ABSTRACT

At first sight, Nietzsche’s statements on Shakespeare appear to be contradictory. In different parts of his œuvre, Nietzsche affirms both conflicting parties in Julius Caesar as essential to Shakespeare: belief in Brutus is ‘the best thing’ he can say in honour of Shakespeare (Nietzsche 1974:98), while ‘the ultimate formula’ for Shakespeare is the Caesar ‘type’ (Nietzsche 1969: 246). This view is contradictory, however, only if it is assumed that one ‘side’ must be taken in a political allegory that warns against the dangers of either monarchy or regicide and revolution. In fact, Nietzsche is indifferent to conservative and liberal or neo-Marxist accounts of the play.1