Presentation

By- Siddharth Uppal

& Abhyaleek

Index1. About William Shakespeare2. Characters of the play3. Main Characters4. About the play

Play By William Shakespeare

Biographical Information

•Born: Stratford-Upon Avon, England April 23, 1564•Parents, John and Mary (Arden)•Married Anne Hathaway, November, 1582•Three children: Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

The Bard

• Sometime in the 1580's William Shakespeare left his family to pursue a career as a playwright, poet, and actor in London.

• His success was immense. Shakespeare is known to have written 154 sonnets and 37 plays.

• In fact, so prolific was Shakespeare as a writer of sonnets, that a sonnet form has been named for him. The Shakespearean sonnet is 14 lines long with a rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef,gg.

Playwright, Poet, Actor

Shakespeare’s Theatre• “The Globe Theatre, also known as

the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, was not only one of most famous playhouses of all time, but the play house where Shakespeare performed many of his greatest plays. Built from oak, deal, and stolen playhouse frames, the 3 storey, 3000 capacity Globe Theatre, co-owned by William Shakespeare has become almost as famous as the playwright himself.” ( Absolute Shakespeare)

Points of Shakespeare's Style:

Use of metaphors– comparing something in terms of something else, i.e. "That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder".

Use of soliloquies– usually longer speeches given by characters when alone on stage– e.g. a person talking to himself out loud.

Use of asides– when a character says something to the audience, but the other characters on stage cannot hear it, e.g. like muttering to himself.

Use of sonnets– a very rigid poetic style of writing. Fourteen lines consisting of three sets of four line quatrains and a two line rhyming couplet at the end. Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, e.g.

Use of puns– humorous plays on words indicating different meanings.

CharactersJulius CaesarCalpurnia: Wife of CaesarOctavius Caesar, Marcus Antonius, M. Aemilius

Lepidus: Triumvirs after the death of Julius CaesarCicero, Publius, Popilius Lena: SenatorsMarcus Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Trebonius, Ligarius,

Decius Brutus, Metellus Cimber, Cinna: Conspirators against Julius Caesar

Portia: Wife of BrutusFlavius and Marullus: TribunesArtemidorus: a Sophist of Cnidos

A SoothsayerCinna: A poet, who is not related to the conspiracyLucilius, Titinius, Messala, Cato the Younger,

Volumnius, Stfgrato: Friends to Brutus and CassiusVarro, Clitus, Claudius: Soldiers in the armies of

Brutus and CassiusLabe, Flavius: Officers in the army of BrutusLucius, Dardanius: Servants to BrutusPindarus: Servant to CassiusA second poet, the unnamed Marcus FavoniusA messengerA cobblerOther soldiers, senators, plebeians and attendants.

Main CharactersA great Roman general and senator, recently

returned to Rome in triumph after a successful military campaign. While his good friend Brutus worries that Caesar may aspire to dictatorship over the Roman republic, Caesar seems to show no such inclination, declining the crown several times. Yet while Caesar may not be unduly power-hungry, he does possess his share of flaws. He is unable to separate his public life from his private life, and, seduced by the populace’s increasing idealization and idolization of his image, he ignores ill omens and threats against his life, believing himself as eternal as the North Star.

Julius Caesar

BrutusHe is a respected Roman, a

man of intelligence and honor, who is a personal friend of Caesar, yet wonders whether, as a ruler, he will overstep his powers and become a tyrant rather than a good head of state.

He is finally convinced to join the conspirators as their leader. As they raise their daggers to commit the murder, Caesar recognizes his dear friend and cries, in Latin, “Et tu, Brute?” or “You too, Brutus?”

Portia is Brutus’ wife.

Cassius

Cassius is one of the leaders of the conspiracy. He is suspicious of Caesar from the beginning, gathers others into the band, and convinces Brutus to join with them in their plans for assassination.

He and Brutus flee Rome after the killing, each gathers an army, and they try to conquer Mark Antony’s army.

AntonyA friend of Caesar. Antony claims

allegiance to Brutus and the conspirators after Caesar’s death in order to save his own life. Later, however, when speaking a funeral oration over Caesar’s body, he spectacularly persuades the audience to withdraw its support of Brutus and instead condemn him as a traitor. With tears on his cheeks and Caesar’s will in his hand, Antony engages masterful rhetoric to stir the crowd to revolt against the conspirators. Antony’s desire to exclude Lepidus from the power that Antony and Octavius intend to share hints at his own ambitious nature.

Octavius and Lepidus are the other two who join with Mark Antony after Caesar’s death to rule Rome as a triumvirate.

Casca, Trebonious,

Decius, Cinna

and Metallus

Cimber are the

other members of

the conspiracy,

each of whom

participates

by stabbing Caesar.

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, his assassination and the defeat of the conspirators at the Battle of Philippi. It is one of several Roman plays that Shakespeare wrote, based on true events from Roman history, which also include Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.

Although the title of the play is Julius Caesar, Caesar is not the central character in its action; he appears in only three scenes, and is killed at the beginning of the third act. The protagonist of the play is Marcus Brutus, and the central psychological drama is his struggle between the conflicting demands of honour, patriotism, and friendship.

The play reflected the general anxiety of England over succession of leadership. At the time of its creation and first performance, Queen Elizabeth, a strong ruler, was elderly and had refused to name a successor, leading to worries that a civil war similar to that of Rome might break out after her death.

About the the play

SummaryMarcus Brutus is Caesar's

close friend and a Roman praetor. Brutus allows himself to be cajoled into joining a group of conspiring senators because of a growing suspicion—implanted by Caius Cassius—that Caesar intends to turn republican Rome into a monarchy under his own rule.

What Got Caesar into Trouble?It appears he was much more interested in

things other than military conquest.After a series of civil wars that lasted

until 48 B.C., Caesar declared himself Rome’s dictator for life.

Many people believed that Caesar wanted more than just power; he wanted a powerful title.

Many Romans assumed that Caesar was ready to declare himself King of Rome and eliminate the five hundred year old republic of which the Romans were so proud.

Traditional readings of the play maintain that Cassius and the other conspirators are motivated largely by envy and ambition, whereas Brutus is motivated by the demands of honour and patriotism. One of the central strengths of the play is that it resists categorizing its characters as either simple heroes or villains. The early scenes deal mainly with Brutus's arguments with Cassius and his struggle with his own conscience. The growing tide of public support soon turns Brutus against Caesar (this public support was actually faked; Cassius wrote letters to Brutus in different handwritings over the next month in order to get Brutus to join the conspiracy). A soothsayer warns Caesar to "beware the Ides of March ,"which he ignores, culminating in his assassination at the Capitol by the conspirators that day.

Caesar's assassination is one of the most famous scenes of the play, occurring in Act 3 (the other is Mark Antony's oration "Friends, Romans, countrymen".) After ignoring the soothsayer as well as his wife's own premonitions, Caesar comes to the Senate. The conspirators create a superficial motive for the assassination by means of a petition brought by Metellus Cimber, pleading on behalf of his banished brother. As Caesar, predictably, rejects the petition, Casca grazes Caesar in the back of his neck, and the others follow in stabbing him; Brutus is last. At this point, Caesar utters the famous line "Et tu, Brute?"("And you, Brutus?", i.e. "You too, Brutus?"). Shakespeare has him add, "Then fall, Caesar," suggesting that Caesar did not want to survive such treachery.

The conspirators make clear that they committed this act for Rome, not for their own purposes and do not attempt to flee the scene. After Caesar's death, Brutus delivers an oration defending his actions, and for the moment, the crowd is on his side. However, Mark Antony, with a subtle and eloquent speech over Caesar's corpse—beginning with the much-quoted "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"—deftly turns public opinion against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the common people, in contrast to the rational tone of Brutus's speech. Antony rouses the mob to drive the conspirators from Rome. Amid the violence, the innocent poet, Cinna, is confused with the conspirator Lucius Cinna and is murdered by the mob.

What led to Caesar’s AssassinationVictim Assassins Problem Goal Result

Julius Caesar (44 B.C.) Rome

Brutus, Cassius, and others

Caesar was becoming too popular. Some Romans feared he would become a tyrant.

To remove the political threat of Caesar becoming King.

Civil war – at the end, Octavius Augustus became not king but emperor.

The End