The Greek philosopher Aristotle defined tragedy: "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude." He explained that although the main character is noble, a tragedy must focus on action rather than on character development in order for the play to make sense to the reader. The action of the play should arouse both mutual feelings of pity and fear, while the theme of tragedy is the meaning of the central action and the main character's recognition of that meaning and its consequences. In regarding all of the above factors and previous knowledge of the occurrences within the play, it is clear to the reader that the central action with the "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" is the murder of Julius
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From the way the Roman common people react to the consequential deaths of Cassius and Brutus, the conspirator's plot is truly the focal point of the play, as seen through the context of Aristotle's definition.
Elaborating on the central action of the play is simple; everything branches off from the murder of Julius Caesar, a kind of cause-and-effect chain of events that resonates throughout the story. Let's start off from the actual death of Julius Caesar. The way in which he died, a brutal stabbing at the hands of Marcus Brutus, is sure to evoke feelings of pity from readers of the play. Perhaps even his final words, "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar." (…..), can provoke a feeling of sorrow towards Brutus's betrayal. In fact, the central action of the play arguably doesn’t affect anything within the piece more drastically than the several other betrayals that follow the original. For example, when Caesar is killed at the Capitol and his funeral is held in the Forum, Brutus converses with Antony about his friend's death. Although he is obviously upset about the passing of his colleague, Antony sneakily gains the …show more content…
Although many people can take many different approaches to identifying the theme of this piece, I believe that Shakespeare is trying to say that immense doses of power can create all forms of conflict, and that by trying to obtain this power can cause havoc to reign over a people. This is found all throughout the tragedy, as people envious of Caesar's power manipulate their way into creating devastation through a civil war, dividing a nation, and causing quite a few deaths along the way, as
From the way the Roman common people react to the consequential deaths of Cassius and Brutus, the conspirator's plot is truly the focal point of the play, as seen through the context of Aristotle's definition.
Elaborating on the central action of the play is simple; everything branches off from the murder of Julius Caesar, a kind of cause-and-effect chain of events that resonates throughout the story. Let's start off from the actual death of Julius Caesar. The way in which he died, a brutal stabbing at the hands of Marcus Brutus, is sure to evoke feelings of pity from readers of the play. Perhaps even his final words, "Et tu, Brute? Then fall Caesar." (…..), can provoke a feeling of sorrow towards Brutus's betrayal. In fact, the central action of the play arguably doesn’t affect anything within the piece more drastically than the several other betrayals that follow the original. For example, when Caesar is killed at the Capitol and his funeral is held in the Forum, Brutus converses with Antony about his friend's death. Although he is obviously upset about the passing of his colleague, Antony sneakily gains the …show more content…
Although many people can take many different approaches to identifying the theme of this piece, I believe that Shakespeare is trying to say that immense doses of power can create all forms of conflict, and that by trying to obtain this power can cause havoc to reign over a people. This is found all throughout the tragedy, as people envious of Caesar's power manipulate their way into creating devastation through a civil war, dividing a nation, and causing quite a few deaths along the way, as