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Title: Julius Caesar by Diana Stewart, Charles Shaw, William Julius Caesar Shakespeare, Charlie Shaw ISBN: 0-8172-1664-2 Publisher: Raintree/Steck Vaughn Pub. Date: February, 1983 Format: Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.26 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (34 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Roman political intrigue meets Elizabethan drama
Comment: Not much is more sensational than the assassination of a major public figure; reading Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," in which the title character is stabbed and hacked to death by half a dozen conspirators, I feel like I'm depriving myself of a thrilling theatrical spectacle that must be seen to be appreciated. It is not necessary to know much about Caesar to sense the power of the drama; the play provides just enough background and information about Caesar's personality to suggest the reason for his murder and its consequences.
In historical actuality, Caesar's murder was in some ways the pivot around which Rome transformed from a republic into an empire, and the play, which Shakespeare bases faithfully on Plutarch's histories, is ultimately about the political struggle that drives this transformation. The main conspirator against Caesar, and the one to deal him the final blow, is Brutus, who foresees nothing but tyranny if Caesar is made a king. There is something atavistic about his attitude, for he is descended from the family that was instrumental in turning the kingdom of Rome into a republic five centuries earlier.
The scenes leading up to Caesar's murder build with forceful tension. We see Brutus discussing with his co-conspirator Cassius the dangers of Caesar's ascension and Cassius's sympathetic response, the conspirators meeting at night to plan their attack on Caesar in the Capitol, Caesar's disregard of a soothsayer's prophecies of doom, and then the bloody climax, even after which the drama loses not a bit of momentum: Brutus appeals to the people (the Plebeians) that the assassination of Caesar, whom they loved and did not at all consider a potential tyrant, was only for their own good; while Mark Antony, one of Caesar's triumvirate and an eloquent orator, cajoles the people with demagogic irony into suspecting the murder happened for no reason other than malice.
Shakespeare fashions Caesar and Brutus more or less as two sides of the same denarius. Caesar is physically frail and deaf in one ear, but that doesn't preclude his triumphant success as a general and a military strategist. He is also pompous and fatuously vain -- there is nothing he fears more than to appear cowardly to his peers. Brutus is cut out of the same stock of hubris, but his motivations are purely altruistic. He loves Rome -- as a republic -- and will do anything to save it from a dictator, even kill a man he considers a friend and attempt to ally himself with foreign nations to wage a civil war against the armies of the now-empowered Roman triumvirate. Shakespeare brings all of this to light in a humanistic portrait of one of the most fascinating figures from history and his idealistic destroyer.
Rating: 5
Summary: Once again, morality vs. politics
Comment: This superb play by Shakespeare somehow reminded me of Antigona, the first play which directly examined the always complex interplay and usual confrontation between political reason and moral reason. This play is an excellent account of the immediately previous and subsequent days of Julius Caesar's assasination by Brutus, his best friend, and other conspirators. Brutus is persuaded by the resentful Cassius that Caesar has betrayed Rome by abandoning the Republic and turning to Dictatorship. Brutus gets to be convinced that, in order to save the Republic, Caesar must be killed. This puts him in a great dilemma, for he loves Caesar and he's his closest friend. Here we see in an acute form the way in which political power gets in conflict with morality and feelings. Friendship, power and betrayal are the basic subjects of this excellent piece of work.
Rating: 3
Summary: Julius Caesar
Comment: I loved "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet" and other Shakespeare novels, so I thought that I might try a history Shakespeare had written for my advanced English class. However, I wasn't very impressed. I had thought that Shakespeare's beautiful poetry would add much needed excitement to the book, but, alas, it prevailed. However, if one does not try to interpret what Shakespeare is saying and just reads the words aloud in rhythm, it sounds so eloquent and put together. Thus, I give it three stars.
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Title: Julius Caesar (Cliffs Notes) by Martha Perry, James E. Vickers ISBN: 0764585959 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 15 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Othello by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722816 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 1993 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: ROMEO AND JULIET by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722859 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: The TEMPEST by William Shakespeare ISBN: 0671722905 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: Hamlet (Shakespeare Made Easy : Modern English Version Side-By-Side With Full Original Text) by William Shakespeare, Alan Durband ISBN: 0812036387 Publisher: Barron's Educational Series Pub. Date: 01 January, 1986 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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