Early existentialism in Julius Caesar
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book review
published 26/09/2008
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SummaryThere is a saying among political scientists that the citizens of a nation deserve their leader. In other words a dictator or tyrant will never appear out of a vacuum, but as the result of countless historical events, and as an expression of the society’s current values and priorities. As such, even the most brutal despot is as much a subject of the society as the powerless, as he is ultimately appealing to them to allow him to stay in power. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, written and premiered in 1599, the title character, arguably the most powerful statesman to have ever lived, serves as an illustration this theory. As the Emperor of Rome, a near-invincible power sprawling across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Caesar, in the words of the conspirator Cassius, “doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus” (I. ii. 134-135).
Table of Contents
- Introduction.
- The worldly turmoil all around.
- The conflict with Brutus.
- The miscalculation of Brutus.
- His inner anguish following the murder.
- The little optimism to be salvaged from the play.
- How Shakespeare's play was ahead of its time.
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