Shakespeare's Sources

Many features have been ascribed to Julius Caesar in distinguishing its special status in the Shakespearean canon, but central to such analyses is the controversial nature of the event: the enormous stature of the historic figure, his merits and demerits, and the verdict to be passed on the key figure in the conspiracy, Brutus, the man whose name was synonymous with gentleness and integrity, who was the beneficiary of Caesar’s magnanimity and largess—and who may even have been the great man’s illegitimate son. ¹ Whatever else the “sources” of this play did for the dramatist in his attempt to interpret and dramatize the circumstances surrounding the events of 15 March 44 BC, they steeped him in a whirlpool of disputation: analyzing an event which has been described as “the single best-known story from the pagan ancient world” involved an exploration of a literature that was both “massive and complex.” ²