Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, first performed in 1599 and printed in the First Folio of 1623. It tells of the conspiracy against Julius Caesar in Rome, his assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BCE and the civil war that follows. Its true hero is perhaps Brutus, torn between friendship and duty to the Republic.
The conspiracy
Fearing that Caesar will make himself king, Cassius persuades the noble Brutus to join a plot. Despite warnings and omens, Caesar goes to the Senate, where he is stabbed.
Brutus explains to the people that he acted out of love for Rome. But Mark Antony, in his funeral speech, turns the crowd against the conspirators.
Antony's speech
Antony's speech over Caesar's body is a masterpiece of rhetoric: while claiming to praise Brutus as honourable, he gradually makes the word sound bitter.
It is one of the most studied speeches in English drama for its art of persuasion.
The war
The last acts follow the war between the conspirators and Antony and Octavius, ending at the battle of Philippi.
Brutus and Cassius both die, and Antony praises Brutus as the noblest Roman of them all.
Anecdotes
Plutarch
Shakespeare's main source was Plutarch's Lives, translated into English by Thomas North in 1579 from the French version of Jacques Amyot.
A Swiss traveller
A Swiss visitor, Thomas Platter, recorded seeing a play about Julius Caesar at a theatre on the south bank of the Thames in September 1599, probably the newly built Globe.
Frequently asked questions
When was Caesar assassinated?
On the Ides of March, 15 March 44 BCE.
Who leads the conspiracy?
Cassius and Brutus.
Who turns the crowd against the conspirators?
Mark Antony, in his funeral speech.