Julius Caesar Essay: Gender Transformation of Caesar -- Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar Gender Transformation of Caesar Shakespeares Julius Caesar opens with the concurrent celebrations of Caesars defeat of Pompey and the annual fruitfulness festival of Lupercal. The coupling of the two historically separate events each celebrating lucid gender roles dramatically highlights the importance of gender characterization. Romes patriarchal society demands a leader who embodies the virile spirit of the state with leadership marked by strength, courage, and constancy. Caesar quite fittingly assumes this role as he returns valiant and prideful from the battlefields thus, in order to remove him the strong ruler of Rome, Caesars enemies must economize his masculinity. Roman society considers women as the embodiment of weaknesses, thinking that their physical, mental, and political lower rank make them of little use beyond reproductive purposes, explaining why aspirants to the jackpot feminize the identity of the masculine warrior figure to stake him as spec ulative for the crown. The portrayal of the two female characters of the novel, Portia and Calphurnia, captures the overlooking stereotypical perceptions of women. Caesars wife, Calphurnia, demonstrates womens predisposition towards apprehensionfulness and superstition when she pleads with Caesar to remain at home after dreaming that a statue made in the likeness was Cesar pouring forth blood. Calphurnia establishes the sentiment that fear is a feminine trait with her entreaty to Caesar asking him to use her apprehension as an alibi, saying, Do not go forth today. Call it my fear. (2.2.50). Caesar agrees to this position temporarily with a veiled acknowledgment of the reality- a rhetorical suspense relating to the fact that he is afeard to tell th... ... and Brutus. Cassius proclaims in his death drive thou the sword- Caesar, thou art revenged, /Eve with the sword that killed thee (5.3.45-46). This conclusion of last victory of the masculine spirit seems the only fitting o utcome for Shakespeare to channelise if his play is to be a true reflection of Roman culture. Women adhesive friction value only in terms of the services that the provide which wage hike the interests of the masculine community, and in this case, the conspirators needed grounds to render Caesar inadequate for his position and feminizing him provides a useful mechanism in doing so. The retransformation of Caesar solidifies itself in Octavious declaration to the realness that This was a man, (5.5.75) reinforcing the notion that the masculine spirit will prevail in Roman society. Works CitedShakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. New York Simon, 1975.