The most famous of Shakespeare's Roman tragedies, Julius Caesar
was written and first performed in 1599, and was apparently one the
plays his contemporaries enjoyed most. Recounting the death of
Caesar on the steps of the Senate house, the play offers some of
Shakespeare's finest scenes: Antony's skillful speech at
Caesar's funeral, and the quarrel and reconciliation between
Brutus and Cassius with the news of Portia's death. This
edition includes a fresh consideration of the play's date and
its place in the Shakespeare canon and examines how Shakespeare
reshaped his sources (primarily North's translation of
Plutarch's Lives).
Julius Caesar's exciting plot, brilliant rhetoric, and
searching characterisation have made it one of Shakespeare's
most popular plays with both readers and theatre-goers.
Introducing this thoroughly reconsidered edition, Arthur Humphreys
provides a fresh look at the play's date and its place in the
Shakespeare canon and examines Shakespeare's transmutation of
history into drama. He investigates the play's ethical and
moral concerns in a section on Roman values and analyses its
fortunes in performance, from its immediately successful first
staging to modern productions for cinema, television, and
stage.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics
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William Shakespeare (1564-1616) gilt als einer der größten Dichter und Dramatiker der Weltgeschichte. Er verfasste zahlreiche Dramen, Tragödien, Komödien und Gedichte, mit denen er schon zu Lebzeiten Anerkennung und Wohlstand errang. Aber erst in den folgenden Jahrhunderten wurde er zum Prototypen des literarischen Genies, ohne den die Entwicklung der neueren Literatur von Goethe über Brecht bis in die Gegenwart hinein undenkbar ist.
