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REVIEW
- Charney, Maurice. "The Imagery of Julius Caesar."
- Shakespeare's Roman Plays: The Function of Imagery in
Drama. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1961. 41-78.
Thesis: In the second paragraph of his chapter on Julius
Caesar, Charney neatly sums up his main thesis:
The chief image themes in Julius Caesar are the storm and its
portents, blood, and fire. All of these have two opposed meanings,
depending upon one's point of view. With reference to the
conspirators, the storm and its portents indicate the evil of
Caesar's tyranny in the body politic of Rome, while blood and fire
are the means of purging and purifying this evil. But with reference
to Caesar and his party, the storm and its portents indicate the evil
of conspiracy that is shaking the body politic of Rome, while blood
and fire are the signs of assassination and civil strife this evil
brings in its wake. From either point of view, however, the action
of the play moves from disorder (Caesar's tyranny or the conspiracy)
to an uneasy restoration of order at the end (murder of Caesar or
destruction of the conspiracy). These issues are never clearly
resolved in the play. Although the defeat and death of the
conspirators seem to be a comment on the futility of their
enterprise, the rise of Antony and Octavius is by no means an
affirmation of justice, truth, and human values. (43)
Charney provides a very readable account of the occurances of these
three"image themes," both in the words and the staging of the play.
In addition, Charney has a section on the image of Caesar—that
is, on "the crucial contrast between the great public figure and the
infirm private man" (66). Charney makes the familiar point that the
public figure is more powerful than the private man; it is the public
figure which determines what the private man will do, and it is the
spirit which Brutus cannot kill.
Bottom Line: Solid analysis.
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