Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

Julius Caesar

In 1599 the situation in England was not very secure. Queen Elizabeth did not have an heir and despite her old age refused to appoint an heir. William Shakespeare wanted to write about this situation, but had to use another time to tell the story. He used the story of Ceasar and set the play in ancient Rome.

In the play Julius Caesar has been ruler of Rome for some years. Mark Anthony offered him a crown, but three times Julius Caesar refused it. Depite this the senators are worried, they think perhaps Caesar will accept the crown later and rule Rome as king. Especially Brutus feels he needs to protect the Roman Republic against Caesar’s power.

Other senators like Cassius, Decius, Caska and Cinna manage to convince Brutus to join their conspiracy. They know they need Brutus, because the people of Rome trust him.

They murder Caesar and then the troubles begin. The people of Rome are not grateful, they are outraged. Brutus tries to convince them they did the right thing, but when Mark Anthony holds his speech condemning them, Brutus’ words mean nothing anymore.

A civil war begins with the conspirators at one side and Mark Anthony and Octavian at the other side. The conspirators also turn against eachother and it ends badly for all of them.

Last week I went to see the play Julius Caesar by Het zuidelijk toneel, and I was so impressed.

The décor and costumes were modern, but it was still set in ancient Rome, and I was glad for that. The famous speech by Mark Anthony was also amazing, I felt like cheering!
The actors were amazing and the play was in my mind for a very long time after.

I do not like the historical Brutus, but this evening I did feel that he was sincere in his struggle to choose between his love for his friend and to do what he thought was right for Rome.

But doing something bad for the right motives is still something bad.
And a Rome with Caesar is always better than a Rome without Caesar.

All in all it was an amazing experience and I feel privileged I was able to go to the theater and see this play. A wonderful evening.