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Q. Sketch the character of Julius Caesar.
Ans. The character of Julius Caesar, as represented by Shakespeare, has been a dramatic problem of considerable difficulty. Shakespeare named his play after Julius Caesar and obviously pointed to him as the dominating personality in it. Yet in the scenes in which he appears Shakespeare constantly belittles Caesar's greatness and often makes him ridiculous, subject to superstition and physical infirmities and to arrogant exhibition of vanity and conceit. Caesar, as he appears on the stage does not win our admiration. Caesar has not the masterful reticence of a great man of action. He is always posing in the most ridiculous form of a boastful man always advertising his greatness and power. Next, Caesar is superstitious. Thirdly, he is an easy and willing victim to abject flattery. This is such a great weakness in him that those who know him make use of it for their own purpose, laughing in their sleeves all the while. Finally, he labours under various physical infirmities He is subject to epileptic fits. Discomfort causes him to swoon. He is deaf in one ear. A deaf epileptic Caesar is too ridiculous to be true. It seems a moz deliberate attempt to lower him in the estimation of the audience.
An explanation is that there is dramatic necessity for belittling Caesar in order to heighten the character of Brutus. But this, though plausible is not convincing. For Shakespeare did not find this necessary in any of the other plays, it was not necessary for him to belittle Antony for the advantage of Octavius in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. The second explanation has the weight on its side of profound scholarship. It holds that in dealing with Caesar, Shakespeare had to go out of his own personal knowledge. Therefore, he was easily led into the commonplace stage device of making Caesar talk ranting bombast in order to impress the theatrical audience. This is supported by the similar treatment that Shakespeare accorded to another Roman hero viz. Coriolanus, Thirdly, Caesar finds himself out of his elements in the new Rome that is growing up. He is unable to cope with the situation. This makes him vacillating, peevish, superstitious over swayed by flattery.
Caesar is undoubtedly great. Cassius admits Caesar's greatness.
Brutus acknowledges it. Antony worships it. The mole cowers before it Little touches, a speech here and a word there have the cumulative effect of building up his impression of a great personality. Caesar has the shrewd insight into the human character that all great men have. He measures up Cassius aright and gives a fine analysis of the character of that subtle schemer. Secondly, his hearing is instinctively royal. He might refuse the crown but the kingly manner is native to him. Just before the assassination, he shows a regal firmness that will not be swayed by personal appeals and considerations.
Thirdly, the personal aspect never appeals to him even with reference to his own self. Fourthly, Caesar's general attitude to life is that of a great man, he has the physical courage of a determined man of action when he says:
Cowards die many times before their deaths
The valiant never tasted of death but once
He shows the normal temper of a Stoic philosopher when he asks -
What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
These slight touches create a personality that remains to some extent either obscured in the cloud of his own frailties or in the dim background of other men's opinions. But when Brutus calls him "the foremost man of all this world", or when Antony describes him as "the noblest man that ever lived in the tides of time"-we feel that the man whom Shakespeare holds up before us deserves all these tributes in spite of his human infirmities.