Julius Caesar Essay #3

~William Shakespeare has long been considered among the greatest playwrights of all time. His Julius Caesar is only one of his great works, but is considered to be one of the best political-drama plays ever written. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a wonderful piece of literature because it was a large amount of vocabulary, it’s a classic tragedy and it’s a timeless book to read.

~‘Julius Caesar’ examples many diverse forms of vocabulary not used in books often nowadays. Shakespeare uses words such as, ‘encompassed,’ instead of ‘around’, and ‘colossus’ instead of ‘big’. The play uses prodigious amounts of this vocabulary, almost in every other line, for example, ‘Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, shrunk to this little measure?’ In other words, the play elaborates any otherwise dull sentences. ‘Caesar’ also uses the same words again seldom, so the staggering quantity of words is like a small dictionary. Most of ‘Caesars’ vocabulary is not in a positive context, as the play is prominently about an overthrow in the Roman political system.

~‘Es tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!’ is the beginning of the scene in which Emperor Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by men he thought to be comrades. Shakespeare’s classic tragedies involve a beginning in which, in the first scene, there is a dissention, foreshadowing future events. In ‘Caesar’, Flavius and Murellius begin the plot against Caesar. In the end, Caesar is not the only one to die. Several allies and many betrayers lie dead on a battlefield. This happens when the two sides, Caesar-liking and the not liking, meet. Both sides have misunderstandings, such as Cassius, believing he has sent a friend to a death (when he really met with comrades), asks Pindarus to stab him, and he dies saying, 'Caesar, thou art revenged,Even with the sword that kill'd thee.' This makes it a classic tragedy because of the elements inside the plot and deaths. Even though the story is not the most uplifting, it’s a fun read, and has been read for hundreds of years.
~‘Caesar’ is an immensely well-known play, and has been that way for over a century. Julius Caesar was first performed most likely in the court of Elizabeth I and is still being performed all over the world today. Leading up to now, several extremely famous showings of the plays have been performed. One of the most notable was in 1937 with Orson Welles at the Mercury Theatre, when he put the characters in a nazi Germany setting. Even closer to now, Denzel Washington playing Brutus in the 2005 Brodway version. All in all, Caesar is remarkably popular, and is a stunning work of Shakesperean Art.

~Julius Caesar should be considered a wonderful text by everyone. Shakespeares' diversity in vocabulary and typical tragic setting only add to the timless play, all reasons why it should be considered among hordes of classical literary pieces. Regardless of it's status as a classic read, Julius Caesar is a play that should be read by everyone.