Modern Significance of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was read this year because it contains so many forums for us young and naive students to learn from. Being that Julius Caesar is a play, it allows for many aspects of the characteristics of a quality English student to be studied. The play can be read, watched, listened to, and spoken. This allows for countless viewpoints of analyzing the play. This is good because contemporary students need a variety of ways to learn. Also, the students in the 1990's will be able to connect with the play because the play has had a great influence on modern literature. This literature which has been put into films and the like are what kids watch. Consciencely or not the students will be able to recognize the similar attributes.

Julius Caesar also carried similar themes seen in today's literature. One was how honor can be turned around so that it hurts people. This was seen in the case of Brutus, whose honor is used by Cassius in order to manipulate him. I've seen this in military films such as "A Few Good Men" where honor prevents people from doing what is right. Another theme seen often is how pepole twist things to make them seem feasible. This is seen when Brutus tries to compensate his assasination of Julius Caesar with an odd ritualization. This included bathing in Caesar's blood. Also important in Julius Caesar is the tragic hero theme. Shakespeare gave all of his characters very distinctive qualities some with fatal flaws. This allowed the audience to know what was going on before the characters. This created suspense for the audience. Shakespeare was able to combine both suspense and a beautifully written play which made for a very entertaining play/read.

It is with these themes that the modern signifigance of Julius Caesar can be seen. It also truly shows how much Shakespeare influenced our modern literature with Julius Caesar as well as his many other plays.