The Dialectics of Hostile Dehumanization in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: A Sociopsychological Approach

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his study aims to examine the phenomenon of hostile dehumanization in Shakespeare’s political play Julius Caesar from the perspective of modern political and sociopsychological theories. This paper targets unfriendly forms of dehumanization used by rival Roman senators that end up in aggression or instigate violence. The forms of dehumanization dramatized in the play and sorted out in modern relevant theories include animalization, objectification, and mechanization. The paper also analyzes Shakespeare’s presentation of characters’ motives that trigger denigrating methods of dehumanization. The paper contends that Julius Caesar demonstrates that antagonistic dehumanization practices emerge and develop in a tense atmosphere of political rivalry that turn the opponents into enemies in a situation that leads one political or social group (ingroup) to denigrate another (outgroup), a concept which makes the core of modern political and sociopsychological theories on the subject in the last fifty years Keywords: Dehumanization, animalization, objectification, ingroup, outgroup, schadenfreude, violence