4. The play illustrates the triumph of Cæsarism over republicanism and of that spirit, which, in the Fifth Act, calls forth from Brutus the testimony,

O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet!

5. Cæsar's spirit lived on in his grand-nephew, Octavius, through whom the prophecy of Antony over the body of Cæsar was fulfilled. (See III. i. 270.)

6. Finally, to quarrel with the poet for not calling the play "Brutus" would be as absurd as to quarrel with Milton for not calling his immortal epic "Satan" instead of "Paradise Lost."

XII. ON CHARACTERIZATION

Adherence to the fundamental rules of dramatic art contributes more to the excellence of a play than does the observance of the Unities of Time, Place, and Action. The principal rules by which a dramatist is guided may be called the laws of Distinctiveness, Contrast, Consistency, and Effectiveness. 1. Distinctiveness. It is a primary requisite of the drama that every man should be represented according to his governing passion. His distinctive characteristics should be marked early, e. g., Brutus' patriotism, Cæsar's ambition, Cassius' envy, and Antony's lewdness.

2. Contrast. Nothing marks character more clearly than does the use of contrast. Thus Cassius is a foil to Brutus, Antony to Octavius, etc.

3. Consistency. Characters may be complex to any degree, but they must not be inconsistent with themselves.

4. Effectiveness. A character should be effective with regard to the dramatic action, and the conduct of the play should seem to spring from the natures of the chief characters. Thus the assassination of Cæsar results from the haughty bearing and excessive ambition with which Shakespeare has chosen to endow him. The principal

characters should predominate, and minor characters should not idly intrude.

A careful study of the different historical plays of Shakespeare will disclose the fact that when the poet has made changes from the historical view of the character of any of his dramatis personae, such changes usually tend toward a closer adherence to the foregoing principles, and the result is a gain in dramatic effect.

XIII. CHARACTER INTERPRETATION

In judging the characters of the dramatis personae, the student may be guided by the advice of the following eminent critics: "If," says Coleridge, "you take only what the friends of the character say, you may be deceived, and still more so if that which his enemies say; nay, even the character himself sees himself through the medium of his character, and not exactly as he is. Take all together, not omitting a shrewd hint from the clown or the fool, and perhaps your impression will be right; and you may know whether you have in fact discovered the poet's own idea, by all the speeches receiving light from it, and attesting its validity by reflecting it."

"It is in what I called portrait painting, delineating of men and things, especially of men, that Shakespeare is great. All the greatness of the man comes out decisively here. It is unexampled, I think, that calm creative perspicacity of Shakespeare. The thing he looks at reveals not this or that face of it, but its inmost heart and generic secret; it dissolves itself as in light before him, so that he discerns the perfect structure of it." -Carlyle.*

"His characters are like watches with dial-plates of transparent crystal; they show you the hour like others, and the inward mechanism is also visible."-Goethe.t

Carlyle, Thomas, born in Scotland, 1795; died, 1881. A celebrated Scottish essayist and historian. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1749; died, A famous German poet, dramatist, and prose writer.

1832.

Shakespeare's Cæsar is not the Cæsar of history. The poet presents only such traits of his hero's character as are suited to the dramatic exigencies of the play and many of these traits are far from being admirable. He portrays him as physically weak and intellectually vacillating, inordinately ambitious, cowardly, superstitious, and vainglorious; while in reality he was one of the greatest soldiers, statesmen, and scholars that ever, adorned the pages of history. "Cæsar," says Hudson,* "is far from being himself in these scenes; hardly one of the speeches put into his mouth can be regarded as historically characteristic; taken altogether, they are little short of a downright caricature, and when he speaks, it is very much in the style of a glorious vaporer and braggart, full of lofty airs and mockthunder." His greatness and his military genius are but lightly touched upon, being but involuntarily acknowledged by the tribunes in the First Scene, when they berate the plebeians for doing honor to Cæsar, and strewing flowers

in his way

That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood.—I. i. 60.

In the play he shows neither the modesty nor the quiet selfconfidence that usually accompanies true greatness; rather his wisdom is consumed in confidence." The position to which he has been exalted, the never-failing adulation with which he is surrounded, the success he has achieved, the flattery that has been his portion-all this has left its mark upon him, so that he already regards himself as a god, and speaks of himself in the third person as though deified while yet alive: "Cæsar is turn'd to hear," I. ii. 17; "Cæsar shall forth," II. ii. 10; 'Cæsar doth not wrong," III. i. 47; and

66

See note, page 25.

Danger knows full well

That Caesar is more dangerous than he.-II. ii. 44.

The Cæsar of Shakespeare has become most susceptible to flattery, but this love of flattery must be skillfully worked upon or not at all. "Low-crook'd court'sies, and base spanielfawning" (III. i. 43), move him not. But Decius knows him and in this speech discloses the secret of his successful flattery: But when I tell him he hates flatterers,

He says he does, being then most flattered.—II. i. 207.

Decius further knows how to work upon his ambition and superstition. He turns to his own account Calpurnia's dream, by which Cæsar had been undoubtedly disturbed. According to the interpretation of Decius, it

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press

For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.—II. ii. 87.

His ambition is but faintly sketched in the play, but we find several evidences of his superstition. He begs Mark Antony "to touch Calpurnia" at the Lupercalia, in order that she may thereafter bring forth children, and he attaches weight to the advice of augurers. Cassius doubts if Cæsar will attend the meeting of the senate,

For he is superstitious grown of late,

Quite from the main opinion he held once

Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies.-II. i. 195.

Shakespeare misses no opportunity of bringing into prominence the physical weaknesses of Cæsar. He represents him as feeble in health, subject to fits and swooning, deaf of one ear, and even inferior in powers of endurance to the spare Cassius, by whom he was once worsted in a swimming contest.

That Shakespeare thoroughly understood and admired the greatness of Cæsar's character, however,-while exaggerating

and emphasizing his physical and intellectual weaknesses as a dramatic expedient,-is evident from various passages in the play:

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of times.-III. i. 256.

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?-III. i. 149.

Further proof that Shakespeare did not underestimate the true greatness of Cæsar may be found in such passages from other plays as, "the mightiest Julius," Hamlet; "broad-fronted Cæsar," Antony and Cleopatra; "there is no more such Cæsars," Cymbeline; "conquering Cæsar," Henry V; "death makes no conquest of this conqueror," Richard III.

A description of Shakespeare's Cæsar would be imperfect without some reference to the "spirit of Cæsar," or "Cæsarism." It is of this spirit that Brutus is thinking when he says: O, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit, And not dismember Cæsar.-II. i. 169.

It is this magic influence that makes Cæsar's body

the ruins of the noblest man,

That ever lived in the tide of times.-III. i. 256.

and of which Antony prophesies:

And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Ate by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.—III. i. 270.

Dr. Dowden* quotes from Antony's speech after having first remarked: "This bodily presence of Cæsar is but of secondary importance, and may be supplied, when it actually passes away, by Octavius as its substitute. It is the spirit of Cæsar which is the dominant power of the tragedy; against this—the spirit of Cæsar-Brutus fought; but Brutus, who for*See note, page 26.