Julius Caesar Act 3.1.147-297

It’s at this point in the tragedy that Antony emerges from his cocoon and becomes a central figure in the drama. Note how this is signaled by the number of lines he is given to speak, and it is through rhetoric that he attempts to control events. He seems genuinely moved by Caesar’s death (after all he was his protege), and his first words are addressed to Caesar’s body. However, his observation that “I shall not find myself so apt to die” maybe no more than a rhetorical ploy. The point is worth pondering as this can determine how Antony is to be performed. The honest Brutus responds as one might expect–“O Antony, beg not your death of us.” He goes on to justify their actions as necessary for the general well being of Rome and its citizens; there is no reason to doubt him. What is an excellent piece of theatre (and probably meant to be so by Antony) is Antony’s request to shake each assassin’s bloody hand, naming each man as he does so. He shows more self-awareness (and this is a pointer as to his character) when he declares that the murderers must now think him “either a coward or a flatterer” for “making his peace” with them. What’s crucial here is Antony slipping into the third-person self-observing mode (“To see Antony making his peace”) rather than the first-person. (There’s not space here to analyze this speech fully, but it does reward such an analysis.) All becomes clear as Antony reveals that he wants to know fully the reasons “why and wherein Caesar was dangerous” and that he wants to give a funeral oration in the market place. Honest Brutus agrees readily, though the wilier Cassius perceives the danger. Brutus thinks he will be able to control the event, and lays out the terms under which Antony will be allowed to speak–herein lies a fatal flaw. The final sub-scene (beginning line 254) provides a retrospective on Antony’s earlier behavior since it is now obvious how much he has been afflicted and affected by Caesar’s death–his soliloquy beginning “O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth” and in which he vows, in very bloody language, that he will indeed avenge Caesar’s death and “let slip the dogs of war.”

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© 2008

Julius Caesar Act 3.1.95-146

This sub-scene follows the assassination, and is prefaced significantly with Cassius’ question “Where is Antony?”–a clear signal of where future interest lies and introduces the dynamic between Brutus and Antony. Noteworthy too is Trebonius’ brief description of of the disorder Caesars death has caused–Antony is “amazed,” while other people “stare, cry out, and run, / As it were doomsday.” Much in little. Brutus indulges in self-justification in his pronouncement that in killing Caesar they have removed the number of years that Caesar (alive) would have feared death: “So are we Caesar’s friends, that have abridged / His time of fearing death.” Such a cynical notion would or should make even the most hardened politician blench. It’s followed immediately by the assassins bathing ritualistically in Caesar’s blood, all the while proclaiming “Peace, freedom, and liberty!” The impact on stage is obviously much greater than mere reading can give it; it is a truly highly visual moment. What is worth considering too is that Shakespeare chooses this moment to introduce a sense of metatheatricality:

Cassius:        How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
Brutus: How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport [in plays]

The audience is thus reminded that it is an audience, and that these are actors, and that this is all a fiction. Yet it is also a re-enactment of history, of murder, of assassination, of people bathing their hands in blood. Thus, perhaps, the emphasis on fiction also serves to emphasise the reality (a notion needing much further elaboration).

That moment over, a Servant brings a suitably ambiguous message from Antony (note the parallelisms in the phrasings) that essentially asks for safe passage and a meeting. The crucial feature of the parallels is the repeated juxtapositioning of Caesar and Brutus (and all that that entails).

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© 2008

Julius Caesar Act 3.1.1-95

Appropriately Caesar’s assassination scene lies at the centre of the play. However, many would now point out that the title of the tragedy is named for Caesar, so it is rather odd that he should now disappear from the play. The answer, perhaps, is that Caesar’s physical death occurs in this scene; his presence, in one form or another, continues since he represents an idea. Perhaps the play is more about the office that is filled by a person, and how that person should fill the office. Indeed, it might be instructive to compare the thoughts and attitudes of the main characters in the play and thus grasp how the same office can be perceived in different ways.

Caesar opens the scene with a flourish, with ceremony, surrounded by a crowd of people. He is front and centre, brushing aside warnings from the Soothsayer and dealing similarly with the petition from Artemidous. Clearly he sees himself as Caesar, as in control, the man who can do as he pleases. Also interesting, from the stage picture point of view, is the dynamic rearranging of the various participants, including Mark Antony being drawn away by one of the conspirators. An audience who has never seen the play before and would does not know the outcome (is there such an entity?) should become immersed in, intrigued by these occurrences. Perhaps even a knowledgeable might be interested?

The murder is prefaced by a revealing incident as Caesar has asked: “What is now amiss / That Caesar and his Senate must redress?” Metellus Cimber thus presents his petition, a petition Caesar has rejected previously. What Caesar says is, of course, revealing. On one side he declares he is not interested in “Low-crookèd curtsies, and base spaniel fawing,” the animal image here indicating that Caesar is correct in his behaviour (the imagery is continued in following lines). Further he declares “Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause / Will he be satisfied,” which carries a mixed message since he combines an absolute concept with a more rational one. However, by line 60 he has moved to “I am constant as the Northern Star” which implies the sort of absoluteness that’s combined with a sense of self-righteousness–that he can never do any wrong. The reaction is this (although it has been planned anyway, of course) is his assassination.

Seeing the murder might influence an audience in two ways (or more). Visually, several men attack one defenceless man, which shifts sympathy to the man murdered. On the other hand, Cinna declares immediately “Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!” an emotive combination of words that raises all kinds of issues about how government (or similar institutions or whatever) should be changed (see, for examples, Aristotle’s debate in The Republic). Note too that in the following lines the word “mutiny” occurs (86) while Brutus says the assassins and they alone  should take full collective responsibility (94-95).

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© 2008

Macbeth Act 5.6-5.8

Shakespeare is now concerned to bring events to a swift end with this sequence of brief scenes. It should be remembered that they would be played (like all the play) without a break between each scene, thus adding to the excitement of the events, and Macbeth’s growing desperation, even as he clutches at the straw that he cannot be killed because “What’s he / That was not born of woman?” To prove the point, Macbeth can slay Young Siward, and scoff at the fact he was born of a woman. Macduff’s entry in 5.7 (in search of Macbeth) serves to remind us of Macbeth’s despicable characteristics–he is a tyrant who killed Macduff’s wife and children, whose “ghosts will haunt me still.” Note too how little fighting is represented on stage; in fact, only duels are staged, with the heavy fighting taking place off-stage and being reported: “The tyrant’s people on bboth sides do fight, / The noble thanes do bravely in the war.” Shakespeare’s purpose here is economy of resources rather than an avoidance of depicting bloodshed and gore (the reason for the reporting of off-stage violence in Greek tragedy, for instance). The opening of 5.8 is given to fulfilling the audience’s long expectation of a duel between Macbeth and Macduff, and, of course, the revelation that “Macduff was from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripped.” (The method of his birth seems appropriately associated with witches.) To Macbeth’s credit somewhat, he fights on until he is slain (instead of surrendering because all the prophecies have now been fulfilled). The final forty lines of the play echo many similar conclusions in Shakespeare’s plays. They establish a quieter, more peaceful tone, giving the audience a moment “to exhale” as it were. Malcolm’s concluding speech also establishes peace and order, a sense that after all the disorder and chaos, everything will now be established in its rightful place.

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