What Are We Supposed To Know? The Depiction of a Controversial Character and the Accuracy of a Historical Story

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“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Winston Churchill seems to be saying, that if you don’t understand what happened in the past, you cannot help yourself in the future. William Shakespeare’s depiction of Julius Caesar is very controversial. It seems as if he gives the readers the chance to figure out if they like or dislike him. In the form of historical accuracy, Shakespeare is accurate with what he believes to be true. For Shakespeare, what he has written is accurate for his location and time. Shakespeare is very confusing with his depiction of Caesar, the way Cassius spoke of Caesar was of pure jealousy. He never seemed to have a reason to murder Caesar other than wanting to for his sake, and Shakespeare exaggerated the play a bit for the audience to stay interested.

Shakespeare was very confusing with his depiction of Caesar. In researching Caesar’s personality and point of view, author Rene E. Fortin asked, “Which of all these is the real Caesar?” (Fortin 342). Shakespeare does not seem to want to answer this question throughout the play. He wants individual people to understand who Julius Caesar is to each of them. There may not even be one Caesar. He may have different aspects of who he is throughout the play. With this theory, Fortin stated, “The specific purpose reveals itself if one considers Julius Caesar as a deliberate experiment in point of view intended to reveal the limitations of human knowledge” (Fortin 342).

What Shakespeare was trying to convey, is what people believe to be the truth about Caesar. He never wrote the specific truth down. It was up to readers to have their own opinion. Shakespeare wanted to create a character that individual people have their own ...

... middle of paper ...

...lousy. He never seemed to have a reason to murder Caesar other than wanting to only for him sake, and Shakespeare exaggerated the play a bit for the audience to stay interested. It is never good to lie about what happened in history, but to add small details that don’t change the outcome to keep it interesting won’t hurt the past.

Works Cited

Chang, Joseph S. M. J. “’Julius Caesar’ in the Light of Renaissance History.”

JSTOR. University of Illinois Press, Jan. 1970. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Draper, John W. “The Realism of Shakespeare’s Roman Plays.” JSTOR.

University of North Carolina Press, Apr. 1933

Fortin, Rene E. “Julius Caesar: An Experiment in Point of View.” JSTOR. Folger

Shakespeare Libray, 1968. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. Open Source

Shakespeare. George Mason University, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

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