GREAT CAESAR’S GHOST!

Brandy Stark, PhD

April 9, 2013

BACKGROUNDWritten in early 1599

Aging Elizabeth, childless, questions of succession• Similar to Caesar • Both ascended during political chaos and created

stabilization, growth• What might happen afterward? Tensions existing and

fear of another civil war in England•Fear of civil war/instability • Like Rome, England went through periods of instability• Reliant upon Elizabeth and her long reign

BACKGROUND

Middle Ages: Ghosts are from Purgatory; many ghost stories abound

Protestant Reformation• Catholic Church: Council of Trent (1545 – 1563): Purgatory

unchanged (96)• Post Martin Luther’s attack on Indulgences, Purgatory open to

attack. • Protestants denied it; only heaven or hell Church of England

drops Purgatory in 1563

Debate relates to Bible (Samuel and Saul)

BACKGROUNDShakespeare is known to have read:

• The Discovery of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot (1584)• Focused on witchcraft craze, unfounded beliefs and injustice

of punishment • Included a chapter on ghosts; he ridiculed those who denied

devils or spirits at all, but also mocked the over-promotion of ghosts by Catholic scholars

• Claimed apparitions arose from melancholy, timidity, imperfection of sight, drunkenness, false reports, etc.

• A Declaration of Egregious Popishe Impostures by Samuel Harsnett• Skeptical arguments on the Catholic Church, witchcraft

and ghosts (Muir 232; Marshall 145)

GHOSTS IN DRAMAElizabethan Drama: drew from history, pop-religion and local folklore(Rogers 88; Stoll 205)

• Ghosts with a purpose: revenge remained a major topic along with protection of loved one, prophesy, requesting burial, or as an omen of death• Hails from Seneca; often (over)used in drama of

Middle Ages

• Lost some of the melodrama: less crude, heightened the imaginative horror of them; rejection of the shrieking, bustling ghost of the older style

EXAMPLES OF GHOSTS IN SHAKESPEARE

Hamlet: • Ghost seen by guards; skeptical Horatio also sees and

attempts to speak to the ghost (fails)• Clearly identified as the murdered king through

appearance (others identify him) and through self-admission

• When asked by Hamlet to speak, ghost describes himself as having to spend a period of time as a ghost (Purgatory)

• Hamlet converses with ghost who describes his own murder and calls for revenge upon his murderer

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZQ5ryS-YvM

EXAMPLES OF GHOSTS IN SHAKESPEARE

Macbeth: • Banquet scene: Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo who was

murdered at Macbeth’s orders on the way to the feast• No one but Macbeth sees the spirit which sits in his chair

• Excuses are made that the king is tired• Rebuked by Lady Macbeth• Has to admit to a “strange infirmity”• Ghost does not speak

• Macbeth has additional hallucinations of the dagger/bloody dagger

• (Side note: As with Julius Caesar there are prophecies and portents that are misinterpreted)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nre482NEosQ

EXAMPLES OF GHOSTS IN SHAKESPEARE

Richard III• Sees the ghost of Prince Edward, whom Richard

assassinated • Ghost appears when Richard is alone and asleep in bed• Manifests by the bedside

• Classical (Patroclus to Achilles)

• No one else experiences the ghost; his restless state is Contrasted to others who sleep well• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX8zbNEw448

SHAKESPEARE’S PARANORMAL TWIST

Always a reason for their appearanceGhosts show reason in their acts (Rogers 88)

• Revenge (as derived from history and drama prior to the time)• Draws from folklore

Used “explanatory ambiguities” (Marshall 147, Hudson) • Macbeth: hallucinations from guilt, other apparitions are conjured

by witches. • In Richard III and Cymbeline: dreams • Hamlet: Shade is from Purgatory (audience is Protestant; perhaps a

tendency to disbelieve this statement); most like a modern manifestation of a ghost

Symbolic interpretation: manifestations of disorder in this world, especially politics (148)

A LOOK AT GREAT CAESAR’S GHOST

William Humphrys after Richard Westall

. Brutus and the ghost of Caesar (Julius Caesar

IV.iii). Print, 1832

Cited as one of the most uninteresting of Shakespeare’s ghosts (Rogers 79).

Is this true?

PLUTARCH’S ACCOUNTHistorical Reference: PLUTARCH’S ACCOUNT

Brutus being to pass his army from Abydos to the continent on the other side, laid himself down one

night, as he used to do, in his tent, and was not asleep, but thinking of his affairs, and what events he

might expect. For he is related to have been the least inclined to sleep of all men who have

commanded armies, and to have had the greatest natural capacity for continuing awake, and

employing himself without need of rest. He thought he heard a noise at the door of his tent, and

looking that way, by the light of his lamp, which was almost out, saw a terrible figure, like that

of a man, but of unusual stature and severe countenance. He was somewhat frightened at first,

but seeing it neither did nor spoke anything to him, only stood silently by his bed-side, he

asked who it was. The specter answered him, "Thy evil genius, Brutus, thou shalt see me at

Philippi." Brutus answered courageously, "Well, I shall see you," and immediately the

appearance vanished. When the time was come, he drew up his army near Philippi against Antony

and Caesar, and in the first battle won the day, routed the enemy, and plundered Caesar's camp. The

night before the second battle, the same phantom appeared to him again, but spoke not a

word. He presently understood his destiny was at hand, and exposed himself to all the danger

of the battle. Yet he did not die in the fight, but seeing his men defeated, got up to the top of a

rock, and there presenting his sword to his naked breast, and assisted, as they say, by a friend,

who helped him to give the thrust, met his death.http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_plutarch_caesar.htm

THE SCENEAct 4, Scene 3, Lines 275 – 285

Enter the Ghost of CAESAR.   BRUTUS: How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here?I think it is the weakness of mine eyes   That shapes this monstrous apparition.   It comes upon me. Art thou any thing?   Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,  That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare?   Speak to me what thou art.  GHOST: Thy evil spirit, Brutus.  BRUTUS: Why comest thou?  GHOST: To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi. BRUTUS: Well; then I shall see thee again?  GHOST: Ay, at Philippi. BRUTUS: Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then.   Exit Ghost.(Full scene: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/julius_4_3.html)

THE SCENE

1950s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owxP0h0Lw1s

Africa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xNhBAU6sZQ

(4 minutes)

GHOSTLYCharacteristics that match ghostly folklore:

• The ghost generally does not speak until bidden to speak (Stoll 218)

• Speaks single phrases (pamphlet literature) (Purkiss 143)

• There is a vendetta that brings Caesar (confrontation of act of murder)

• Oracle – and the ghost breaks off at the tantalizing moment (Stoll 217)

• The ghost speaks, not in a dream, and Brutus does not doubt that the ghost is there (228); murdered speaking to murderer

• Concrete representations of the blood-feud carried beyond the confines of the grave (229)

PSYCHOLOGICALCharacteristics of psychological manifestation:

Caesar’s ghost appears as an abstraction of Brutus • Mesmerized• Echoes in dialogue

Refers to himself as “thy evil spirit” (4.3.280)

Only Brutus witnesses the shade

Emotional turmoil (distress) in the prior scene (Portia’s death and after a fight/make up with Cassius)

Brutus kills himself citing Caesar’s ghost (Purkiss 145)• “Caesar now be still/I killed not thee with half so good a will”

(5.5.50-1)• Image: Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre at Stephen Foster Memorial, Oakland. (April 2007) Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/theater-dance/stage-review-pict-praises-julius-caesar-on-grand-scale-481362/#ixzz2PF3H8MxH

SYMBOLIC

5.1.30 – 35I draw a sword against conspirators;When think you that the sword goes up again?Never, till Caesar's three and thirty woundsBe well avenged; or till another Caesarhave added slaughter to the sword of traitors.Act 5: http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act5-script-text-julius-caesar.htm

• Caesar is power• Legitimate

succession/shift of power must go to Augustus; all others suffer (Rosen xix)

• Octavius identifies with the spirit of Caesar• Revenge• Spiritual heir

• Deaths of conspirators brings political restoration

• Shakespeare/Elizabethans: “Established order is preferable to chaotic and violent change” (Rosen xxi)

THOUGHTS

What is your take on Great

Caesar’s Ghost? Is he a ghost, a

figment of a guilty mind, or a

symbol? Is he all or none of these?

Why?

WORKS CONSULTEDBrockett, Oscar G., and Franklin J. Hildy. History of the Theatre. New York: Pearson, 2007. Print.

Felton, D. Haunted Greece and Rome: Ghost Stories from Classical Antiquity. Austin: University of Texas, 2000. Print.

Finucane, R. C. Appearances of the Dead: A Cultural History of Ghosts. London: Junction, 1982. Print.

Hudson, H.N. Shakespeare: His Life, Art and Characters: An Historical Sketch of the Origin and Growth of the Drama in England. Vol. 2, 4th ed. Boson: Ginn & Company, 1891. 228-258. Print.

Marshall, Jonathan Paul, Dr. "Apparitions, Ghosts, Fairies, Demons and Wild Events: Virtuality in Early Modern Britain." Journal for the Academic Study of Magic 3 (2006): 141-74. Print.

Muir, Kenneth. "Folklore and Shakespeare." Folklore 92.2 (1981): 231-40. Print.

Plutarch. Julius Caesar. Trans. S. H. Butcher. Ancient/Classical History. About.com, d.u. Web. 1 Apr. 2013. http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_plutarch_caesar.htm

Purkiss, Diane. “Shakespeare, Ghosts, and Popular Folklore”. Shakespeare and Elizabethan Popular Culture. Stuart Gillespie and Niel Rhodes, Ed. London: Thompson, 2006. Print

Roberts, Jon. Introduction: Lunatics and Lovers. Midsummer Night’s Dream. Betram et al, eds. New York: Quality Paperback Books Club, 1997. v – ix. Print.

Rogers, L. W. The Ghosts in Shakespeare. 4th printing ed. Wheaten: Theosophical, 1966. Print.

Rosen, William and Barbara. Introduction. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. New York: Signet Classics, 1998. Xiii- xxii. Print.

Stoll, Elmer Edgar. "The Objectivity of the Ghosts in Shakespeare." Modern Language Association 22.2 (1907): 201-33. Print.