Julius Caesar (play)

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The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (First Folio title: The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar), often shortened to Julius Caesar, is a historical tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written and first performed in 1599. The play portrays the political conspiracy that led to the assassination of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar and Rome's subsequent civil war. Drawing primarily (with deviations in various aspects) from Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Parallel Lives by Plutarch, Shakespeare presents a dramatised account of Caesar's growing power, his murder by a group of senators led by Cassius and Brutus, and the defeat of the conspirators by the forces of Mark Antony and Octavius at the Battle of Philippi. Although named after Caesar, the play focuses largely on Brutus, whose moral and political dilemmas have often led critics to regard him as its tragic hero. Central themes include the tension between personal loyalty and public duty, the use of rhetoric in politics, and the fragility...

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