Political Implication In Julius Caesar——Shakespeare’s Reference And Transformation Of Parallel Lives

The theme of "Caesar" has always been a favor of historians and litterateurs, including the literary giant Shakespeare, who not only quotes such a theme in his plays many times, but also writes a roman play entitled Julius Caesar. Whereas Shakespeare’s creation of this play doesn’t wholly profit from his genius, but is inspired by Plutarch’s The Parallel Lives. In 1579, Thomas North translated this book from French into English, which benefits Shakespeare quite a lot and becomes the source of his Roman Trilogy:Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. In the Trilogy, Julius Caesar has an intricate connection with Plutarch’s The Life of Caesar, The Life of Brutus and The Life of Antony.The thesis makes a detailed comparison between Julius Caesar and Plutarch’s three biographies. From the aspects of the characterization, the arrangement of plots and the use of language, we can see that Shakespeare references the materials in Parallel Lives without any hesitation. With his dramatic talent, he compresses, rearranges and references the source materials and creates a drama of his own. There are a lot of transformations in the drama, esp. in the characterization, therefore, the thesis lays emphasis on the two main characters Caesar and Brutus. Compared with Plutarch’s Caesar, Shakespeare’s Caesar has a process of "de-apotheosis". In Parallel Lives, Plutarch skates over the physical, mental and temperamental failures of Caesar, while in Julius Caesar, Shakespeare exaggerates these failures. It seems that Shake speare reduces Caesar’s sublime and greatness, but in fact, Caesar’s supremacy are more prominent by depicting the indifference to his own failures, The transformation makes Caesar the representative of absolute sovereign. In this sense, Brutus exists precisely as Caesar’s opposite. Shakespeare deliberately omitted many details which are not to be concealed by Plutarch. Shakespeare rejects all the failures of Brutus and makes him undergo a process of "apotheosis". By means of the transformation, Brutus becomes the ideal representative of republican virtues and the ideal model of civic ones. Apart from making Caesar and Brutus to be the model of two individual political principles, Shakespeare also alludes to the current politics of England in his play. In September,1599, there generates a kind of "intertexuality" between the performance of Julius Caesar and the rebellion of the Earl of Essex. Queen Elizabeth was faced with the same threat of being overthrown as Caesar, and Essex is the counterpart of Brutus no matter in action, characterization and tragic ending.As a political philosopher, Shakespeare combines his reference and transformation of Parallel Lives with his allusion to current politics, thus he conveys abundant political intentions in his Julius Caesar. In his opinion, as a representative of sovereign, Elizabeth is essential to England as Caesar to ancient Rome, which are ideal monarch to "set it (the time) right". In both countries, monarchy is the ideal choice to rejuvenate the country and enrich the people, and regicide always brings unimaginable consequences such as civil strife. While in the prevailing of monarchical power, Shakespeare still promotes republicanism which is implied in the play. Therefore, the thesis makes a comparison between Julius Caesar and Parallel Lives, and analyzes how Shakespeare transforms the main characters on the basis of his reference. Besides, the author thinks that in these transformations, there is a political implication about the two political principles and political institutions.In Julius Caesar, Shakespeare demonstrates his extraordinary dramatic talent, represents his political strategies as a political philosopher and also shows his genius in inheriting and promoting classical traditions. No studies of Shakespeare know their limits just because they will afford us endless answers to the eternal questions raised by Shakespeare, many of which still have a great impact on modern people, and can guide us to live better. Maybe this is the reason why we should reread Shakespeare’s plays and follow him closely even today.