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What Does Julius Caesar Have to Do with Anything?
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Why Did We Spend So Much Time Reading a Play ?
What relevance does the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare in the 16th century have in the 20th and soon to be 21st century? This is the question that daunts students every time they have to read "Et tu, Bruté?". While knowledge of Caesar is not a necessity in the world today, reading and analyzing (and sometimes analyzing again) this play does reveal certain insights or pieces of knowledge which at one time or another, might be useful to an English student.
The first educational insight which the play offers to its readers is that of knowledge about two different cultures. The play itself is set in the Roman Republic, a few years before its fall, which opens up aspects of the ancient Roman world for the reader to view. The Fates and the scenery and even the aspects of Roman government are touched upon in this play. Also, the reader gets to see what type of entertainment appealed to the culture of William Shakespeare, the culture which he wrote for, the Elizabethan English culture, at the time when the Renaissance had finally reached England. Through some of his anachronisms Shakespeare exhibits parts of Elizabethan culture (neck clothes and night caps for instance). Also, in a student's overall desire to learn, he/she might be compelled by these historic tidbits, to further dwell into the history books to discover more about these two different cultures which are part of Julius Caesar.
Aside from the explanation of cultures, Shakespeare play illustrates an example of the golden age of play writing. If Oedipus the King by Sophocles represents the beginning f theater, Julius Caesar represents the golden age (not that playwriting has fallen at all). Where the early playwrights introduced parts of modern theater piece by piece, Shakespeare uses a hand full of theatrical devices when he writes this tragedy. This play show a reader how one could use the theatrical devices of dramatic irony, soliloquy and more importantly, tragic flaw (which makes Julius Caesar a tragedy). This play teaches the reader what to look for, what to use if the reader were to ever write or read a different play. The play also shows the reader what one of the best examples of theater looks like (like the writing samples on tests in which the best example of the writing is shown).
So there it is. The reasons for one to read Julius Caesar by william Shakespeare are solely educational. The play reveal aspects of both the Roman and English cultures as well as to show the readers how a good play utilizes multiple devices to maintain interest. But also, finally, the play gives readers characters to relate to. Through the poise of Caesar, the honor yet naiveness of Brutus and the slyness of Cassius, readers can draw conclusions of other people in their own world including their own politicians and themselves. If a reader, perchance, feels that they share the same tragic flaw as Burtus, they may feel compelled to prevent others from exploiting that flaw. Similarly, if someone has the overconfidence that Caesar has. The play may help reveal the truth about the reader's selves.