Julius Caesar (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0174434901 ISBN 13: 9780174434900

Synopsis

This edition of Julius Caesar provides a cle ar and authoritative text, detailed notes and commentary on the same pages as the text and an in-depth survey of critica l approaches to the play. '

About this title

Review

One of Shakespeare's most political plays, Julius Caesar continued Shakespeare's interest in Roman history, first developed in Titus Andronicus. Drawing on Plutarch, the great historian of Rome, Shakespeare dramatises one of the most crucial moments in Roman history--the assassination of Julius Caesar. Loved by the Roman crowd but increasingly feared by the Senators, Caesar increasingly shows signs of his desire to abolish the Republic and crown himself emperor. A conspiracy is hatched, led by Cassius and Brutus, who murder Caesar on the steps of the Capitol. Mourning over his dead friend's body, Mark Antony gives one of the famous rhetorical speeches in literature, asking "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" to lament Caesar's death, privately vowing to "let slip the dogs of war" against those who have shed Caesar's blood. Antony joins forces with Caesar's son Octavius to defeat Cassius and Brutus in battle, and establish an uneasy alliance whose collapse is dramatised in Shakespeare's later play Antony and Cleopatra. Written at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Julius Caesar has been seen by many as a radically pro-Republican play which sailed close to the political wind of the time. --Jerry Brotton

Review

Praise for "William Shakespeare: Complete Works"
Remarkable . . .makes Shakespeare s extraordinary accomplishment more vivid than ever. James Shapiro, professor, Columbia University, bestselling author of "A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599"
A feast of literary and historical information. "The Wall Street Journal
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Edition details

• Publication date: 1707
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0174434901
• ISBN 13: 9780174434900
• Binding: Paperback