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Julius Caesar

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Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare Basic Overview Written in 1599. Tragic drama/Historical drama Believed to have been the 1st play performed at the Globe Theater. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Julius Caesar


1
Julius Caesar By William Shakespeare
2
Basic Overview
  • Written in 1599.
  • Tragic drama/Historical drama
  • Believed to have been the 1st play performed at
    the Globe Theater.
  • Centers on the conspiracy against Roman leader
    Julius Caesar, his assassination, and the civil
    war that ensued following his death.
  • Shakespeare is thought to have based much of the
    play on the English translation of Plutarch's The
    Lives of the Greeks and Romans.

3
Several years of Roman history are condensed into
this play, and it is assumed that the audience
would have been familiar with the basic history
surrounding the play's time. This was true in
Elizabethan times.
4
Let's play history catch up
  • Several hundred years before the time of the
    play
  • Rome was ruled by Tarquin the Proud, who was a
    tyrant.
  • Tarquin was defeated in a rebellion led by Lucius
    Junius Brutus (ancestor of Marcus Brutus) in 509
    BC.
  • Rome was then made a Republic.

5
Still playing catch up...
  • The Republic was ruled by elected consuls.
  • The Senate advised the consuls.
  • Tribunes were elected from the citizenry to
    protect the rights of the commoners and keep the
    Senate in check.

6
Lots to catch up on...
  • This system had weakened by the 1st century BC,
    and a triumvirate had formed to rule Rome.
  • Triumvirate a group of three people who share
    administrative responsibilities
  • This triumvirate Pompey, Crassus Julius
    Caesar

7
Almost there...
  • Crassus was killed fighting the Parthians in
    53BC as the other two fought to gain control,
    civil war broke out.
  • Julius Caesar defeated Pompey in 48BC and then
    fought and defeated Pompey's sons.


And so, the play begins with Caesar returning to Rome after his victory.
8
Shakespeare's Audience
  • Relevance to HIS current audience
  • Julius was written toward the end of Queen
    Elizabeth I's rule, under which England had
    experienced relative prosperity. Shakespeare
    address this political concern by writing about a
    country's apprehension about what the death of a
    monarch might bring.
  • He also wrote about larger themes that refer to
    human nature, which is one reason that his plays
    are universal and timeless.

9
They've Got ISSUES... So Do WeIssues found in
Julius Caesar, Elizabethan times, and today.
  • Betrayal
  • Fear
  • Political Turmoil
  • Reason vs. Passion
  • Sacrificing Personal Morals for the
  • Greater Good

10
Citations
  • www.shmoop.com/julius-caesar
  • www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-55_u-263_t-663_c-2480/intr
    oduction/nsw/introduction/shakespeare-em-julius-ca
    esar-/em-/summary
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