William Shakespeare

Born in April 1564 in Stratford upon Avon, England, he was the

third of eight children to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden.
His father was a successful glovemaker and his mother came from
a prominent local family, He received his foundation education at
the local grammar school where he gained the foundational
knowledge of reading, writing and literature. In 1582 he married
Anne Hathaway, and had three children. In the late 1580s, he
moved to London to pursue a career in the theatre, and quickly
established himself as a playwright and actor, becoming a member
of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a renowned acting company of the
time.
He wrote plays in a wide variety of genres, including comedies,
tragedies and historical plays. His language is known for its
complexity, poetic devices, archaic words, phrases, puns, and use of
soliloquies – an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud by oneself
regardless of the hearers. His plays were performed at the Globe
Theatre, a large open-air theatre built in 1599. He became one of
the most successful playwrights of his time.
Shakespeare wrote his plays over 24 years, from 1588 to 1612.
He wrote about 37 plays, and scholars have been at great pains
to establish the order in which they were written.
They were grouped into 4 periods –
The First period 1588 – 1595 – Henry VI, Love’s Labour’s Lost,
The Comedy of Errors, Richard III, The Merchant Of Venice
The Second period 1595 – 1601 – As you like it, Henry V, The
Merry Wives of Windsor, Julius Caesar
The Third period 1601 – 1608 – Hamlet, Othello, All’s Well That
Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear
The Fourth period 1608 – 1611 – The Tempest, Henry VIII, The
Winter’s Tale
The Elizabethan England
During Shakespeare’s lifetime, this period is known as the
Elizabethan period as Elizabeth I was the Queen of England. The
period of revival of classical learning in Europe and England during
15th and 16th centuries was called Renaissance as well as
Reformation of the Church.
Shakespearean era was a Romantic age full of patriotic fervor.
Everyone in the society believed in superstition, ghosts and spirits.
The defeat of Spanish Armada filled a new sense of patriotism and
freedom. Men were filled with intense curiosity, and worked to
collect as much of wealth and knowledge as possible.
Shakespearean Language
He experimented with techniques. His use of language has made
him the most outstanding figure in English literature.
His use of metaphor and imagery, contributions in the form of
words and phrases are many. In Julius Caesar we have - Greek to
me, an itching palm, master spirits, a dish fit for the gods, a lean
and hungry look, masters of their fates, and the dogs of war.
When Brutus is speaking his soliloquy in Act II.ii, he is brooding
about death, and the rhythm of the verse reflects the halting,
questioning of his thought.
He is considered to be the father of English Literature having a
profound impact on literature and culture.
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear.
Julius Caesar
It is Shakespeare’s most celebrated biographies – why – because it
is based on the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. and it
was first dramatized in 1599. It is based on the historical events
surrounding the assassination of Julius Caesar, the Roman
dictator.
Shakespeare took the basic material from Plutarch’s book THE
LIVES OF NOBLE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
The principal characters of the play
Julius Caesar – has come from a triumphant battle against
Pompey, will have a rapturous welcome by the Romans
Mark Antony – close friend and confidant companion of Julius
Caesar
Marcus Brutus - the Roman noble who stabs Julius Caesar at the
end
Cassius – villain, conspirator, mastermind of the palace conspiracy
Calphurnia – wife of Julius Caesar
Portia – wife of Brutus who kills herself

The Structure of the Play

We can distinguish five parts n a perfect drama that presents a
complete action.
The Opening of the Movement of the action
The first scene is introductory in which Shakespeare is building up
the foundation of his plot. The Opening of the Movement of the
action lies in the second scene of Act I – the meeting of Brutus
and Cassius.
The Growth
It is everything that happens between the opening and the climax.
It includes all the conspiracy and all the movements of the
conspirators as well as Julius Caesar’s character.
The Height or Climax
It is the death of Caesar. The dramatist has to show the climax
for in its middle lies the strength of the play.
The Fall
It takes in all the events between the Ides of March and the
battle of Phillipi. The interest cannot die down. This interest is
kept alive by the frequent references to the Spirit of Caesar, the
part played by Octavius, Caesar’s heir, and the Ghost of Caesar.
The Close or Catastrophe
It is the consequence of action itself. It shouldn’t be sudden. The
battle of Phillipi was the result of the assassination of Caesar. The
defeat of Brutus and Cassius, and their sudden suicides have been
prepared for by the development of their characters throughout
the play, and by the manifestations of Caesar’s power.
The flow of the Play
It is first of Shakespeare’s 3 plays dealing with Roman history,
along with Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra.
For the first 250 years after its foundation, Rome was ruled by
Kings who increasingly became oppressive. During the reign of
Tarquins, the Romans revolted. It was led by Lucius Junius
Brutus, from whom the Brutus of our play originates – Act I.ii.
The monarchy was replaced with republican government. Julius
Caesar was a consul in 59 B.C., he was hig10hly ambitious,
extended Roman power outside Italy through his Gallic campaigns.
When he returned to Italy, he entered into a struggle for power
from his rival, Pompey who was defeated finally in the battle of
Pharsalia in Macedonia. After few more campaigns which made his
military powers absolute by defeating Pompey’s sons in Spain in
45 B.C.
The play begins from this victory of Julius Caesar.
Caesar marches into Rome after defeating Pompey
A soothsayer predicts at that time – On Ides of March, 15th
March, some harm will happen, so be wary of it.
Caesar dismisses the prophecy believing that no harm can happen
to him.
At the same point, Cassius is plotting assassination somewhere.
What does he do and why? He believed that if Caesar becomes the
emperor, he will be the most powerful one, all powers will be
vested in one person only. They would be rendered powerless, and
it will turn dangerous for them.
He manipulates Brutus and others and a palace conspiracy is
hatched. In the name of saving Rome and for its well-being,
Brutus joins hands with the conspirators, though he is a bit
reluctant too. He wants to save Rome from a potential tyrant.
On the same day, that is 15th of March, Julius Caesar has a sense
of foreboding, he is warned by Calphurnia, but he thinks that if he
doesn’t go out, it would send a wrong message. He eventually goes
out.
Conspirators distract Mark Antony who is Caesar’s friend.
Casca stabs Caesar first and Brutus at the end.
Caesar at this point says the most famous line, Et Tu Brutus?
Meaning I didn’t expect a friend to betray my trust.
Why is Shakespeare still relevant today – in today’s times, when
someone as your friend betrays your trust, does something you
don’t expect them to do, these words hold the same meaning.
Brutus in Act 3 explains his action – that Caesar’s death was good
for Rome, justifies his death, saying that he was very ambitious
and his ambition was dangerous to Rome because he wanted to
concentrate all the powers with him.
The public agrees with him. They praise him, an important part of
the play – Brutus was able to sway the people with his words,
made them believe him very well. To that extent that they want
him to be the next Caesar even though he had committed a
criminal act of killing.
Here Mark Antony appeals to the emotion laden public, in a
roundabout way sways the crowd.
This is one of the or probably the best written speeches by
Shakespeare that begins with the famous words – Friends,
Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears.
IT is a power packed line used in many political speeches now too.
Antony reminds the crowd of Caesar’s goodness and generosity. He
makes them feel for Caesar that no man deserves such a death. It
was an act of brutality. He shows them the wounds. The crowd
becomes restless. Antony then announces that every Roman will
receive 75 drachmas upon his death as his will. The crowd turns
chaotic.
Brutus and Cassius have an argument. Brutus is emotionally low,
he feels guilty, his wife has committed suicide. When he sleeps,
Caesar’s ghost meets him.
Here is a favourite way of Shakespeare, it conveys a mentally
disturbed state of mind, as he was a part of this conspiracy, he
feels very guilty.
Battle begins. Brutus and Cassius know that they will be defeated.
They don’t want to be paraded through the streets of Rome in
chains, and the only way out is to kill oneself.
Cassius hears wrongly that his friend Titanius has been captured
and asks his servant to kill him.
Titanius isn’t captured, he returns and kills himself at the sight of
Cassius’s body. Brutus realizes that they have lost the battle and
kills himself.
Antony praises Brutus as a brave man – how is the character of
Brutus - he isn’t entirely black as Cassius but neither white- has
shades of grey. He was guilt ridden, realized that he committed
an evil act, his mind is in turmoil.
You have to pay your deeds – message of the play
All the characters here kill themselves as that was their fate.
The theme of friendship – Mark Antony and JC, anti-friendship
between Brutus and JC
Theme of revenge, political conspiracy, theme of prediction and
superstition, witchcraft, thinking about ghosts.
Central Idea of the play –
As a political play – central idea is collapse of Republicanism and
rise of Caesarism.
As a tragedy of character – “Good cannot come out of Evil,”
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest, but he wastes his whole
life because of one great error. He commits a crime to prevent, as
he thinks, a greater crime. He brings greater evils upon himself
and his country than those he tried to avert.