JULIUS CAESAR

Julius Caesar is one of the most extraordinary historic plays written by William
Shakespeare that among other things reveals as more of how the character of Gaius Julius
Caesar, the great Roman general, could have been possibly regarded by himself and those
who surrounded him. In this essay I will ponder about Caesars character in connection
with the imagery of the play, I will also analyze how specifically portents and prophesies
play a significant role in this play, affecting the development of the events as well as the
outcome, as I will try to demonstrate.
Let us remember that the reason that led to Caesars assassination by Brutus and the other
conspirators was to overcome possible tyranny, yet we now that this attempt would rather
be the beginning of an age of Emperors. But was the fear of Brutus and Cassius of Caesar
becoming a tyrant well supported? was Caesar a real threat to the Roman freedom? and
was Caesars murder something unavoidable?
Well, from the very beginning we are faced with an image of Caesar as someone who is not
an ordinary man but rather some kind of phantom or supernatural entity, as shown in
Flavius words, during the Lupercal, a roman festival: These growing feathers pluck'd from
Caesar's wing Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Who else would soar above the view of
men, And keep us all in servile fearfulness. With the last two words, the tribune is
anticipating Caesars tyranny, it was evident for Flavius that Caesar was a threat for the
Roman democracy. Moreover the soothsayer, although a minor character in the play his
words are portentous; they are a significant sign of something tragic about to happen:
Beware the Ides of March he told to the fearless Caesar. The Ides of March were thought
to be an unlucky time, they were determined by the full moon and fell on the 15th of the
month in the Roman calendar. Therefore this again is announcing something terrible;
Caesars death on 15
th
March. However Caesar pays no attention to it: He is a dreamer, let
us leave him. Pass. He says in reply. He regards himself as almost untouchable. But not
only did he thought in that way, in Cassius we find the simile Colossus for Caesar, or
immortal Caesar, he is being assimilated almost as a god due to the fear he inspires that
he would turn in to a tyrant. Yet Caesar is not frightened by the Ides of March, he is
confident: I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd than what I fear, for always I am Caesar.
By this we can perceive his authority as he is even calling himself Caesar.
As regarding portents or omens, the weather is extreme on the night when the conspirators
meet to plan the murder of Caesar. Shakespeare offers several viewpoints on this. Casca
speaks of the storm in this way: I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds Have rived
the knotty oaks; and I have seen Th' ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, To be
exalted with the threatening clouds: But never till tonight, never till now, Did I go through
a tempest dropping fire. And he offers explanations about the temptest:Either there is a
civil strife in heaven, Or else the world too saucy with the gods, Incenses them to send
destruction. Yet the explanation he believes the most: For I believe they are portentous
things Unto the climate that they point upon. That portent is announcing something
dreadful is going to happen, there will be trouble ahead because of Caesar. One of the
prodigies that Casaca mentions is : Against the Capitol I met a lion, Who glared upon me,
and went surly by, Without annoying me: and there were drawn Upon a heap a hundred
ghastly women, Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw Men, all in fire, walk up
and down the streets. Caesar is depicted as a lion, the king of the jungle, the tyrant under
whom everybody will submit: That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars, As doth
the lion in the Capitol; A man no mightier than thyself or me In personal action; yet
prodigious grown, And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. However, there is
something that tells us that portents could be not accurate when Cicero warns that:men
may construe things after their fashion clean from the purpose of the things themselves. Yet
Shakespeare is triggering things that will turn into the climax. Brutus too anticipates things
that are coming: Like a phantasma or a hideous dream: The genius and the mortal
instruments Are then in council; and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection. He is foreseeing the Civil War that will follow Caesars
assassination. Nevertheless, Caesar was not concerned about the weather conditions
announcing something that will affect him, but on the other hand Portia, her wife, was
really concerned about it: Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds, In ranks and
squadrons and right form of war, Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol; The noise of
battle hurtled in the air, Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan; And ghosts did shriek
and squeal about the streets. Portia is prophesying Caesars death at the Capitol and again
the civil war that this will lead. Yet Caesar is rather self-assured: Cowards die many times
before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet
have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a
necessary end, Will come when it will come. Portia can see that Caesars fearless and
arrogance will lead him to a tragic end: Your wisdom is consumed in confidence!
Caesar was to receive the crown and the portents would not prevent him, the prodigies were
misinterpreted by Decius in order to persuade Caesar to come to the Capitol and perpetrate
the murder. Yet another warning was at hand, Artemidorous, a sophist of Cnidos, wrote a
letter to alert Caesar of Brutus, Cassius and the other conspirators he tried to hand it to
Caesar before he entered the Capitol but Caesar refused. When Caesar is about to be
murder, he shows for the last time his character, he compares himself arrogantly with the
northern star, which is fix and inmmovable, beyond unnumbered sparks, or rather beyond
ordinary man, he is describing himself as a divine figure: But I am constant as the
northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks, They are all fire, and every one doth shine;
But there's but one in all doth hold his place: So in the world; 'tis furnish'd well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive; Yet in the number I do know but one That
unassailable holds on his rank, Unshaked of motion: and that I am he he is portraying
himself as a god of the Olympus: Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus? However this vanity
and those pretentions will only stimulate his own death so that tyranny does not take place.
And all of those portents were fullfiling now, the conspirators had killed Caesar at the base
of Pompeys statue, from which ran Caesars blood and they were bathing their hands in it,
they thought they were free, that there would be peace, little did they know. So after
Anthonys soliloquy during Caesars funeral the vengeance began, the crowd moved by his
speech would kill every person who bear the name of any of the conspirators. In this way is
evident how the portents had lead us to the climax of the play and had conducted the
progress and unfolding of events.
And through the prodigies the character of Caesar is revealed, now Caesar is a ghost
tormenting Brutus, the Ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus twice and speaks to him, Brutus
is not quite sure of the nature of

Then there are the ghosts; one speaks and one does not. The Elizabethans were unsure
about how to treat ghosts; did they speak the truth or were they agents of the devil? (Think
The Ghost of Caesar appears to Brutus twice and speaks to him. After the Ghosts second
appearance, this time in Philippi fields, Brutus says to his poor remains of friends, I
know my hour is come. The battle is lost, but Brutus is not killed; he chooses suicide.