Chaps. 9-11 Summary and Analysis

Julius Caesar

pp. 104-118

Due to its tight plot, Julius Caesar has long been a favorite in the school curriculum. The author looks at the play as the tragedy of Brutus, because Caesar has only 150 lines and is killed mid-play. Even in this short appearance, Caesar is a grand person, with a real inner life. The bombast of Caesar as he faces death, makes him a fascinating character, though somewhat overwhelming for the early critic Ben Jonson.

The author makes a close connection between the assassin Brutus, and the later evil character, Macbeth from the play Macbeth. The author believes that Brutus is not as consistently an evil character as Macbeth. The play Julius Caesar is full of irony, as the tension of the Caesar-Brutus relationship is developed. The play maintains its ambiguity in that there is no clear...