The Bard a Month Club discussion

Post your thoughts on the play here.

I am glad to be re-reading this play. I read it for the second time in 2015 after reading it in the late 70s or early 80s. So I read it kn 2015 to get a baseline on the play. Now I will re-read to find something I can appreciate.

I will be soon buying a Riverside. For now, I am reading from my Bevington. Bevington in his intro to the play says, "Politics seems to require a morality quite apart from that of personal life, posing a tragic dilemma for Brutus Maybe as for Richard II or Henry VI. I will need to read these plays with the group to understand. Yet I am already intrigued.
Maybe this is the idea I will focus pn as I read???

I need to swallow what I said about a day ago. I will be keeping my Bevington and not buying a Riverside. At least for now. Bevington has helped me to understand some things, things I have recorded in Quotes section.

******Informal Survey Question*******
Everyone understands Shakes in a particular preferred way.
I wonder what worldview, what focus, what understanding do you bring to reading Shakes, to understanding the plays. I realize that it can be different thjngs on different days.

My Current Answer
I am reading this play in part by making character assessments, behavior assessments. For example? In Act 2, scene 1 I have written the notes in my copy. Here are some of those notes.
Fear.
Fear of Possible Outcomes.
Blaming others for his decision.
By Dark and Disguise.
Lack of Accountability.

A side note.
I recently reread The Tempest aftee rewatching the movie -Prospera- with Helen Mirren. Excellent Excellent rustic clowns in that movie. So that time I focuses on the rustic clowns. There's quite a bit of humor in that play.

Interested in hearing what you have to say.

This summer, a New York City production of Julius Caesar caused controversy over its allusions to President Trump. Do y'all remember this? What do you think?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/th...

Hi Adam. When Orson Welles played a Mussolini-esque Julius Caesar, he played an outsider, a non-American, one we had gone to his country to wage war against. No matter our political ideas, Trump is not outside of US, not an official enemy against whom we are engaging in a militaristic war. Usually when a group of people disapprove of a public personality, comedians lampoon them while political pundits use scarasm, news editors write opinions, and political cartoonists provide images and often words to make their political displeasure known. We have made a tacit agreement in how we express our political angst. To change the agreement may take us across a line that may not be best to cross. Not every idea needs to be followed. We tend to look askance at people who cross the established lines. We tend to become uncomfortable watching/listening/reading thkngs beyond the established lines,

@Cynda Reading it in 2017, I think the dissolution of established political boundaries is a very strong theme. Caesar broke a lot of long-standing norms, and that chaotic atmosphere led to his death. It also continued for a long time after.

You can see the centuries-old Roman Republic transform into an Empire in just one generation -- a generation that made mincemeat of the norms that had protected the people from tyranny and mob rule.

This theme was certainly relevant to an Elizabethan audience, but even moreso today as people of all political persuasions debate what we're willing to do to help our side win.

Adam wrote: "@Cynda Reading it in 2017, I think the dissolution of established political boundaries is a very strong theme. Caesar broke a lot of long-standing norms, and that chaotic atmosphere led to his deat..."

Thanks Adam. That might be why no backstory would be absolutely necessary--because Shakes wanted to focus on political boundaries. I will ponder on your thoughts here as I ponder on Bevington's and Bloom's writing about this play.