By William Shakespeare
Presented for the first time in 1599, the play reveals the great dramatist’s consummate ability to explore and express the most profound human emotions and instincts. So clearly and urgently does it impact its insights into history and human behavior, Julius Caesar is traditionally among the first of Shakespeare’s plays to be studied at the secondary-school level.
In addition to its compelling insights into the human condition, Julius Caesar is also superb drama, as Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators hatch a plot to overthrow Caesar, dictator of Rome. After Caesar is assassinated, Mark Antony cleverly turns the crowd against the conspirators in one of the most famous speeches in literature. In the civil war that follows, the forces of Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar eventually win out over the armies of Cassius and Brutus. Humiliated and desperate, both conspirators choose to end their lives. These tragic events unfold in a riveting dramatic spectacle that also raises profound questions about power, government, ethics, and loyalty.
Bantam Classic version:
- Illustrated with photograph from New York Shakespeare Festival production
- Vivid, readable introduction by noted scholar David Bevington
- A lively, personal foreword by Joseph Papp
- An insightful essay on the play in performance
- Modern spelling and punctuation
- Comprehensive source material and scholarship, with notes
- Up-to-date (1988) annotated bibliographies
- A convenient listing of key passages
Used 1988 Paperback – Good condition – Creases in covers, corner/edge wear, name of previous owner inside cover, underlined text in pen, stains on page edges
