By Amanda Caraway

As Americans, we all relish our right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Romans of the Republic also valued the right to live as free citizens above all else, and they were willing to fight for it, even to the death. From the foundation of Roman civilization, the Romans resisted the rule of kings. The Roman Republic was established in 510 b.c. when the last ruling family, the Tarquins, were banished and the senate became the ruling body of the Republic. In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare explores another struggle for power that shook the Roman Republic in 44 B.C. when Julius Caesar was about to be crowned dictator.

In The Republic, Plato describes the ideal government as a city-state ruled by a wise philosopher-king, where everyone knows his or her place. According to Plato, greed destroys an oligarchy, and democracy is a breeding ground for chaos. In both cases the citizens will eventually elect a tyrant to restore order and put down the rich. By 44 b.c. the Roman Republic had become an established oligarchy, and the Senate no longer represented the people. If one applies the philosophy of Plato to the situation facing the Roman Republic at this point in history, it is easy to see how Julius Caesar was able to rise to the position of dictator and why the senators feared the potential dictatorship.

In Julius Caesar, it is Cassius who initiates the conspiracy to kill Caesar, because he fears Caesar’s unbridled rise to power. Cassius challenges the honor of the people because of their willingness to stand by and let Caesar take the power: “Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!” (1.2.151).

Though Cassius continuously baits Brutus with the idea of Caesar’s dangerous rise to power, it is the idea of Caesar’s coronation that alarms Brutus and spurs him to action. Once Brutus believes that Caesar is after the crown, he believes that it is his duty to save Rome from the dictator. He instructs the conspirators that their actions must be guided by honor and the love they bear for Rome. He says they must “kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;” (2.1.172) and that their purpose is “necessary, and not envious,” (2.1.178). Brutus believes that their actions will be appreciated by the people of Rome: “We shall be call’d purgers, not murderers” (2.1.180).

Shakespeare suggests that Caesar is indeed “ambitious,” a truly frightening notion to those who lived in the well-ordered Elizabethan society. Caesar himself expresses to Mark Antony that he believes himself invincible. And Calpurnia warns Caesar “Alas, my lord, / Your wisdom is consum’d in confidence” (2.2.48–49). Caesar dismisses the warnings of his wife, the soothsayer, and the priests when he decides to venture to the senate house on the ill-fated Ides of March.

Once Caesar has been slain, Cassius says the men have acted honorably and he predicts that the fight for freedom will be enacted throughout history. “How many ages hence / Shall this our lofty scene be acted over/ In states unborn and accents yet unknown!” (3.1.111–113). The conspirators in Shakespeare’s play express the desire to be remembered by future generations as the “men who gave their country liberty” (3.1.118), and the men believe themselves to have “the boldest and best hearts in Rome” (121).

Yet, the well-meaning “purgers” who kill Caesar, fail to bring order to the world of the play and their actions incite even more chaos. Antony prophesizes over Caesar’s body that “domestic fury and fierce civil strife” shall come (3.1.263), and his oration at Caesar’s funeral incites the people to riot. At the conclusion of the play, the key conspirators including Brutus and Cassius take their own lives in the grand Roman fashion of theatricalized suicide, making them free from the rule of Antony and Octavius. These performative acts demonstrate that Brutus and Cassius are not only willing to kill for freedom and honor, but they are also willing take their own lives for the glory of Rome.

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar deals with the threat of uninhibited power and the sacrifices that courageous men are willing to
make in order to restore balance to the government and honor to the people. It is a study in power and freedom that is rewritten by every generation in every country as men and women struggle for life, liberty, and the perfect form of government.