The general feelings and behavioural traits of gender inequality, honour and loyalty of humankind are flawed by William Shakespeare’s in his play Julius Caesar (1599). Shakespeare explores issues relating to human nature and power through characterisation. This is illustrated through insignificance of women such as Portia and Calpurnia, and the honour and loyalty of Brutus which is manipulated by Cassius to betray Caesar. Also, the dramatic techniques of metaphor, analogy, rhetoric, dramatic irony, soliloquies and imagery are implemented to engage the audience. Therefore, Shakespeare explores the themes of power and human nature through the misconceptions of women and honour and loyalty.
Shakespeare demonstrates the gender inequality which is exercised in women in the play through characterisation. Portia and her relationship to Brutus’ convey the deep inequality of women. When Portia knew her husband was unwell, she begged him to confide in her: “Dwell I but in the suburbs, Of your good pleasure?”. Here, she is challenging Brutus’ love for her, and questioning how much she means to him. The image of “suburbs” woks as a geographical metaphor locating Portia on the fringes of Brutus’ attention, implying she is not central to his life. However, Brutus gives very short answers such “I am not well in health,” leading Portia to say: “Portia is but Brutus’ harlot, not his wife.” This reference to prostitution implies that Portia is just a sex object to her husband. With the negative assumption about the place of prostitutes in society, this analogy implies that Brutus has no respect for her. Furthermore, she emphasises her point by saying “I have a man’s mind, but a woman’s might, and, how weak a thing, the heart of woman is? Portia’s argument that women are as intelligent as men are very much in keeping with Elizabethan assumptions about women, that emotional intensity can weaken women and undermine them in a conflict. Brutus responds with calling her “noble wife” but he does not answer her arguments on women’s exclusion from the public, telling her he’ll tell her later. The fact that he does not tell her then shows how strong Brutus’ masculine perspective that politics is men’s business. Therefore, this conversation between Portia and Brutus highlights the inequality of women in Elizabethan society and how this human nature is flawed at the time.
Shakespeare supports Portia’s arguments by setting up a parallel relationship between husband and wife, Caesar and Calpurnia. In this conflict, it is the man, Caesar, who shows weakness and he ignores his wife to his cost. To begin, Calpurnia begs Caesar for him not to go to the senate pointing out that: “When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves are further the death of princes”. She is clever enough to use flattering imagery to Caesar, comparing him to a prince, pointing out that the gods see him as so important that they send dramatic natural events to signal his death. However, Caesar is not convinced arguing “Cowards die many times before their deaths.” Then, Calpurnia rightly sees why Caesar is changing his mind: “Your wisdom is consumed in confidence!” Calpurnia is intelligent and bases her fears on more than her horrific dream, pointing to the awful prodigies and omens in the streets and the warnings of the priests that Caesar should stay home. After, this Caesar even berates Calpurnia, saying: How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! I am ashamed that I did yield to them” It is evident to the audience of the dramatic irony in these words. They know Caesar is about to be killed and it is he who is foolish, not Calpurnia. The dramatic irony in this scene is that it is the man who is weak and emotional, and it is the wife who is strong, intelligent and showing sound judgement. When Decius finds out about this, he immediately starts off with saying “this dream is all amiss interpreted” in addition to arguing that if Caesar hid, shall the people “not whisper, ‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’?” Here, Decius is challenging Caesar’s confidence about his decisions, manipulating his thoughts by saying that the people would think of him as weak if he would not come. So eventually, Caesar went to the senate and got assassinated. Behind these perspectives, Shakespeare outlines the false assumptions that women should not be listened to, that women are foolish and unintelligent and that another man’s opinion is more important than that of a loving wife. Shakespeare laces this scene with irony in this scene between husband and wife to highlight that it is the man, Caesar, who emerges as weak and easily manipulated by others and not “as constant as the northern star.” Shakespeare has ironically reversed gender stereotypes to challenge them.
Loyalty is another paramount trait of human nature, which Shakespeare exploits through power in the play. This is evident through the manipulation of Brutus and his loyalty to Caesar by Cassius. Early on in the play, Shakespeare presents Brutus as an “honourable man” to the audience through his conversation with Cassius. Cassius asks Brutus whether he would choose “Caesar for their king”, and Brutus responds, “I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.” Even though Brutus loves Caesar, he cares more about Rome, not believing in a dictatorship- where there is one leader. Brutus agonizes over whether or not to kill Caesar because he feels loyal to his country as well as toward Caesar. Eventually, he tells himself to think of Caesar “as a serpent’s egg which, hatch’d would, as his kind, grow mischievous.” Brutus knows that Caesar hasn’t done anything dangerous, but if he was given more power, then he would become a threat to freedom. After Brutus exits the scene, Cassius reflects “Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, thy honourable metal may be wrought”. In this excerpt of his soliloquy, Cassius talks about how although Brutus is noble, his views can be altered. Therefore, Cassius’s ability to manipulate Brutus to do something he initially didn’t want to do reinforces the presence of betrayal in the play. Another example of Brutus’ betrayal occurs later on the play, in the scene where all the men stab Caesar. After seeing Brutus, his response is, ‘Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar’ which means ‘You too Brutus! Then I will die.’ This quote suggests that the betrayal by Brutus is just as responsible for his death as the wounds inflicted by the swords. After the assassination of Caesar, Brutus addresses the people of Rome by explaining “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” Once again, Shakespeare emphasises Brutus’ honour towards Rome and his honesty in saying so. Near the conclusion of the play after Brutus’s death, Antony and Octavius speak of Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all”. Even though Brutus was technically their enemy, the fact that they still respect him highlights his honourable intentions and qualities. Furthermore, through the different scenes in the play, Shakespeare highlights honour and loyalty through the character of Brutus and his connections to Caesar and Rome. However, he is manipulated by Cassius to eventually betray Caesar, which reinforces the flaw of human nature through the existence of power in the play.
Accumulatively, in Julius Caesar (1599), Shakespeare explores the universal issues of mistreatment of women and loyalty and honour through characters and their relationships. Gender inequality is reinforced by Shakespeare through Portia and her relationship to Brutus and the consequence of Caesar not listening to the advice of his wife, Calpurnia. Loyalty is demonstrated by Brutus early on in the play but is exploited by Cassius with his manipulative ways to assassinate Caesar. Therefore, Shakespeare explores issues relating to power through characterisation in the play which demonstrate the unjust nature of humans involving prejudice towards women and manipulation of loyal and honourable people.