Julius Caesar (Barnes & Noble Shakespeare)

'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves...'

First of all, this is by far my favorite Shakespeare play however, I object to one aspect of it. Wait a moment, Shakepeare fans! Refrain from biting your thumbs at me until you know the nature of my complaint. The play is entitled Julius Caesar, but I do not think that the play was about Caesar. Yes, it was about his Rome. Yes, he was about to be made king. Yes, it is he who is killed. On the contrary, the play mainly centers around Brutus that is why I could not put the book down until I had finished it (in one sitting, yes). It was the tragedy of noble Brutus, not the assasination of Caesar, that captivated me. Idealistic at best, Brutus's oratory in which he said he loved Rome more than his beloved Caesar was one of those chilling moments in literature that reminds us why readers read and why writers write. Then, another gem, Cassius's famous line (above) is more true than we give it credit, especially in the United States. In short, 'Beware the ides of March!'

5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

A Great Edition for High School Students

As an experienced high school English teacher, I always advise my students and their parents to purchase a Folger's edition of Shakespeare's plays. The notes, summaries, and other commentary serve the novice Shakespearean reader well and make the classical allusions and denotations of unfamiliar and common words and phrases from the Elizabethan age much easier for 21st Century readers to understand.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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3 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

Caesar's best read...

Whether for High School drama class or actor's study, Arden is always the first one to look at when preparing for a role. The Folio and modern spellings are listed with their meanings and the Bard's source material is often shown, in this case, Plutarch. I will recommend Arden for any play to research.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Actually makes Shakespeare enjoyable

In high school we had to read Romeo and Juliet and the emphasis of the teacher was to just about memorize the play.

Didn't enjoy Shakespeare in high school but picked up some of the Shakespeare plays published by Barnes & Noble and to my surprise have read Juliet Caesar as well as The Merchant of Venice and found them not just easy reading but enjoyable. Have now picked up Othello, King Lear and Macbeth so if you are interested in reading Shakespeare without problems or have to read for a class would definitely recommend the Barnes & Noble publications.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Spell-binding play!

One of Shakespeare's best plays! The plot and the story is captivating and even more engrossing because of the historical fact behind it. You see Caesar's assasination in a new light in a simple to read, short play!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Julius Caesar

I thought it was a pretty good book for Lit class in 6th grade but at my school I am tought at a highschool level at CSPA it was a little confusing while it was in Shakespeariean... Thats what we call it! But my awesome lit teacher translated it into moderen day eniglish. So as I said before, pretty good!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Chloe

Hey is it good

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Not my favorite, but a good play.

This year I was required to read Julius Caesar with my honors English class. Initially, I had no desire to read it because the version we read in middle school was extremely boring. 3 years later, however, and I was able to understand the play much more easily than I did when I was younger. There were a lot of themes in the play that are still applicable today and the story was pretty interesting. I found Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet much more intriguing when I read it last year, but Julius Caesar was close in rank. My biggest problem was keeping all of the characters whose names started with a C straight. Since the play was written in an older modern English, some of the phrases and lines (well, most of them, to tell the truth) were extremely hard to decipher. I dislike this because it's difficult to understand not only what the characters were saying, but what they meant when they said it. I probably would not read this again, because I honestly don't like Shakespeare's works. I've been introduced to many, and while this one was decent, I just haven't been able to appreciate his writings.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Honorable

Julius Caesar is surprisingly easy enough to read even with the old English, and there is so much that underlies each and every word. Shakespeare certainly sets a fine example of what is needed in a good script. By using such eloquently intense words alone, he spins a silk web around the reader, hypnotically playing the scenes before one's eyes. Stripped down, the plot focuses on Brutus and Antony and their separate ideals for the one woman they both love: Rome.
"The sun of Rome is set! Our day is gone;
Clouds, dews, and dangers come; our deeds are done!"

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Loved The Book

Interesting read,I found this book to make one think about life.Very good book!

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

I've read several of William Shakespeare's plays and I have to say that I was deffinently disappointed with this one. It was somewhat confusing and it was really boring. I would never recommend this play to anyone.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great

This was the first Shakespeare play I ever read, and I loved it. It is a great story of conspiracy, murder, and chaos. Antony's speech at the funeral is a masterpiece. A great read and a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

I love Shakesphere and all but....

...this had to be one of the worst books/plays I have ever read. It was soooo dumb, and I think it dumb that Brutus killed himself for feeling guilty about murdering Caesar. He should have thought about the murder a little more throughly before doing it, then he wouldn't have to commit suicide about feeling guilty. All and all, don't waste your time on this book unless you're a Shakesphere nut, or absolutely positively HAVE TO read it for class!

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

An Astounding Tragedy

William Shakespare's story of Julius Caesar, is truely a sententious work of irony and tragedy.It specifically elucidates the essential device of tragedy that the rancorous conspiracy is cast into reluctant perdition.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

....

I had to read it for my honors English class, and I, who personally loves reading, hated this book. It was boring to me.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Great play

I highly recommend reading Julius Caesar because Shakespeare was a brilliant writer whose timeless plays are rarely surmounted. It is definitely a classic and a must-read.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Mainly about Brutus?!

I have to admit that Julius Caesar is a really good play. It has so much meaning under it and actually made sense to me! It seems like it was more about Brutus and his problems with conspiring against his good friend Caesar than Caesar himself. Brutus was just an idealist who did everything for his love of Rome and simply made bad decisions. 'Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.' EXCELLENT PLAY! BRAVO!!!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

good book read it

Julius Caeser was a good book.I liked it because it was like a mystery type book.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Another Book by Shakespeare

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is the tragedy of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus. This was Shakespeare's transition from history plays to his famous tragedies. Overall, it is just another Shakespeare book, difficult to understand, but having a nice story when looking back on it. Not awful, but not the best