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Julius Caesar Summary Essay, Research Paper

Shakespeare s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, was a historical literary work. He taught the history behind Julius Caesar and Rome, while giving the audience some suspense also. That must have been hard to do. This essay will explain my interpretation of Julius Caesar.

The story is introduced in Act I. Shakespeare writes in a manner in which the more educated or important characters speak in poetry, whereas the peasants speak in prose. The comedic mood is set with the announcement of the upcoming celebration. The commoners are introduced as pack animals that just follow any leader with an idea. The nobles are introduced as intelligent and sophisticated individuals with many varying ideas and mentalities. The nobles show little liking of Caesar. Their attitudes are meant to help set up the reader’s view of Caesar for later in the play. In scene 2, Caesar and his friends bump into a soothsayer in the streets. The soothsayer is introduced to allude to later events in the plot. Most of the characters are presented directly. Shakespeare presents Brutus by showing Brutus sharing his feelings with Cassius. Brutus is a weakening character. Cassius holds firm opinions, which he puts freely on others. He is an influential person upon Brutus. Mark Antony is shown as a deep submissive to Caesar, doing anything and everything Caesar asks of him. Casca then enters and we find him to be cooperative in telling Brutus what all the commotion was about. In scene 3, a storm and strange occurrences set an ominous mood, as we search further into Cassius’s mind and learn how his devious mind plays people into his plans. We also find that Casca is a noble man who exaggerates a little but is easily willed by Cassius’s corrupt influence. Making short appearances in the scene are Cicero (A Senator who speaks briefly with Cassius about the storm) and Cinna (a fellow conspirator). Shakespeare uses many omens (the owl, the meteor shower, and the flaming bush to name a few) to give an idea of ill times ahead. Cassius and Casca react to the storm in different ways. Cassius is filled with superstition and Casca believes that the weather is just bad.

In Act II, scene 1 Brutus starts to talk about his plan for Caesar s death. He decides it must be to slay Caesar. In this speech he used a soliloquy. This was a big part of the story because we find out Brutus final decision. When Portia and Brutus talk and she asks him what s wrong, it’s foreshadowing. It tells that something is about to happen in scenes to come. There is also symbolism when Portia shows Brutus her scar; it is a symbol of loyalty to Brutus. She wanted to prove to Brutus that she could stand the pain and help support his problems. Shakespeare shows Brutus as a man of affairs to the Roman government and as a private man to his fellow beings and to his wife Portia. In scene 2, the lesson is to stick with loved ones. A person never knows whom they can trust. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing in this scene during Calphurnia’s dream. In her dream she sees that Caesar is going to die, which just thickens the plot. Caesar’s personality in this scene is stubbornness. He is also very gullible. Calpurnia has a very worrisome personality. Decius has a very tricky personality. He tells Caesar that he misinterprets her dream. Everyone else is deceiving. They were all pretending to be his friend, but in reality, they were plotting to kill him.

Scene 3 is important because it tells Caesar about what is going on behind his back. The feeling from Artimidorous towards Caesar is that he will risk his life to tell Caesar about the conspirators because he is so loyal to Caesar. Shakespeare included this scene to show that the plebian’s also have a clue to what is going on. In scene 4, Portia is worried about Caesar’s life because she knows that Brutus has a petition that Caesar will not grant. Portia sends Lucius, Portia s slave, to the capitol to see what Caesar is doing. He follows orders very well. This scene is put in the play because he wanted to show Portia’s concern for Caesar s life.

In Act III scene 1, the conspirators slew Caesar. They approached Caesar by asking if he would free Publius Cimber, Metellus brother. The conspirators are proud of their accomplishment. If they only knew what lay ahead of them. It has been a sickening story up to this point of how a man’s mind can be altered by a fellow man to commit such a horrible crime. In scene 2, Brutus addresses the crowd about Caesar s death. This is put into the story to show that Brutus has a reason to kill Caesar. This speech gives Brutus motivation for killing Caesar. The author puts this in the story to possibly foreshadow what is to come. Brutus states, not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Since Brutus loves Caesar, killing him caused internal conflict. He cannot live with himself for killing a man without having a valid reason. He did not believe Caesar should rule Rome, however Caesar did not deserve to die. In this section of the play Antony addresses the crowd. Antony explains to the crowd that Caesar was killed for being ambitious. He points out specific incidents when Caesar was just the opposite of ambitious. Antony makes it clear that Caesar s penalty was harsh even if he was ambitious. The author puts this speech in the story to foreshadow the events to come. People realize Caesar has been mistreated. Antony needs Rome’s support to avenge his great friend’s death. In scene 3 we see a bit of irony. It is ironic that there are two Cinna’s. But what is more ironic is that Cinna the poet was Caesar s friend and was at the trial to stand by Caesar and was attacked because he was thought to be a conspirator. This scene was very sad, because Caesar’s blood was shed and the plebians were trying to find justice, yet they were quick to kill an innocent, truthful man and shed

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