Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare, William Montgomery (Editor), Douglas Trevor (Introduction), Stephen Orgel (Editor), A. R. Braunmuller (Editor)

Overview

Shakespeare’s cautionary tale about the dangers of upending democracy, Julius Caesar, which recently ran at the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park.

Winner of the 2016 AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition

This edition of Julius Caesar is edited by William Montgomery with an introduction by Douglas Trevor and was recently repackaged with cover art by Manuja Waldia. Waldia received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators for the Pelican Shakespeare's series.

The legendary Pelican Shakespeare's series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare'scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With stunning new covers, definitive texts, and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143128601
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Series:	Pelican Shakespeare Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford.
 
William Montgomery (editor) is the coeditor of The Complete Oxford Shakespeare, joint textual editor of The Norton Shakespeare, and coauthor of William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion.
 
Douglas Trevor (Introduction) is a professor of English at the University of Michigan.

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 by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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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

Editorial Reviews

Gorgeous new Shakespeare paperbacks.” 
—Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings

“I have been using the Pelican Shakespeare for years in my lecture course—it's invaluable, the best individual-volume series available for students.”
—Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University 

From the Publisher

"John Cox's edition of Julius Caesar is very user-friendly—it has copious and concise explanatory notes, generous selections from Shakespeare's sources, and a critical introduction that does a remarkable job of highlighting the main lines of interpreting the play over the centuries."

Paul A. Cantor