History Theatre / JuliusCaesar

One of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's tragedies, the play is his take on the assassination of Julius Caesar in AncientRome and its bloody aftermath.

* NamesTheSame: One of the conspirators is named Cinna. An innocent poet who happens to have the same name loses his life to an angry mob when public opinion turns against the assassination.

In either case, Brutus is intended to be the most sympathetic character in a cast of villains. The title character? An {{Ambitio|nIsEvil}}us DecoyProtagonist. His other closest friend, Mark Antony? Uses his oratory skills to help woo the crowds to handing Caesar power, and when it comes to AvengingTheVillain he really gets nasty, all while acting the part of the FauxAffablyEvil VillainWithGoodPublicity. Octavian/Octavius/Augustus Caesar? Just as ambitious as his dear old uncle, but even smarter, smart enough in fact to maintain his [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good publicity]] throughout the events of the play so that it takes a knowledge of what actually happened afterwards historically (or in ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'') to realize his [[XanatosPlannedThisIndex villainy.]] Our actual protagonist's other best friend, Cassius? TheResenter to Caesar's power who gets Brutus involved in the conspiracy in the first place by being a ManipulativeBastard, with plans to set himself up as TheManBehindTheMan where Brutus is [[PuppetKing The Man]] whether he wants the job or not; in fact, the less Brutus actually wants the job the easier he thinks it will be. The rest of the conspirators all have their own selfish motivations as well. Oh and the rest of Rome? Anyone who isn't just a victim of one of the villains ends up in the mob formed by Mark Antony's speech due to their [[PowderKegCrowd fickle nature]].

* DispenseWithThePleasantries: Caesar in is proud of his hatred of attempts to flatter him.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Shakespeare's play has done much to make Marcus Junius Brutus into a Republican hero InternalReformist torn by ConflictingLoyalty. This characterization is entirely Shakespeare's invention and it's very compelling nonetheless as an aesthetic achievement but the real Brutus as per Creator/{{Cicero}}'s letters was a corrupt optimate and LoanShark who extorted interest from the poor by sending goon squads to make them pay up and there's much debate among historians, such as Mary Beard, if Brutus was really going to restore the Republic or merely angling to be another warlord dictator out for his own power[[note]]As Historians point out, one of the signs of autocracy and decay of traditions in Ancient Rome is generals casting coins with their likeness. The first to do this was UsefulNotes/PompeyTheGreat, and Caesar was following suit. If Brutus and Cassius intended to restore the Republic, them casting coins in ''their'' likeness is NotHelpingYourCase, nor is them putting daggers on the obverse, more or less gloating about killing Caesar, which goes against the whole IDidWhatIHadToDo reluctance that has become PopCulturalOsmosis[[/note]].

In either case, Brutus is intended to be the most sympathetic character in a cast of villains. The title character? An {{Ambitio|nIsEvil}}us DecoyProtagonist. His other closest friend, Mark Antony? Uses his oratory skills to help woo the crowds to handing Caesar power, and when it comes to AvengingTheVillain he really gets nasty, all while acting the part of the FauxAffablyEvil VillainWithGoodPublicity. Octavian/Octavius/Augustus Caesar? Just as ambitious as his dear old uncle, but even smarter, smart enough in fact to maintain his [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good publicity]] throughout the events of the play so that it takes a knowledge of what actually happened afterwards historically (or in Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra) to realize his [[XanatosPlannedThisIndex villainy.]] Our actual protagonist's other best friend, Cassius? TheResenter to Caesar's power who gets Brutus involved in the conspiracy in the first place by being a ManipulativeBastard, with plans to set himself up as TheManBehindTheMan where Brutus is [[PuppetKing The Man]] whether he wants the job or not; in fact, the less Brutus actually wants the job the easier he thinks it will be. The rest of the conspirators all have their own selfish motivations as well. Oh and the rest of Rome? Anyone who isn't just a victim of one of the villains ends up in the mob formed by Mark Antony's speech due to their [[PowderKegCrowd fickle nature]].

* DownerEnding: Instead of preserving the Roman Republic, the assassins end up setting the stage for its slow and destructive collapse, and almost all of them are dead after the events at Philippi. That's not even talking about the slew of innocents, such as Cinna the poet, getting killed throughout the story. Making matters worse, the relationship between Antony and Octavian starts to show strains, hinting at [[Theatre/AntonyandCleopatra even more instability to follow]].

%% * PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: Beware the Ides of March!
* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Caesar's wife has a prophetic dream on the night before the Ides of March. [[CassandraTruth He winds up ignoring it]].

%% * ReversePsychology: Antony's speech to the crowd.

* SarcasmMode: Antony's speech is a dramatic example: He begins with a seemingly-sincerely claim that Brutus and the conspirators are honourable men who acted for good reasons. The longer the speech goes, the repeated phrase "and Brutus is an honourable man" becomes ironic, then insulting, and finally utterly ''venomous''.

* AgeLift: In the "[[WesternAnimation/ShakespeareTheAnimatedTales" episode Cassius is a grey haired individual and looks more like he could be of Caesar's generation than of Brutus', which he historically was.

* AgeLift: In the "Shakespeare: the Animated Tales" episode Cassius is a grey haired individual and looks more like he could be of Caesar's generation than of Brutus', which he historically was.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted, since the Romans had a very small pool of personal names. Marcus Junius Brutus shares the stage with Decius Brutus (who in RealLife was his distant cousin), and also with Marcus Lepidus, Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius). Then there is Cinna the conspirator and Cinna the poet, which turns out badly for the latter when an angry mob mistakes him for the former.

* SarcasmMode: Antony's speech is a dramatic example: He begins with a seemingly-sincerely claim that Brutus and the conspirators are honourable men who acted for good reasons. The longer the speech goes, this insistence becomes uterly ''venomous''.

%% * SpannerInTheWorks: Mark Antony.

%% * TragicHero: Brutus.

%% * DecoyProtagonist: Caesar himself.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: In spite of Cassius' objections, Brutus permits Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral, urging him to speak as much as good as he can of Caesar, which backfires miserably with Antony's eloquent speech surpassing Brutus' simple prose, as Antony alludes to Caesar's will, which incites the mob to take revenge on the murderers.

%% * DueToTheDead: Brutus's burial.
* DyingCurse: An alternative interpretation of Caesar's final words; Caesar is cursing Brutus to suffer the same fate as Caesar himself. [[spoiler:Brutus does in fact suffer the same fate, and at the hand of the same man.]]

* ExactWords: Brutus requires Antony to credit the assassins for giving him permission to speak at Caesar's funeral and to not lay blame on them. He keeps to the letter of those stipulations... and still [[PowderKegCrowd agitates he audience into an angry mob]] howling for the assassins' blood.

** Brutus overrules Cassius and insists they allow Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral, and Antony incites the crowd to riot with his speech, decisively swinging public opinion agains the orators.

* HaveAGayOldTime: Everywhere. Words like "lovers" are used quite innocuously--resulting in snickers in high school English classes everywhere.

-->[[SympathyForTheHero This was the noblest Roman of them all]]. All the rest of the conspirators acted out of jealousy of great Caesar. Only he acted from honesty and for the general good.

%% * StealthInsult: Mark Antony's funeral speech is full of these.

The play was adapted to film several times. The most famous is the 1953 version, which starred Creator/MarlonBrando as Mark Antony, Creator/JamesMason as Brutus, Creator/JohnGielgud as Cassius, Creator/GreerGarson as Calpurnia, and Creator/DeborahKerr as Portia.

* GoodIsDumb: Brutus is portrayed as far-and-away the best-intentioned of the conspirators, but every time he overrules Cassius it's for something [[HonorBeforeReason mind-bogglingly stupid]]. Brutus nixes a suggestion to kill Antony along with Caesar, resulting in Antony becoming one of their greatest threats. Brutus overrules Cassius and insists they allow Antony to speak at Caesar's funeral, and Antony incites the crowd to riot with his speech. Brutus again overrules Cassius and says they must advance and give battle at Phillipi, rather than bide their time as Cassius suggests, resulting in the battle being lost.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Instead of preserving the Roman Republic, the assassins end up setting the stage for its slow and destructive collapse, and almost all of them are dead after the events at Philippi. That's not even talking about the slew of innocents, such as Cinna the poet, getting killed throughout the story. Making matters worse, the relationship between Antony and Octavian starts to show strains, hinting at [[Theatre/AntonyandCleopatra even more instability to follow]].]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Instead of preserving the Roman Republic, the assassins end up setting the stage for its slow and destructive collapse, and almost all of them are dead after the events at Philippi. Making matters worse, the relationship between Antony and Octavian starts to show strains, hinting at [[Theatre/AntonyandCleopatra even more instability to follow]].]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Instead of preserving the Roman Republic, the assassins end up plunging it into years of civil unrest, and Brutus and Cassius commit suicide at Philippi rather than give Antony and Octavian the pleasure of killing them. Making matters worse, the relationship between Antony and Octavian starts to show strains, hinting at [[Theatre/AntonyandCleopatra even worse events to follow]].]]

%% * DownerEnding

* DecoyProtagonist: Caesar himself.

* DownerEnding: It's Creator/WilliamShakespeare. [[CaptainObvious It's a tragedy.]] ''Duh''.

* DueToTheDead: Brutus's burial.

* LifeOfTheParty: Mark Antony.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Lots of people. Dammit, Titinius!

* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: Beware the Ides of March!

* ReversePsychology: Antony's speech to the crowd.

* TheSnarkKnight: Cassius.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Mark Antony.
* StealthInsult: Mark Antony's funeral speech is full of these.

* TragicHero: Brutus.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse / KilledOffscreen: After Caesar's assassination, the rest of the conspirators basically vanish. However, it can be inferred that they were most likely hunted down and killed after Antony and Octavius seize power and initiate a series of purges all across Roman society.

** Brutus assassinated Caesar because he was afraid that Caesar would crown himself monarch of Rome and do away with Roman democracy. Brutus's actions in killing Julius Caesar paved the way for Julius's heir Gaius Octavius to become Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome.