Study Questions &
Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Discuss the
attention paid (or not paid) to omens, nightmares, and other supernatural
events. What do the various responses to these phenomena show about
the struggle between fate and free will in Julius Caesar? Can the
play’s tragedies be attributed to the characters’ failure to read
the omens properly, or do the omens merely presage the inevitable?
2. Think about
Caesar the mortal man as opposed to Caesar the public figure. How
does he continue to wield power over events even after he is dead?
Do the conspirators succeed in their goals by killing him, or is Caesar’s
influence too powerful to be contained even by his death?
3. As Caesar’s
appointed successor, how does Octavius carry on the great general’s
legacy? Consider his use of language and commands as well as the
ways in which the other characters regard him and refer to him.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Though Julius Caesar focuses
on the struggles between powerful men, what role do the plebeians,
or common people, play? Are they as fickle as Flavius and Murellus
claim in the opening scene? How important is their support to the successes
of the various military leaders and the outcome of the play? The
play depicts Rome at a time of transition between republic and empire—a
time in which, theoretically, the Roman people are losing their
power. What role do the people themselves play in this transition?
2. Consider Brutus’s actions.
Is he right to join the conspiracy against Caesar? What are his
reasons? Does he choose to join the conspiracy, or is he tricked
by Cassius? How do Cassius’s motivations compare to Brutus’s? Are
they more noble or less noble?
3. Julius Caesar, a
play about statehood and leadership, is one of the most quoted of
Shakespeare’s plays in modern-day political speeches. Why do you
think this play about conspiracy and assassination might appeal
to politicians today? Also, discuss how this play might have been
a reflection on Elizabethan politics, keeping in mind that Queen
Elizabeth, like Caesar, was an aging, heirless leader.
4. Discuss friendship in the
play. Consider Caesar and Brutus, Caesar and Antony, Brutus and
Cassius, Antony and Octavius, or any other pairings. Are these true
friendships or merely political alliances forged for the sake of
convenience and self-preservation? How do they compare with the heterosexual
relationships in the play—the relations between husbands and wives?
Are they more profound or less profound, more revealing or less
revealing of their participants’ characters?
5. Who is the protagonist in
this play? Is it Caesar, who dies well before the end but whose
power and name continue on? Or is it Brutus, the noble man who falls
because of his tragic flaws?
6. Consider theatricality in
this play. Think particularly of the scene of Caesar’s murder (and
Cassius’s reference to future productions of the scene), the speeches
in the Forum (particularly Antony’s), and the speeches given over
the dead conspirators. How do acting and rhetoric affect the events
of the play? How do they interact with politics? Does the play reference
its own political power as a theatrical production?
7. Discuss inflexibility in this
play, focusing on Caesar and Brutus. How is each man inflexible?
Is this rigidity an admirable trait or a flaw? Do the rewards of
this rigidity outweigh the consequences, or vice versa?
