GREAT CAESAR’S GHOST!

Brandy Stark, PhD

April 9, 2013

BACKDROPWritten 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.

“Shakespeare’s horror of civil wars becomes

increasingly apparent” as the plays develop his

intense belief in the divine quality of kingship as the

“only possible safeguard against civil dissension”

(Rosen xiii)Image: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/queen_elizabeth_gallery.htm

BACKGROUNDShakespeare borrowed stories from history, mythology, legend, and drama, but “reworked them until they became distinctively his own” (Brockett 109).Plays written about Julius Caesar existed before Shakespeare, but no real connection found (229) Reports of hauntings are found in many different types of literature Surviving from the classical world (Homer, Vergil, Seneca, etc.)Historic materials drawn from Sir Thomas North’s translation of

Plutarch known as “Shakespeare’s storehouse of learned history”

(Hudson 233).

PLUTARCH’S ACCOUNTPLUTARCH’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

BACKGROUNDMiddle Ages: communication between the dead and the living was possible and likely Visions and dreams studied (Biblical): visio non somnium ( Felton 59)Purgatory produced ghosts – many stories used by Church to enforce doctrineA male bias is present: More than 3/4ths of the ghosts and over 3/4ths of recorded ghost stories in the Middle Ages were men (84)

BACKGROUND

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 were allowed

Debate relates to Bible (Samuel and Saul) (104)

BACKGROUND

The Church of England formally dropped the doctrine of Purgatory in 1563Under Elizabeth the bishops and clergy “hunted Purgatory into extinction” (Marshall 145) British Protestants still encountered ghosts and had to account for them, or sermonize against them

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)

BACKGROUNDOther contemporary publications:

• Thomas Nashe: “The Terrors of the Night, or, a Discourse of Apparitions” (1594)• Showed many stories arose from

imaginations, dreams and ghost stories

• Tongue-in-cheek, but overall remains skeptical. (95)

• King James: Daemonologie, in forme of a dialogue (1597) • James writes to contradict those who

are skeptical (like Scot). • The king sees the devil as “the source

of all ghostly apparitions….[to] delude the living” (Felton 95)

GHOSTS IN DRAMAPre-Shakespeare playwrights used the revenge-ghost so often that satirists mocked ghost characters comparing them to squealing pigs (Felton 111)The world of spirits and fairies was “rapidly losing its imaginative hold on a sophisticated urban audience increasingly captivated by witch trials and lurid tales of demonic possession” (Roberts ix).

OTHER 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

OTHER GHOSTS IN SHAKESPEAREMacbeth:

• Banquet scene: Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo who was murdered as Macbeth’s orders on the way to the feast

• No one else 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

OTHER GHOSTS IN SHAKESPEARE

Richard III• Sees the ghost of Prince Edward, who 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 HINTS IN JULIUS CAESAR

Julius Caesar plays with the ghostly idea throughout• Celebration of Lupercalia (Feast of Lupercal, 1.2.66)

• Fertility festival (new spirits reside in wombs; old spirits rebirthed)• Dogs were only offered to Robigus (a guardian associated with

crops), the Lares Praestites (the guardians of the state), and Mana Genata [manes, di manes; parental spirits and ancestral guardians].

• CASSIUS: Conjure with ‘em: ‘Brutus’ will start a spirit as soon as ‘Caesar’. (1.2.147-148)

• BRUTUS: We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar/And in the spirit of men there is no blood./O, that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit, And not dismember Caesar! (2.1.167-170)

• CALPURNIA: Horses do neigh, and dying men did groan,/And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. (2.2.24-25)

THE SCENE

William Humphrys after Richard Westall

. Brutus and the ghost of Caesar (Julius Caesar IV.iii). Print, 1832

Act 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)

GHOSTS IN DRAMAElizabethan Drama: drew from the pop-religion and local folklore; ghosts with a purpose (Rogers 88; Stoll 205)

• Revenge remained a major topic along with protection of loved one, prophesy, requesting burial, or as an omen of death

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

Shakespeare uses ghosts primarily for personal revenge (203)

• These can be seen with the ghost of Hamlet’s father, Caesar, Richard III, Henry VI cycle

• Julius Caesar the most uninteresting use of ghosts? (Rogers 89)

WHERE DOES HE GET HIS IDEAS?

Folklore and folk practices change over time/with historical eventsHave an entertainment basis to them May serve to explain fears and desires of a cultureCan contradict held beliefs (theology)Harder to trace (fragmental)Longevity (Purkiss143-144)

JULIUS CAESAR’S GHOST

Shakespeare’s ghosts do have characteristics not explained from historic sources including theological, classical, or Elizabethan drama (Purkiss 140)Characteristics 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 (Stoll 229)

CAESAR'S GHOST

Caesar’s ghost appears as an abstraction of Brutus

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

Mesmerizing

Possession as part of revenge? Suicidal influences/revenge• 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

SHAKESPEARE’S TWIST

Other Shakespearean ghosts: • Made use of the “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

Apparitions might be symbolic for manifestations of disorder in this world (148)

• Fictional apparitions could be used politically (151)Ghosts in Shakespeare are rational and natural; there is always a reason for their appearance; the ghosts, themselves, show reason in their acts (Rogers 88)

• The ghosts, themselves, are sane

SHAKESPEARE’S TWIST

Ambiguity: Only Brutus witnesses the shade after he learns both of Portia’s death and after a fight/make up with Cassius

• ? Trick of the human mind while in distress (Rosen xxii)

• ? “The Spirit of Justice…hovering the background of his afterlife, and haunting his solitary moments in the shape of Caesar’s ghost” (Hudson 253; published year: 1891)

• ? The spirit of Caesar is the embodiment of power/rule

• Brutus fails to bring liberty; continues to lead with personal morals and thus not fit for power (Rosen XIX)

INTERPRETATION

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

• 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 the purpose of great Caesar’s

ghost? Is he a representation of revenge?

Power? The unnatural shift of power?

How do you think the Shakespearean

audience reacted to it?

Questions or Comments?

WORKS CITEDBrockett, 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.