Julius Caesar Shakespeare Comparison Outline

George Urakhchin

English per. 2

5/7/2006

Full Sentence Outline: Julius Caesar

I. Introduction

A. The background of the assassination of Julius Caesar is given here.

1. According to Shakespeare, Julius Caesar was assassinated by the crime of Tyrannicide.

a. Tyrannicide is the act of becoming a tyrant.

b. At that time, Rome was a democracy ran by the Senate.

c. The assassinators, according to Shakespeare, did their crime to preserve the nation's democratic rule.

B. The quick outline of Shakespeare's play itself is given here.

1. Everybody "[bows] to Caesar", and they love Caesar, and even offer him the crown (Parenti 5).

2. Brutus is threatened by Caesar's rising power and the potential of a monarchy.

3. Brutus and others plan the assassination of Caesar.

4. After Caesar's death, the people "[hail] Brutus for saving them from tyranny" (Parenti 5).

5. And, "only in the next breath [the people are] swayed by Antony" (Parenti 5).

6. Shakespeare depicts the people of Rome "as a mindless aggregation easily led by hither and thither" (Parenti 5). This is just a minor example of Shakespeare's inaccurate exaggeration of Rome.

C. The thesis goes here.

D. Why did Shakespeare inaccurately depict certain aspects of Rome?

1. "Fictional representations of history do not usually strive for accuracy, their primary goal being to entertain rather than educate" (Parenti 4).

2. Shakespeare wrote this play during the 40-year reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

a. The story is about a yet-to-be dictator/monarch, Julius Caesar. He wants to write a story that would connect to his present time - the monarchy of the Queen.

1) The queen's age of sixty-six meant her reign has been nearing to the end, "yet she lacked any heirs, (as did Julius Caesar)," and "many feared that her death would plunge England" (Sparknotes, Julius Caesar: Context).

2) Thus, Shakespeare "[used] the story of Caesar's to comment on the political situation of his day" (Sparknotes, Julius Caesar: Context).

II. Shakespeare's accurate depiction of Rome and Julius Caesar.

A. The morning of Julius Caesar's death is accurately depicted.

1. The omens and superstitions mentioned in Shakespeare's play all coincide with historical accounts.

a. Caesar, on the day before his death, discussed "the best sort of death" - "a sudden unexpected end" (Julius Caesar Act II, Parenti 172).

b. Calpurnia's dream of "seeing [Caesar] lying in her lap with many wounds and streaming with blood" is accurately depicted in Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 3 (Parenti 172).

1) However, in Julius Caesar, Cassius goes to dissuade Caesar and assumes a new interpretation of the dream. According to historical accounts, it wad Decimus Brutus, not Cassius, that came. (Parenti 173).

c. Shakespeare accurately mentions the omen of the "animal sacrificed by Caesar" that "was found to contain no heart" (Parenti 172).

d. Shakespeare doesn't mention other known superstitions mentioned below.

1) "Fire issued from the hand of a soldier's servant yet left him unburned" (Parenti 172).

2) "All the doors and windows of Caesar's house suddenly flew open of their own accord as he slept" (Parenti 172).

3) "A herd of Caesar's horses [displayed] a sudden repugnance for the pasture and shed buckets of tears" (Parenti 172).

4) "A little kingbird flies into Pompey's Hall only to be torn to pieces by a swarm of other birds" (Parenti 172).

e. Shakespeare accurately depicted the theme of omens, "unmistakable signs forewarning Caesar of his assassination," that he failed to take notice of (Parenti 172).

2. In Act III, scene 1, Shakespeare introduces Artemidorus, who "approaches with his letter" revealing the assassination's plot, but Caesar, arrogantly replies "What touches us ourself shall be last served", and his "personal concerns are his last priority" (Sparknotes, Julius Caesar, Act III, scene 1).

a. However, the truth, according to historical evidence, does not portray Julius Caesar's arrogant refusal of the letter, and the story is unknown, but is explained in three theories.

1) "Some have Artemidorus running to Caesar's house after his departure, then failing to catch up to the [assassinators]" (Parenti 182).

2) Other say it was "perhaps a servant, who gave Caesar the note", not Artemidorus (Parenti 182).

3) Others "have him reaching Caesar and urgently handing him a note outlining the plot, but given the press of petitioners Caesar had no chance to read it" (Parenti 182).

3. The actual physical death of Caesar is accurately depicted.

a. The senators circle him and stab him one by one, inflicting 26 wounds.

4. Shakespeare accurately describes Caesar's suspicion of Cassius, when he says, "Antonius! Let me have men about me that are fat; Young Cassius has a lean and hungry look" (Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1).

a. Parenti quotes actual Julius Caesar's word (translated), "What do you think Cassius is aiming at? I don't like him, he looks so gaunt" (Parenti 173).

5. Shakespeare is accurate when he talks about the assassinators not wanting to invite "a paramount figure, Cicero... to participate, even though Cassius and Brutus knew he would be well disposed to the deed", but the risk of Cicero's "inborn timidity - plus the caution that advance age" cause them to dispose the idea (Parenti 169, Julius Caesar).

6. Shakespeare also explains to