Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Leadership and a Global Stage

Global Shakespeare is multidisciplinary approach to Shakespearean studies-- studying Shakespeare’s plays (or film adaptations) as they are performed in different languages in different locales for different sociocultural and political intents. This field grew out of the recognition that it is important to consider how and why Shakespeare is adopted, adapted, and appropriated by people around the world in order for them to express their own political and social concerns through the universal language of Shakespeare.

In a 2012 interview, Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Gregory Doran called Julius Caesar "Shakespeare's African play" and the video clips from the 2012 RSC production he directed that are included in this lesson show those parallels. For one, the production blends time periods and nation-states seamlessly–Caesar’s Rome, Shakespeare’s England, and different modern African nation-states. In this way, Caesar is Muammar Gaddafi (Libya), Idi Amin (Uganda), Mobutu Sese Seko (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe), or any other charismatic leader who became a ruthless dictator. Further, the Roman Forum becomes a weathered soccer stadium in distressed concrete, the citizens sell spray-painted Caesar memorabilia while wearing the familiar red, black, and green of the Pan-African flag, and an Afro-Caribbean band plays before the opening action on traditional instruments–percussion, kora, mbira, guitar, bass, and saxophones.  

Most important for Doran’s production, however, was his meeting with then South African President Nelson Mandela who told Doran about the Robben Island Bible--a copy of Shakespeare's collected works that was passed amongst and read by South African anti-apartheid activists imprisoned at Robben Island Prison. The 'Bible' was passed between inmates during the 1970's, all of whom treasured the book. The book’s owner, Sonny Venkatrathnam, asked 32 of his fellow inmates to each mark his favorite passage and sign it. Nelson Mandela chose the following passage from Julius Caesar in which, despite bad omens and against his frightened wife’s wishes, Caesar is determined to go to the Forum the following morning:

“Cowards die many times before their deaths, 
The valiant never taste death but once.”

When Mandela chose his passage and dated it 16 December, 1977—the anniversary of The Battle of Blood River (1838) between Zulus and Voortrekkers—he reclaimed that date as not a day of defeat, but of active resistance. After his release from prison 23 years later and his election to the presidency of South Africa in 1994, Mandela renamed the holiday  “Reconciliation Day.” He, too, knew the contemporary political urgency of Julius Caesar, and that the passage that Mandela chose so many years ago—expressing courage, defiance, resoluteness, and grace—is a fitting summary of his own ideologies and experiences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.3. Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

The Folger Shakespeare Library digital text of Julius Caesar

Article: Royal Shakespeare Company's Julius Caesar set in contemporary Africa

MIT's Global Shakespeares Video and Performance Archive 

What is a Commonplace book and why use it when teaching Shakespeare?

• A Commonplace book assignment
• A Commonplace book, c. 1625
• "Speaking of Commonplace books" (New York Times, 1970)

Activity One. History of Rome

Develop the necessary background for Rome as a Republic and Empire to understand the historical and political context of Julius Caesar’s reign using the materials from the PBS series The Roman Empire: In the First Century.

Guiding questions for student inquiry can include:

• Who was Julius Caesar?

• How did Caesar come to lead the Roman Republic and Empire?
• What are the short and long term legacies of Caesar’s rule?
• How did the Republic and the Empire differ and what did this mean to citizens?

Activity Two. Making a Scene (Act One, Scene Two)

Before reading, watch this preview of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2012 production of Julius Caesar.

• What do you think the play will be about?
• What themes might the play address?

When reading Acts One and Two using the Folger Shakespeare Library's digital text version of Julius Caesar, maintain a Commonplace book. Though a Commonplace book is traditionally a handwritten artifact created by a reader, a digital Commonplace book that incorporates images instead of drawings, memes instead of illustrations or other graphics, and hyperlinks to related texts and media instead of marginalia can be incorporated. 

At the conclusion of Act One:

• What is revealed through quotes by and about Caesar during Act One?
• Video: “Unlocking a Scene” (Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2; 2012 RSC production)

  • In this twelve minute video, the actors playing Cassius and Brutus talk through the perspectives of their characters and discuss their decision making as they perform the scene. RSC teaching strategies for bringing text and performance together are used and explained by the actors and Associate Director.

Questions to discuss:

• How does your interpretation of a character’s motivation inform how you might perform the scene?  

• What part(s) of the dialogue between Cassius and Brutus do you find to be most persuasive?

• If you were the director, how would you block the scene? That is, how would the actors interact, where on the stage would they be positioned, etc.

At the conclusion of Act Two:

Compare your Commonplace notes with what your classmates have constructed. Discuss the lines you have chosen, what the language of the play has inspired you to imagine, connections you have made to other works of literature, films, music, etc., and anything else you have recorded as part of your Commonplace book. 

Following your discussion, complete the following: Based on the character descriptions you have researched, the character traits revealed thus far in the play, and your knowledge of popular culture, who would you cast to play the roles introduced so far in Julius Caesar? 

Activity Three. Follow what kind of leader? (Act Three, Scene Two)

Begin by setting the scene of a state funeral: Why is a state funeral held in the United States?

Funerary speech given by Brutus (3.2.12-43)

Funerary speech given by Marc Antony (3.2.73-104)

The key moment of the scene is the juxtaposition of the funerary speeches given by Brutus and Marc Antony. It is recommended that the speeches be analyzed individually and then in comparison. Reading the speeches quietly to oneself before reading them aloud is recommended. After reading each speech to oneself to establish a sense of tone and meaning, compare the motives of each speaker. The next reading, done aloud, involves two students and can be completed either in front of the class or the class can be arranged into multiple pairings to generate several interpretations of the tone, motivation, and point of view of each speaker.  

After discussing the various interpretations that emerged from the readings, ask students to read the speeches again, but this time, in a new way. What will be emphasized? What lines will be delivered with more or less energy and passion? Will the actors you cast during Activity One change now that you are directing this scene?

The video clips below offer two versions of Marc Antony's speech and a close reading analysis of Brutus's speech. These can be incorporated before or after the first reading to inspire student interpretation or after the second reading to assist with a reinterpretation. Further, students can be given the option to create their own interpretations of each speech before viewing the video clips.  

Video #1: Marc Antony’s speech (2012 RSC production)

Video #2: Marc Antony’s speech (2017 RSC production)

Video #3: Brutus’s speech (2017 RSC production; "Exploring a rhetorical speech")

Discussion questions:

• Are Brutus and Marc Antony (com)patriots?

• What does it mean to be a good citizen?

• Does the nation come before the individual?

• Can leaders separate what they do for the republic from what they do for personal glory?

• When is it time to rebel?

• What responsibilities do citizens have to protect and preserve democracy?

• Why does Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar remain relevant?

• If you were the third person to speak at Caesar’s funeral, would you speak in support of Brutus or Marc Antony, or would you bring a new perspective on Caesar and what has transpired? Construct a speech in which you seek to persuade the audience to your point of view (will you reveal a secret? Will you demand power?). You can draw upon what has happened in the play thus far, and your knowledge of rhetoric and Rome at that time.

Lights, Curtain, Action!

At the conclusion of Act Three, select one of the following to demonstrate your understanding of themes within the play, as well as to show your creativity regarding staging, directing, and writing a play.

Role play: Take on the role of a dramaturg, set designer, costume designer, location scout, or cinematographer. Where will you set your production? What do you need to know before filming begins? How will your role affect the production of the play? How does your involvement affect the telling of the story? What role does technology play in assisting you in the completion of your responsibilities to the film?

Missing perspectives: Identify a scene that you believe is missing something. Perhaps there is need for a counter argument based on primary source analysis or a character was omitted from the play despite having a connection of historical importance to the story. Based on research, revise the script to add dialogue that draws upon primary source materials. Does your addition change the trajectory of the play?

Do it Again: Select a scene from Act Three and with partners, determine how the scene would be performed in what you think a "traditional" staging might look and sound like. Then, stage the scene in a completely new way, but do not lose the meaning and significance of the scene to the play as a whole. Where will it be set? What will the actors wear? Will a line be delivered with a different emotion? Why? What will this mean for how others characters respond? 

Time and place: What if the play was set in another time and place? What would change about cultural norms, casting, and more if the play had a different setting? Analyze contemporary news stories to determine if Julius Caesar could be set in a modern context. 

Working with online newspapers and connections to recent events in the world, ask students to draw comparisons between the events and themes of Julius Caesar with what has transpired in contemporary history. If time is a concern but developing a contemporary global history connection is of interest, a case study approach that looks at the political careers of Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Muammar Gaddafi (Libya), Idi Amin (Uganda), Mobutu Sese Seko (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and/or Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) can be examined. 

EDSITEment's "A Teacher's Guide for Shakespeare"

NEH supported programming at the Folger Shakespeare Library

NEH supported project on classical texts at Tufts University.

HUMANITIES article: "Sejanus, Almost the Emperor" (September/October 2010)