Julius Caesar Theme

Power

When it seems evident to the conspirators in Shakespeare's play that Julius Caesar is headed for absolute power, he becomes a threat to the ideals and values of the Roman Republic.  They assassinate Caesar before he can be crowned king. The irony is that Caesar's death results in civil war. As two factions with questionable motives grab for power, chaos ensues and the Republic is never the same again.

By dramatizing the historical circumstances surrounding Caesar's assassination, Shakespeare asks a series of questions relevant to his 16th-century audience and readers today: How should cities and countries be governed? What makes a good leader? What happens when a political leader's power is unchecked? And, what happens when the leader dies without a suitable replacement lined up?

Fate versus Free Will

Julius Caesar raises many questions about the force of fate in life versus the capacity for free will. Cassius refuses to accept Caesar’s rising power and deems a belief in fate to be nothing more than a form of passivity or cowardice. He says to Brutus: “Men at sometime were masters of their fates. / The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings” (I.ii.140–142). Cassius urges a return to a more noble, self-possessed attitude toward life, blaming his and Brutus’s submissive stance not on a predestined plan but on their failure to assert themselves.
Ultimately, the play seems to support a philosophy in which fate and freedom maintain a delicate coexistence. Thus Caesar declares: “It seems to me most strange that men should fear, / Seeing that death, a necessary end, / Will come when it will come” (II.ii.35–37). In other words, Caesar recognizes that certain events lie beyond human control; to crouch in fear of them is to enter a paralysis equal to, if not worse than, death. It is to surrender any capacity for freedom and agency that one might actually possess. Indeed, perhaps to face death head-on, to die bravely and honorably, is Caesar’s best course: in the end, Brutus interprets his and Cassius’s defeat as the work of Caesar’s ghost—not just his apparition, but also the force of the people’s devotion to him, the strong legacy of a man who refused any fear of fate and, in his disregard of fate, seems to have transcended it

Persuasion

Persuasion is a concept at the center of this play. Everyone seems to be trying to convince someone else of something: Caesar tries to create an image in the public's mind of his crowing (an ancient form of spin doctoring); Cassius finds the best way to manipulate each man he seeks to bring to his side; and Brutus, whom the reader hopes will refuse to participate, takes longer than the others to respond to Cassius' manipulations, but eventually does respond and even finishes the job for him by persuading himself (see his soliloquy in Act II, Scene I). This pivotal scene, when Brutus joins the conspirators, is also interesting because Portia, Brutus' wife, serves as the voice of Brutus' conscience.

Public Self versus Private Self

Much of the play’s tragedy stems from the characters’ neglect of private feelings and loyalties in favor of what they believe to be the public good. Similarly, characters confuse their private selves with their public selves, hardening and dehumanizing themselves or transforming themselves into ruthless political machines. Brutus rebuffs his wife, Portia, when she pleads with him to confide in her; believing himself to be acting on the people’s will, he forges ahead with the murder of Caesar, despite their close friendship. Brutus puts aside his personal loyalties and shuns thoughts of Caesar the man, his friend; instead, he acts on what he believes to be the public’s wishes and kills Caesar the leader, the imminent dictator. Cassius can be seen as a man who has gone to the extreme in cultivating his public persona. Caesar, describing his distrust of Cassius, tells Antony that the problem with Cassius is his lack of a private life—his seeming refusal to acknowledge his own sensibilities or to nurture his own spirit. Such a man, Caesar fears, will let nothing interfere with his ambition. Indeed, Cassius lacks all sense of personal honor and shows himself to be a ruthless schemer.
Ultimately, neglecting private sentiments to follow public concerns brings Caesar to his death. Although Caesar does briefly agree to stay home from the Senate in order to please Calpurnia, who has dreamed of his murder, he gives way to ambition when Decius tells him that the senators plan to offer him the crown. -Caesar’s public self again takes precedence. Tragically, he no longer sees the difference between his omnipotent, immortal public image and his vulnerable human body. Just preceding his death, Caesar refuses Artemidorus’s pleas to speak with him, saying that he gives last priority to his most personal concerns. He thus endangers himself by believing that the strength of his public self will protect his private self.

Friendship

Male bonds are funny things in Julius Caesar.  Men in the play must to choose between loyalty to their friends and loyalty to the Roman Republic, which leads to some of the most famous examples of manipulation and violent betrayal in Western literature. This is especially true for Brutus, who chooses to join the conspirators' assassination plot when it seems clear to him that his BFF, Julius Caesar, is headed for absolute power.

Leadership

Shakespeare took the potential for upheaval in Julius Caesar and used it to examine a leadership theme. Concentrating on the responsibilities of the ruling class, he looked at what could happen if that class no longer had a unified vision and hand lost sight of what it meant to be Roman. In fact, the characters of the play lose touch with the tradition, glory, integrity, and stoicism of their past. As you read the play, note the way that Cassius use the memory of that glorious past to persuade men to become conspirators, and the way the actions of the conspirators do or do not return Rome to its golden age.

Misinterpretations and Misreadings

Much of the play deals with the characters’ failures to interpret correctly the omens that they encounter. As Cicero says, “Men may construe things after their fashion, / Clean from the purpose of the things themselves” (I.iii.34–35). Thus, the night preceding Caesar’s appearance at the Senate is full of portents, but no one reads them accurately: Cassius takes them to signify the danger that Caesar’s impending coronation would bring to the state, when, if anything, they warn of the destruction that Cassius himself threatens. There are calculated misreadings as well: Cassius manipulates Brutus into joining the conspiracy by means of forged letters, knowing that Brutus’s trusting nature will cause him to accept the letters as authentic pleas from the Roman people.
The circumstances of Cassius’s death represent another instance of misinterpretation. Pindarus’s erroneous conclusion that Titinius has been captured by the enemy, when in fact Titinius has reunited with friendly forces, is the piece of misinformation that prompts Cassius to seek death. Thus, in the world of politics portrayed in Julius Caesar, the inability to read people and events leads to downfall; conversely, the ability to do so is the key to survival. With so much ambition and rivalry, the ability to gauge the public’s opinion as well as the resentment or loyalty of one’s fellow politicians can guide one to success. Antony proves masterful at recognizing his situation, and his accurate reading of the crowd’s emotions during his funeral oration for Caesar allows him to win the masses over to his side

Defining Masculinity

While gender itself is not a central issue to this play, questions of Masculinity and effeminacy are. Caesar's weakness — his effeminacy — makes him vulnerable. On the other hand, the incorporation of the so-called feminine traits of compassion and love into the friendship between Brutus and Cassius paradoxically allows the men to show greater strength and allows the audience to have greater sympathy

Inflexibility versus Compromise

Both Brutus and Caesar are stubborn, rather inflexible people who ultimately suffer fatally for it. In the play’s aggressive political landscape, individuals succeed through adaptability, bargaining, and compromise. Brutus’s rigid though honorable ideals leave him open for manipulation by Cassius. He believes so thoroughly in the purpose of the assassination that he does not perceive the need for excessive political maneuvering to justify the murder. Equally resolute, Caesar prides himself on his steadfastness; yet this constancy helps bring about his death, as he refuses to heed ill omens and goes willingly to the Senate, into the hands of his murderers.
Antony proves perhaps the most adaptable of all of the politicians: while his speech to the Roman citizens centers on Caesar’s generosity toward each citizen, he later searches for ways to turn these funds into cash in order to raise an army against Brutus and Cassius. Although he gains power by offering to honor Caesar’s will and provide the citizens their rightful money, it becomes clear that ethical concerns will not prevent him from using the funds in a more politically expedient manner. Antony is a successful politician—yet the question of morality remains. There seems to be no way to reconcile firm moral principles with success in politics in Shakespeare’s rendition of ancient Rome; thus each character struggles toward a different solution.

Principles

Honor is one of the central conundrums in Julius Caesar. Some actions are done in the name of honor, others in spite of it. National honor challenges personal honor, and obligations and desires put honor at stake. All these layers of honor, which often conflict with each other, ultimately lead back to the issue of perspective. Each character has to decide what's best for him and act on it accordingly. In the end, they can only do honor to their own judgment, as they hav

Manipulation

In Julius Caesar, manipulation seems like a professional sport. Politicians use their rhetorical skills to gain power and to influence large, fickle crowds, and seeming friends lie outright to each other. Persuasion and suggestion are rhetorical skills that play central roles in Julius Caesar, but they also highlight the willingness of individuals in hard times to hear what they want to hear (remind you at all of our own day and age?). It's often unclear whether characters are manipulated by others, or do they simply find in the speech of others an inspiration to do what they might otherwise have been too afraid to do.

Pride

When it comes to pride, Julius Caesar is the star of the show, as he's the most outwardly arrogant. Caesar's total lack of humility seems to be his tragic flaw. His prideful arrogance is a blinding force that prevents him from seeing the harm he's doing and the harm being planned against him. When Brutus is humble about what others call his greatness, he sets himself up in sympathetic contrast to Caesar. We like Brutus because he isn't all fatheaded. He also seems wiser than Caesar for being more aware of the world around him and genuinely more concerned for it.

Art and Culture

Just about all of Shakespeare's works contain self-referential, or "metatheatrical" moments, but in Julius Caesar Shakespeare takes it to a whole new level by forging a relationship between the theater and politics.  In the play, politicians know they're like actors performing on a very public stage, and they measure their speeches and actions accordingly.  At other times, characters even seem aware that their historical actions will be dramatized over a thousand years later on the Elizabethan stage.  The play is also full of self-conscious references to the kinds of public and political roles that poets (like Shakespeare) can play in the world.