How does shakespeare in julius caesar make the common people appear to be less than noble?
William Shakespear has been known as one of the brilliant and most emotional stage writers in history. He has this incomparable ability to shape a character from quill to a very complex and intricate person. In most of his plays he’s been making characters to look respectable and of high positions in the society through meticulous descriptions in his writings and through vivid metaphors. Carolyn Henly in her online critique of Shakespear’s plays, said that one thing interesting about Shakespear is his trait of looking at various faces of any given situation or problem. This, I think also makes it possible for him to control and manipulate his characters so well.
In his play Julius Ceasar, the lead characters are indeed of high political and economic status in the society that time. These people are the colors and highlights of the play while the commoners or the common people were the accents and the background of the story. The common people tend to look less nobles for that character shall highlight the protagonists’ status in the novel. Shakespear had this style of giving the mirror effect to the readers where they can actually see themselves in the characters of the play (Derrick 1998). Considering that commoners shall also be interested in reading and watching his plays, Shakespear used this tool or effect to leave the message of his characters vivid in his readers’ hearts and minds. Through vivid theatrical metaphors and the ultimate power of the language he made this possible.
Sources:
v Henly, C. “All are punished”: Studying Varying Loyalties in Julius Caesar
v Derrick, T. (1998) Understanding Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents p. 3
