Julius Caesar

"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare is one of those plays where if you enjoy blood, guts and people killing people for no/little reason - you'll love it. The language is evocative as it is duplicitous and the structure of the play slowly murders you as you become enticed with a cyclical reality that spins continuously like a broken record. 

Character:

My favourite character from the play is most probably Cassius. Cassius is a puppeteer of madness and the first domino in the trail of destruction. From the vert first act, Cassius blends concealment with persuasion to influence and interest Brutus' mind in Caesar's victorious return. He warns those around him of Caesar's tyrannous reign, unaware that Brutus is his direct mirror image because of the vast influence he's had. The turn of Cassius is the most important as we must discover where Cassius decides and reforms his morality and ultimately comprehends his own downfall.

Themes: 

The theme of fortune and free will is the most important here, I believe. The free will of Brutus is first manipulated by Cassius and then the Soothsayer attempts to manipulate the imagination of Julius Caesar (to very little avail) - Calphurnia's free will is manipulate with the witness of Julius Caesar's Rome being "covered with blood" - which it metaphorically becomes. Fate and free will become manipulated and reformed like a Rubik's cube so that even the characters are baffled by which is which. We, as the audience, know that nothing in "Julius Caesar" is up to fate - everything is based on a continuation of the chaos theory. One bad idea can cause the deaths of many, many people.

Plot:

The plot of this play is pretty strange:

*SPOILER ALERT*

- In Act 1, we witness the return and celebration of Julius Caesar, in which he is told to "beware the ides of march."

- In Act 2, we watch the scheming of Cassius and the gang to kill Julius Caesar

- In Act 3, they kill Caesar and-

WAIT! They kill Caesar in Act 3? Then, why is the play called Julius Caesar?

Well, the answer is simple.

In order to sell the play, Shakespeare would've had to name it after a well-known historical figure. Not as many people know who Brutus is as people who know who Julius Caesar is. So, this is why the play is called Julius Caesar. Also, because of the fact that the entire play revolves around the image of Brutus slowly evolving into Caesar's before his death in the final act.

Act 4 - we witness the bafflement and intrigue of Cassius and Brutus as they become unreliable and secret from one another.

Act 5 - Death, death and more death. Finally ending with Brutus' suicide.

What a brilliant outlay for an even more brilliant play.

Verdict:

"Experience is the teacher of all things."

A very important quotation in the play that we don't fully pay attention to. But if you do read Julius Caesar, please pay more attention to this quotation. 

I give this play 8/9:

100% for characters: No matter how much you hate him, Cassius is a character not to be reckoned with. A brilliant development of a puppeteer of the play, we can see a three-dimensional experience of tragedy from the very beginning. A revenge plot in a character bursting with anger. His language is evocative and passionate in a world of destruction, finally ending with his own demise. 

100% for themes: The theme of fate and free will isn't questioning how one is different to the other, but how they are both the same. Shakespeare, hundreds of years before any scientist did - questioned the very existence of free will and whether one could achieve it. The self-actualisation of Brutus that causes his suicide is the fact that he realises that none of these events have been acts of free will - but acts of planning and scheming by Cassius. This means that his fate was also controlled in a way he didn't seek to know. From the very start of the plot, we can see that fate and free will are not acts of God - but plans of antagonists seeking desperate revenge. 

2/3 for storyline: Purely because I felt the death scenes were cut a little short. A little underwhelmed by the death of Brutus and Cassius, I sought more solace in the explanation into the death of Caesar; the discussion between Brutus, Cassius and Antony afterwards. The arrival of Octavius and the rise against Brutus. Act 3, Scene 1 was probably the highlight of the whole play for me.