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REVIEW
- Berry, Ralph. "Communal Identity and the Rituals of
- Julius
Caesar." Shakespeare and the Awareness of Audience. New York: St.
Martin's, 1985. 75-87.
Thesis: In the last paragraph of his chapter on Julius
Caesar, Berry sums up his main thesis:
I propose, then, that the roots of the tragic action in Julius
Caesar lie in communal identity; and that the actors, in
asserting their individuality, do so by responding to impulses that
emanate from the collective mind. . . . What the
Romans imitate is their ancestry; what they aspire to be is the
reflection of the dead. Always their names stand to them as gauge of
conduct, a living tribunal over which their ancestors preside. Hence
the play becomes, in a very Roman way, a sacrifice to one's
ancestors. It is perhaps the most pessimistic, the most unillusioned
of all Shakespearean tragedies, this vision of a society that knows
no other way of defining its present, no other exit from its past.
(87)
In support of his thesis, Berry discusses the repetition of the word
"Roman" as a term of praise, the "intense sense of ancestry the
Romans display" (77), the characters' habit of referring to
themselves in the third person, the importance of the "statue as a
metaphor for identity" (78), and the way in which the characters
struggle to keep their public roles intact, constantly putting aside
their personal misgivings, fears, and griefs.
Evaluation: This is a very scholarly piece, which is not
entirely a good thing. Berry quotes other critics extensively, and
says over again—in slightly different terms—what other
critics have said about the conflict between the public and the
private within the play.
Bottom Line: ok
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