Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare, Burton Raffel

Overview

Spevack emphasizes the complexity of Julius Caesar's seemingly straightforward theatrical experience to focus on the inextricability of private desires and public affairs. The play's stage history supports the work's rich design, and Spevack's commentary is remarkably attentive to questions of production, precise lexical glossing, and the peculiarities of Shakespearean grammar. An extensive appendix, provides lengthy, coherent excerpts from Plutarch's Lives, Shakepeare's main source include images of Caesar from the Renaissance onwards as well as photographs of modern productions and reconstructions of likely Elizbethan stagings of Caesar's entry into Rome, his assassination, Anthony's funeral oration, and the Act 4 meeting between Brutus and Cassius.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300191196
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	09/27/2006
Series:	Annotated Shakespeare Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Read an Excerpt

Act 1 Scene 1 running scene 1
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Julius Caesar"
by .
Copyright © 1998 William Shakespeare.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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Table of Contents

Series Introduction     ix
Introduction   Harold Bloom     xi
Biography of William Shakespeare     1
Summary of Julius Caesar     5
Key Passages in Julius Caesar     21
List of Characters in Julius Caesar     31
Criticism Through the Ages     35
Julius Caesar in the Seventeenth Century     37
1601-From The Mirror of Martyrs   John Weever     38
1641-"De Shakespeare nostrat[i]," from Timber, or Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter   Ben Jonson     39
1672-"Prologue to Julius Caesar"   John Dryden     39
1693-From A Short View of Tragedy   Thomas Rymer     40
Julius Caesar in the Eighteenth Century     49
1739-Chapter IV, from An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber   Colley Cibber     50
1748-Section X, from Critical Observations on Shakespeare   John Upton     53
1761-"Essay on Tragedy," from Critical Essays on Dramatic Poetry   Voltaire     54
1768-"Julius Caesar," from General Observations on Shakspeare's Plays   Samuel Johnson     55
1769-"Upon the Death of Julius Caesar," from An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear   Elizabeth Montagu     56
Julius Caesar in the Nineteenth Century     61
1809-From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature   August Wilhelm Schlegel     63
1813-1816-"Shakespeare Compared with the Ancients and the Moderns," from Shakespeare Ad Infinitum   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe     64
1817-"Julius Caesar," from Characters of Shakespear's Plays   William Hazlitt     67
1818-"Julius Caesar," from Lectures and Notes on Shakspere and Other English Poets   Samuel Taylor Coleridge     72
1846-From Shakespeare's Dramatic Art, and His Relation to Calderon and Goethe   Hermann Ulrici     74
1849-1850-"Character of Caesar," from Shakespeare Commentaries   Georg Gottfried Gervinus     77
1872-From Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters   H.N. Hudson     79
1875-From Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art   Edward Dowden     81
1879-"Julius Caesar (continued). Casca. Cicero. Portia," from Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity: Greek and Latin Antiquity as Presented in Shakespeare's Plays   Paul Stapfer     83
1882-"In Honour of Shakespeare," from The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche   Friedrich Nietzsche     94
1893-"How the Play of Julius Caesar Works to a Climax at the Centre: A Study in Passion and Movement," from Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist: A Popular Illustration of the Principles of Scientific Criticism   Richard G. Moulton     95
1894-"Julius Caesar: Critical Remarks," from The Works of William Shakespeare   Oscar Fay Adams   Frank A. Marshall     107
1898-"Tappertit on Caesar," from Our Theatres in the Nineties   George Bernard Shaw     113
Julius Caesar in the Twentieth Century     117
1931-"The Eroticism of Julius Caesar," from The Imperial Theme: Further Interpretations of Shakespeare's Tragedies Including the Roman Plays   G. Wilson Knight     119
1935-"Antony in Behalf of the Play," from The Southern Review   Kenneth Burke     146
1946-"Julius Caesar: The Play's Structure," from Prefaces to Shakespeare   Harley Granville-Barker     155
1947-"Julius Caesar," from Lectures on Shakespeare   W.H. Auden     176
1951-"Julius Caesar," from The Meaning of Shakespeare   Harold C. Goddard     188
1955-"Introduction: Language and Imagery," from Julius Caesar   T.S. Dorsch     212
1986-"Julius Caesar," from Shakespeare's Tragedies: An Introduction   Dieter Mehl     220
1994-"Introduction," from Julius Caesar   Harold Bloom     241
1996-"Introduction," from Bloom's Notes: William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar   Harold Bloom     244
Julius Caesar in the Twenty-first Century     247
2000-"Julius Caesar," from Shakespeare's Language   Frank Kermode     248
2002-"Sympathy for Brutus," from Shakespeare: Seven Tragedies Revisited: The Dramatist's Manipulation of Response   E.A.J. Honigmann     257
2005-"The End of the Republic: Titus Andronicus and Julius Caesar," from Shakespeare and Republicanism   Andrew Hadfield     280
Bibliography     301
Acknowledgments     305
Index     307