A New Historicist Reading of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Representation of Roman History in Light of Renaissance Culture and History

doi:10.33976/iugjhr.29.1/2021/19

Abstract

William Shakespeare borrows extensively from Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans (1579) in the drama Julius Caesar (1599). At the same time, Shakespeare adapts, manipulates and reworks historical facts to accommodate his Elizabethan surroundings. In this paper, the play Julius Caesar is analyzed in reference to its historical source, Plutarch’s The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans, and within the theoretical framework of New Historicism. A review was conducted of various studies pertaining to the historical background of the play Julius Caesar. Some of these researches focus on the similarities and differences between Shakespeare’s play and Plutarch’s historical narrative while other sources highlight aspects of the play which are characteristic of Elizabethan thought rather than Roman culture. The general approach in this research has been a comparative one; a scene by scene correlation was carried out between the play on one hand and Plutarch’s historical account of the circumstances surrounding the assassination of the Roman ruler on the other. Furthermore, this research briefly touches upon Shakespeare’s motives for making historical modifications. Such motives include dramatic economy, theatrical effects and factors relating to the playwright’s contemporary matters.

Highlights

William Shakespeare relies heavily on Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s The Lives ofNoble Grecians and Romans (1579) in the making of Julius Caesar (1599)
The Elizabethan playwright does not commit himself entirely to the Classical Roman context, but rather his artistic license permits him to modify the historical context in order to dramatize the story of the emperor, rendering it more compatible with Elizabethan drama; he addresses various political issues pertaining to sixteenth century England
This study provides a New Historicist analysis of the extent to which Shakespeare abides by and departs from historical facts

Summary

Introduction

William Shakespeare relies heavily on Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s The Lives ofNoble Grecians and Romans (1579) in the making of Julius Caesar (1599). A New Historicist Reading of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: Representation of Roman History in Light of Renaissance Culture and The research methodology has been a comparative one in which a scene by scene scrutiny was conducted of both Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Plutarch’s historical narrative of Caesar’s death.

Results

Conclusion