Julius Caesar
The era of Julius Caesar was a time when many people’s feelings toward
the
government began to change. This was one of the first times in Roman
history
when people began to question the power of their ruler. In the play,
The Tragedy
of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, we see a brief picture
of this Roman
life during the time of the First Triumvirate. In this snap
shot, many
unfortunate things occur as a result of these strong feelings
towards the
government of that time. Shakespeare gives us the idea that many
people try to
circumvent what the future holds, such as unfortunate things,
by being
superstitious. Superstition seems to play a role in the basic daily
life of most
Roman citizens, and exists as an important, deciding factor
in the events and
outcome of the play itself. The setting of the first scene
of the play is based
upon superstition. The Feast of Lupercal is in honor of
the god Pan, the queen
of fertility. During this time, infertile females are
supposed to be able to
procreate, and fertile ones are supposed to be able to
bear more. It is also a
supposed time of sexual glorification and happiness.
Other scenes depict how
mysterious sooth-sayers, who are supposedly given the
power to predict the
future, roam the streets of Rome. Dictating what is to
come through terse
tidbits, these people may also be looked upon as
superstitious. In the opening
scene, one sooth-sayer, old in his years, warns
Caesar to "Beware the Ides
of March," an admonition of Caesar's impending
death. Although sooth-sayers
are looked upon by many as insane, out of touch
lower classmen, a good deal of
them, obviously including the sayer Caesar
encountered, are indeed right on the
mark. Since they lack any formal office
or shop, and they predict forthcomings
without fee, one can see quite easily
why citizens would distrust their
predictions. Superstition, in general
elements such as the Feast of Lupercal, as
well as on a personal level such
as with the sooth-sayers, is an important
factor in determining the events
and the outcome of The Tragedy of Julius
Caesar, and a significant force
throughout the entire course of the play. Before
the play fully unravels, we
see other signs of Caesar's tragic end. Aside from
the sooth-sayer's warning,
we see another sign during Caesar's visit with the
Augerers, the latter
day "psychics". They find "No heart in the
beast", which they interpret as
advice to Caesar that he should remain at
home. Caesar brushes it off and
thinks of it as a rebuke from the gods, meaning
that he is a coward if he
does not go out, and so he dismisses the wise advice
as hearsay. However, the
next morning, his wife Calpurnia wakes up frightened
due to a horrible
nightmare. She tells Caesar of a battle breaking out in the
heart of Rome,
"Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol," with Caesar
painfully dying, such
that "...The heavens themselves blaze forth the death
of princes." Although
Caesar realizes Calpurnia is truly concerned about
his well being, he seeks
another interpretation, coming to the conclusion that
the person who imagines
the dream may not be the wisest one to interpret it's
meaning. Later Caesar
tells his faithful companion Decius about it, and he
interprets it quite the
contrary, "That it was a vision fair and
fortunate," and indeed, today is an
ideal day to go out, since this is the
day "To give a crown to mighty
Caesar." Perhaps Decius is implying
here that today is a day where much
appreciation and appraisal will be given to
Caesar, surely not the
endangerment of his well being as Calpurnia interprets
it. Caesar predictably
agrees with him, as most citizens enjoy believing the
more positive of two
interpretations. After Caesar's assassination at the hand
of Brutus, Cassius,
and the rest of the conspirators, Brutus and Cassius are
chased into the
countryside, where we see a few superstitious signs of their
forthcoming
painful death in battle. In a dream, Brutus sees Caesar's
"ghost",
interpreted as an omen of his defeat. He also looks upon the
ensign, and
instead of the usual stock of eagles, ravens and kites replace
them,
construed as another sign of their loss at Phillipi. Not surprisingly,
Caesar's
death is avenged in the end, with two of the conspirators, Titanius
and
Brutus’ double suicide. The play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, by
William
Shakespeare, clearly reveals how important superstition was to
the people of
Rome at the time of Caesar, and to the play itself.
Superstition was used by the
people of Rome to somehow change the unfortunate
occurrences that inevitably
waited for them in the future. The Romans, with
their government in a state of
turmoil, wanted to believe that they were
somehow in control of their destiny
and the unfortunate happenings that could
occur, when in fact, they were not.
Essential in human existence is the
need to believe one has control over one’s
own future. To compensate for
their helplessness in their fate, the Romans used
superstition. With
superstition intertwined throughout the entire play, we can
reasonably
conclude that this irrational belief in why certain events occur and
how to
avoid them, is what led to Caesar’s demise and eventual avengement.
"This was
the noblest Roman of them all.... His life was gentle, and the
elements So
mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world,
‘This was a
man!’"