The Tragedy of “Julius Caesar” by Shakespear

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SHAKESPEAR JULIUS CAESAR PLAY
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In the play ‘The Tragedy of Julius Caesar’ by Shakespear, during Caesar’s parade on the feast of Lupercal, Caesar is warned by a soothsayer to ‘Beware the ides of March’. It happened in (Act 1 2 Scene) during their conversation. Caesar ignored and disregarded this warning. ‘The Idles of March’ refer to date March 15th the date Julius Caesar was assassinated by the Roman conspirators. Despite the soothsayer gives coolest lines in the play, no one pays attention to what he says except the audience who are aware of the history of Julius Caesar when he was stabbed in the back that day.
To begin with, the line develops the plot and flow of the story. The line introduces various aspects on how the play is set whereby it can be seen that the story opens in the street of Rome (Peters et al 55). The fear of increasing power of Caesar is seen from the line since the soothsayer is warning Caesar that he will be assassinated due to his increased power.
The line is important since it develops the theme of the play. Ambition and conflict is developed from this line whereby the soothsayer understands that Caesar is an ambitious and great man and foresees conflicts which may arise in the future that is why he is warning Caesar of the results that his action may have. From the play, we find out that Brutus is worried about the ambitions that Caesar has and this leads to Brutus joining the conspiracy to murder so Caesar so that he can gain more power for himself. The theme of fate and free will is raised by the line. The warning that was given by the soothsayer raises imagination about fate and free will that is, if Caesar had listened to the warnings of the soothsayer, could he have changed the course of events that day? It can be debated that why would the soothsayer warn Caesar about his death yet he could do nothing to prevent it from happening. Another theme that is developed from the play is conflict. It is clear that Caesar is in conflict with the society that is why he seeks the help of the soothsayer to determine his future. The line plays an important role in developing the various themes of the play.
Moreover, the line extracted from the play gives an insight about the title of the play which is ‘The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.’ The title implies that the main character in the play who is Caesar has a terrible encounter that is, he was assassinated. From the line we get to know that Caesar will be assassinated on date 15th of March by a group of conspirators including Brutus and Cassius. This is clearly illustrated by the line since the soothsayer is able to foresee the future hence he wants Caesar of the tragedy that awaits him. This warning by the soothsayer drives the urge of venturing forth on the ides of meeting his doom. He is faced by a thunderous fear accompanied by his wife’s dream of his murder. The theme of betrayal is also developed by the line where Caesar is betrayed by his friend who is Brutus. The soothsayer had warned him of his murder which occurred and was conspired by his friend.
Another role that the line plays in the story is development of characters or characterization. First, the character of Caesar is developed where he is ambitious (Schanzer 57). He stubbornly refuses to heed the warnings of the soothsayer that he will be assassinated. He lets his ambitions get the better of him and not being driven by the ideas and views of others such as the soothsayers. This ambition led him to being crowned as the king. Ambition is also seen where Caesar vies for absolute power of Rome despite being discouraged by the words of the soothsayer and the dream of his wife. Caesar is also skeptical since he does not take the warning of the soothsayer seriously. The line also develops the character traits of Brutus. Brutus is depicted as being jealous whereby he is jealous of the growing power of Caesar over Rome. Due to the increased power that Caesar was gaining, Brutus became jealous of him and joined the idea of assassinating Caesar. Together with Cassius (Act 3, scene 1), they finally assassinate Caesar by means of petition brought by Mettelus Climber who was pleading on behalf of his banished brother. From the line, Cassius is also depicted as being jealous since they conspire with Brutus to assassinate Caesar. They do this since they are jealous of his growing power and popularity in Rome.
The prediction of the soothsayer came to pass when Caesar was assassinated on 15th March by Brutus who was convinced by Cassius to carry out the evil plan after filling his ears with hatred for Caesar. Brutus compares Caesar to “A serpents egg/which hatch’d, would, as his kind, grow mischievous, / and kill him in the shell.” And decides to kill him.It can be seen from the above essay that the line has a central role in the development of the play since it contributes to development of the themes, characters and plot of the play (Kamps,70).
Works cited
Schanzer, Ernest. The problem plays of Shakespeare: a study of Julius Caesar, Measure for measure, Antony and Cleopatra. Routledge, 2013.
Kamps, Ivo. Shakespeare left and right. Routledge, 2015.
Peters, Cameron Luke, and Peter Anderson. “‘The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus?’: An Inquiry into the Intrigues of William Shakespeare’s adaptation of Plutarch’s Lives into Julius Caesar.” (2015).