While politics and power might seem like the most obvious themes that are expressed in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, there are several others that are worthy of note –

particularly to the CSEC students who will be answering questions on the play as part of their Literature exam which is due in a few short weeks. Duality, masks, and pretense are some of the other connected themes that are important to the plot and conflicts that Shakespeare presents to us.

Perhaps the figure who wears one of the most pronounced masks of all in the play is Cassius – who, in a manner similar to another Shakespearean villain, Iago from Othello, possesses some Machiavellian characteristics and yet, is also different from Iago because, to an extent, the audience knows what is in his heart and mind and we can understand his motives for wanting to be rid of Caesar. Cassius wears the figurative mask when he convinces Brutus to be a part of the plan, not only influencing Brutus in such a way that he loses sight of his friendship with Caesar, but also going to great lengths, such as distributing false letters to Brutus which also contribute to swaying his opinion and convinces him to join the other conspirators. The very fact that Cassius emerges as one of the leaders of the faction who plan to kill Caesar, and the way in which he functions as one of the main parts of this machinery that seeks to murder Caesar, highlights his duplicity, his deviousness and his liar’s mask.

Several critics have written about Brutus’ own duality throughout the play and, without a doubt, this is one of the most fascinating aspects of Shakespeare’s writing to come out of Julius Caesar. Brutus’ reluctance to let anyone, including the other conspirators, his servants and his wife, Portia, know about his inner feelings and the psychological turmoil that he battles within himself when faced with the prospect of murdering Caesar as well as dealing with the repercussions that come after, is wonderful to behold. Note the way Brutus speaks when he is alone: “Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar / I have not slept. /

Between the act of the dreadful thing / And the first motion, all the interim is / Like a phantasma or a hideous dream.” When these moments of Brutus’ uncertainty about the moral dilemma presented to him by Cassius are revealed in his private moments are compared with Brutus speaking in public, the mask Brutus wears becomes more evident. Not long after that particular snippet of monologue, Brutus interacts with the conspirators and immediately shifts and reveals the side of his personality he can bear to them, and uses his eloquent speech to mobilize the conspirators to further commit the deed he was so unsure about just a few lines earlier: “But if these [conspirators] / (As I am sure they do) bear fire enough / To kindle cowards and to steel with valour / The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen, / What need we any spur but our own cause / To prick us to redress?”

Even the Plebians (the common people) are used by Shakespeare to exhibit this whole complex idea of duality, masks and pretense. Note how Brutus uses the side of his personality that is geared towards the commoners in order to win them over. By the time Brutus has finished speaking to people, explaining why he killed Caesar, they are all fully won over by him, despite appearing loyal to Caesar in the opening of the play when they are reprimanded by Murellus and Flavius for celebrating Caesar’s return to the city. Not only do the fickle Plebians shift loyalty from Caesar to Brutus, but they also reject Brutus and later turn to Anthony, who riles them up to seek vengeance against the conspirators.

This constant changing of loyalty by the Plebians is a comment that mirrors not only loyalty within political factions, but also the kinds of loyalty that can be bought and loyalty that can be shifted based on who is seeking such loyalty, and the side of themselves that they present in order to gain loyalty.
Clearly, the many sides of the self and the way these can be used to achieve one’s goals is an important aspect of Julius Caesar, and Shakespeare ensures that this idea is manifested not only in the presentation of his major characters, but he also includes the common folk, knowing full well the role they have to play in politics and the shifting of power.