In this striking tragedy of political conflict, Shakespeare depicts the ancient Roman world and to the famous assassination of Julius Caesar by his republican opponents. The play is one of tumultuous rivalry, of prophetic warnings (""Beware the ides of March"") and of moving public oratory (""Friends, Romans, countrymen!""). Ironies abound, most of all for Brutus, whose fate it is to learn that his idealistic motives for joining the conspiracy against a would-be dictator are not enough to sustain the movement once Caesar is dead.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) wrote 37 plays. King Lear and Macbeth are widely considered his finest and most popular. They are, perhaps, the most frequently produced works on the planet.