus the Englishman inserted comic scenes into the tragedies, alternated between high state actions and concrete folk scenes, used verse and prose in one play. Shakespeare respected neither the unity of time nor that of place. His dramatic actions often span years and decades, and the scenes change in quick succession because the Shakespearean stage knew no backdrops. Thus his dramas, tragedies and comedies were already highly esteemed during his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it. alternated between high state actions and tangible folk scenes, used verse and prose in one play. Shakespeare respected neither the unity of time nor that of place. His dramatic actions often span years and decades, and the scenes change in quick succession because the Shakespearean stage knew no backdrops. Thus his dramas, tragedies and comedies were already highly esteemed during his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it. alternated between high state actions and tangible folk scenes, used verse and prose in one play. Shakespeare respected neither the unity of time nor that of place. His dramatic actions often span years and decades, and the scenes change in quick succession because the Shakespearean stage knew no backdrops. Thus his dramas, tragedies and comedies were already highly esteemed during his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it. tragedy and comedy valued in his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it. tragedy and comedy valued in his lifetime; in the 18th century Lessing, Herder and Goethe were enthusiastic about it.

selection of his works

Creative period: comedy of mistaken identity, sonnets

- 1590 King Henry VI
- 1591 King Richard III
- 1592 Titus Andronicus

Creative period: romantic comedies, sonnets

- 1594 Romeo and Juliet
- 1595 A Midsummer-Night's Dream
- 1597 King Henry IV

Creative period: tragedies, dark comedies

– 1598 Troilus and Cressida
– 1599 Julius Caesar

Creative Period: Romances

– 1600 Hamlet
– 1604 King Lear

Tragedy: Julius Caesar

summary

 ACT 1: After his victory over Pompey, Caesar is enthusiastically celebrated by the people while he goes to the Capitol for the council meeting. A fortune teller warns him of the "Ides of March" (middle of the month), but Caesar shows no fear. The mighty of Rome are reluctant to see Caesar's triumph. The ambitious Cassius in particular cannot bear to see Caesar above him and seeks to involve Brutus in a conspiracy against the triumphator. This one fluctuates. Although he loves Caesar, he sees a threat to the republic in his growing power. On the Capitol, Marc Antony offers Caesar the crown three times. Caesar rejects them three times, but is angered that the people enthusiastically receive this rejection. He had secretly hoped that he could be "forced" to accept. Meanwhile, the conspirators against Caesar are stirring up excitement. But they know that they will only be successful if they win over Brutus, who is respected everywhere, for their cause.

ACT 2: Brutus ponders and ponders. A mysterious piece of paper is brought to him, on which an example of Rome's fight against a former tyrant is reported. "Brutus, you are sleeping. Awaken!” it says. The conspirators, led by Cassius, finally find Brutus ready to take the lead. But he only wants to kill Caesar, his followers must not be harmed. Caesar's wife Calpurnia has dreamed of bad omens and begs him not to leave the house. Finally he gives in with a smile. But when an emissary arrives with the message that the Senate will crown him today, Caesar goes to the Senate session anyway.

ACT 3:On the way, Caesar is again warned, but he does not heed the ominous voices. Arriving in the Senate, a petition is handed to him as a pretext. When Caesar refuses, the conspirators bare their daggers and stab him. As ordered by Brutus, Caesar's followers are spared. His favorite Marc Antony even gets the right to speak at Caesar's funeral, provided he doesn't say anything against the conspirators. Cassius warns against this speech in vain. Brutus declares at the Roman forum that Caesar had to fall for the freedom of the people. Everyone cheers for him. As Brutus walks away, Marc Antony takes the floor. His speech is a masterpiece. He does not want to praise Caesar, but he cleverly reminds of Caesar's benevolence. He stirs up the anger of the people until its repeated"Yet Brutus is an honorable man" becomes inflammatory mockery. The people cheer him even louder than Brutus before and disperse to avenge Caesar's death.

ACT 4: The conspirators are expelled and three men rule in Rome: Marc Antony, Octavius ​​and Lepidus. They try to consolidate their rule with small means. Meanwhile, Brutus and Cassius are arming armies against Rome. Between the noble Brutus and the self-serving Cassius, disputes arise that are difficult to settle. Brutus, deeply affected by the suicide of his wife, who did not want to survive his escape, is plagued by suspicions. Meanwhile Marc Antony and Octavius ​​are moving to Philippi with a Roman army. The ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus in a dream and drives him into battle with the words "We will meet again at Philippi" .

ACT 5: When a battle ensues between the enemy armies, Cassius is defeated by Marc Antony and Cassius lets his servant kill him. Brutus, who was able to hold his own on his wing, begins again, fighting Marc Antony and Octavius, but is eventually defeated and falls on his sword. He shall be buried with all honors by the victors. Because as Marc Antony says: "Only he connected himself with the others out of pure honesty and for the common good" . The other conspirators only acted out of envy towards Caesar.

interpretation

Shakespeare may have conceived the plan to write a tragedy about Caesar while he was writing Henry V. He was particularly attracted by the drama surrounding the death of the successful general under the statue of his former enemy Pompey. In this work, Shakespeare uses a sophisticated characterization technique that does not allow the viewer to fixate his sympathies and antipathies on a specific person. The title hero dies in Act 3, but remains mentally present until the end. The changing lighting of characters and events is the work's salient feature. The introductory scenes clarify the starting point: the uneasiness of the republicans concerned about Rome's freedom in view of Caesar's position of power. The drama makes it clear that Caesar on the one Brutus are the "hero" in the other way. The first part shows Caesar at the peak of power, but also lets Brutus' character appear in the brightest light. Brutus is the paragon of republican virtue: freedom-loving, honorable, a stoic and idealist whose actions are not governed by private feelings and self-interest. His level-headedness and unselfishness are effectively compared to the fiery boldness and ambition of Cassius, whose need for recognition drives him to oppose Caesar. Brutus, who has to choose between his political convictions and personal friendship with Caesar, is the only one faced with a truly tragic conflict. The view of Brutus' downsides such as self-righteousness, lack of empathy and thus lack of knowledge of human nature, is still obscured by sympathetic aspects. The view of Caesar, on the other hand, changes in an irritating way. Caesars appears arrogant and has clear physical weaknesses. He is epileptic and deaf in one ear. On the other hand, the people love him. He is won over by his courage, his consideration for Calpurnia's feelings, and the innocent friendliness with which he treats the conspirators. But the stubbornness with which he rejects the Senate's request for pardon for an exile causes sympathy for the conspirators to sprout again. But the disgraceful murder and Caesar's deep grief that even his good friend Brutus is one of the conspirators causes a change of mood. The political question fades into the background, what counts in the end is the relationship between the friends. Nothing can justify what happened, the fellow human beings are to be given priority over all political principles, no matter how high. The consequences of the act are riots, acts of violence and civil war and show that the murder was not for the good of the republic. The subsequent speeches in front of the people bring the turning point. The experience-blind idealist Brutus tries to convince the people with reasons and, in his gullibility, allows Antonius to speak after him. Antony achieves a rhetorical tour de force that includes emotion, irony and flattery, culminating in the glorification of Caesar. Marc Anton, previously a bon vivant, is now smart, bold and highly intelligent. His pain at Caesar's death is genuine, but he's also extremely sober about his options. However, the viewers can't develop any real sympathy towards him, because he sacrifices people all too easily for his goals and shows himself to be power-hungry. Finally, Marc Antony triumphs over the conspirators. The dead Brutus at least has the acknowledgment that he did not commit the murder out of greed.

Theatrical form of Elizabethan drama in the 16th century

Shakespeare, his person and his dramatic work can only be understood in the closest context to the heyday of Elizabethan drama and theater at the turn from the Renaissance to the Baroque. In England, after the consolidation of the monarchy under the Tudors, national self-confidence emerged. This goes hand in hand with the country's Reformation detachment from the Catholic Church and the overcoming of military and political threats. This strengthened national consciousness was accompanied by material prosperity for broad sections of the population.

Historical Plays

The Elizabethan drama is also based on a long, differentiated dramatic acting tradition in Great Britain. In addition to the medieval sacred play, the late medieval profane genres are to be emphasized, which give the Elizabethan drama essential features with spiritual content as well as with dramaturgical form elements and their figure apparatus. The genre of “hiestories” or “historical plays” had a tradition in England in the 16th century before it was briefly flourished in the 1990s, mainly by Shakespeare himself, and after 1600 it was completely absorbed into the genre of the high Elizabethan tragedy. The basis for the emergence and the popularity of the genre for a period of time was the interest in English history, which was based on a strengthened national consciousness. Sixteenth-century chronicles and histories, born of the same impulse to glorify the Tudor dynasty, were the immediate sources of these Historical Plays. This corresponded to the uncomplicated plot structure of the medieval mystery plays. The presentation of the topic had a moralizing didactic concern in mind. Sample cases of good or reprehensible ruling behavior should be presented. The "Histories" thus gained the character of a time-related political lesson. In contrast to the "historical play", the Elizabethan tragedy was hardly prepared by a special genre tradition. After brief but effective approaches, it quickly developed under Shakespeare into the highest form of Elizabethan drama. First of all, it forms itself as a separate genre directly after the model of the Roman tragedies of Seneca. Characteristic are the basic dramatic situations, after which the drama characters appear again and again in monstrous borderline situations of human existence, again and again they find themselves exposed to the most unbelievable crimes, atrocities and cruel acts of revenge. The revenge motif is supplemented with other motifs that appeal to the public, such as romantic love and intrigues that create suspense, resulting in a changeable plot structure,
The genre of Elizabethan tragedy is brought to a height of perfection by Shakespeare in a very short time, with a decisive transformation of the acting characters and a clear deepening of the tragic content. Formulations of the genre type previously found by him, based on the ancient pattern of Seneca and the tragic hero type of the unscrupulous, passionate superman created by Christopher Marlowe, are definitely taken up and continued. All in all, there is no simple and uniform formula for interpreting Shakespeare's tragedies. His insight into life, his image of humanity and also his poetic creativity change over the years, becoming complex and profound.

Shakespeare's Roman dramas

The series of great tragedies begins in 1599 with Julius Caesar, who is later followed by "Antony and Cleopatra" and "Coriolanus" from the same ancient period. In Shakespeare research, these are often summarized as a separate group of "Roman dramas" within the entire tragic work. Apart from the subject matter, they also occupy a special position in that they focus less on a tragic individual fate and more on the tragic downfall of the historical heroes. Ultimately, this is linked to the question of correct political behavior. In this way, Shakespeare's "Roman Dramas" stand to some extent between his "Historical Plays" and the great later tragedies.

Time and again, Shakespeare's tragic heroes become dependent on certain powers, which they are no longer able to control, despite all the exertion of strength and will. In this way, the plot of the drama takes on something indefinite, a good as well as a bad ending, both seem fundamentally possible at first. But the hero's personal striving, his will, is ultimately powerless and ineffective. All tragic heroes ultimately fail, even if the inevitability of their downfall appears questionable at times as the story progresses. The positive turn at this negative end of the dramatic event lies in the insight gained by the failing hero in his fateful dependence on a higher, stronger power, which he initially misjudged and which made him guilty. In the fact that the tragic hero is at the mercy of higher powers, Shakespeare reveals an image of man that is based on the insight into the questionableness and contradictions of life as a whole. But from this insight, through the failing hero, grows the knowledge of an unshakable, eternal cosmic order that is even deeper and more firmly founded than life.

prose and blank verse

Even in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, professional theater was the indispensable basis for the continued existence and flowering of Elizabethan drama literature. The dramas of the Elizabethans were often commissioned by the drama groups and written directly for stage practice. The actors determined the production of the drama, not the playwrights the theater business. The Elizabethan drama, including Shakespeare's poetic work, is primarily intended as functional literature for the purpose of theater performances, not as art literature that exists independently. Elizabethan theater was primarily a theater of sophisticated rhetoric and declamation, based on a powerfully and expressively developed artistic drama language, in highest perfection in Marlowe and Shakespeare. In Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare mainly uses prose and blank verse as stylistic devices. For example, the speech of Brutus is written in prose, that of Antony in blank verse. The blank verse is a rhyming line of five iambics. Iambus refers to an ancient verse foot made up of a short and a long syllable. The unstressed syllable after the last accent can also be omitted. The blank verse, which originated in England, is less a lyric and more a drama verse. The unstressed syllable after the last accent can also be omitted. The blank verse, which originated in England, is less a lyric and more a drama verse. The unstressed syllable after the last accent can also be omitted. The blank verse, which originated in England, is less a lyric and more a drama verse.

Renaissance: Rebirth of Antiquity (1450-1600)

The French word Renaissance means rebirth. In relation to its origin, this means the "cultural rebirth of antiquity". The term describes the dawn of an epoch from the Middle Ages. The epoch of the Renaissance is so called because at that time the ideals of antiquity were glorified. This rebirth of the ancient spirit was particularly reflected in the arts and their new principles, which were perceived as progressive. The Renaissance overcomes the medieval view of the world and man and the traditional state and social order. The spirit of critical research takes the place of belief in authority: man becomes the measure of all things and reasons of state become the principle of politics. The Italian royal courts - especially the Florence of the Medici - are exemplary for Europe. During this time, grammar, poetry, history, rhetoric and dialectics have acquired splendor through explanations, annotations, corrections and innumerable translations. The Renaissance was preceded by the art historical epoch of the Gothic and it was followed by the Baroque. In addition to the Latin poetry of the humanists, a rich literary life developed in Germany. Thanks to the printing press, literature quickly became the common property of all educated people.

understanding of the world

Renaissance, Humanism and Reformation grew out of man's longing for spiritual and religious renewal. They draw equally on ancient sources: the Renaissance is based on Roman art, humanism breathes new life into ancient philosophers, historians and poets, the Reformation makes the translation of the Bible based on the original Greek and Hebrew texts binding.
Text forms and genres
The literature of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period is almost exclusively a literature of the city bourgeoisie. The citizens, who became wealthy through trade and industry and built Gothic cathedrals and town halls within their walled cities, also pushed for their own forms of expression in literature. The insecurity of the lifestyle of this epoch is reflected in a variety of literary genres. Minnesang and courtly poetry are imitated in the Meistersang, organized according to the guild. Folk books developed from the epics of knights, meaning entertaining prose stories. Comedy collections and carnival games also serve as entertainment. A rich satirical literature castigated the ills of the time and the folly of the people.

The historical Caesar: genius with a penchant for absolute power

Gaius Julius Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BC. and died March 15, 44 BC. in Rome. Through his marriage and relatives, Caesar, who came from the Roman nobility, gained access to high politics. But he came into opposition to the dictatorship of Sulla. So he had to leave Rome and won his first battles abroad. After Sulla's death he returned to Rome and made a name for himself in Spain as a capable general. Through the first triumvirate (rule of three) with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompejus Magnus he managed to become consul. He later became proconsul in Gaul and in this position conquered all of the free Celtic lands. Through his victories and rich booty, Caesar became the most powerful man in Rome. In the year 53 BC BC Crassus died on a campaign against the Parthians.

Caesar defeats Pompey

As a result, war broke out between Caesar and Pompey. Without encountering any significant resistance, Caesar reached Rome, while Pompey and large parts of the Senate fled to Greece. In 48 Caesar was re-elected consul by the willing remainder of the Senate and went against Pompey, whom he defeated at the Battle of Pharsalos in Greece. Pompey fled to Egypt where he was eventually assassinated. Caesar followed him and met the young Queen Cleopatra in Alexandria. Two more campaigns followed: Caesar defeated both republican senate troops under Metellus Scipio and Cato the Younger as well as the sons of Pompey. After his return from Egypt in 46 BC. BC Caesar had been appointed dictator for 10 years. After his last military success in Spain, the Senate appointed him dictator for life. In particular, this last, non-constitutional title aroused the suspicion that Caesar was striving for kingship. However, he refused the diadem and the royal title offered to him by Antony. However, Caesar also carried out many reforms which, among other things, caused the Romanization of Western Europe. A new campaign against the Parthians was to cement his fame, but on the Ides of March 44 B.C. BC Caesar was murdered in the hall of the Pompey Theater. However, Caesar also carried out many reforms which, among other things, caused the Romanization of Western Europe. A new campaign against the Parthians was to cement his fame, but on the Ides of March 44 B.C. BC Caesar was murdered in the hall of the Pompey Theater. However, Caesar also carried out many reforms which, among other things, caused the Romanization of Western Europe. A new campaign against the Parthians was to cement his fame, but on the Ides of March 44 B.C. BC Caesar was murdered in the hall of the Pompey Theater.

Augustus enthroned as emperor

After Caesar's death, more civil wars followed, lasting until 31 BC. should last. First, Marcus Antonius (Caesar's co-consul 44 BC) and Caesar's great-nephew and testamentary adoptive son Octavian defeated the conspirators and formed the 2nd triumvirate with General Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Then Octavian eliminated his comrades-in-arms as competitors for power and from 31 BC he was BC sole ruler in Rome. Under the honorific Augustus, bestowed on him by the Senate, he founded the Roman Empire and finally buried the Roman Republic.

Tags S5/S6