Power, corruption and betrayal are at the heart of Shakespeare’s most well-known historical and political drama. As Julius Caesar moves closer to securing power for himself and is perceived by some as a threat to Roman citizens, his senators plot to bring about his downfall. Caesar’s assassination leads to civil war rather than peace and the play explores the subsequent deaths of the conspirators Brutus and Cassius. Shakespeare’s contemporaries would have spotted the playwright’s attempts to use the shift from republican to imperial Rome to highlight the political situation of the Elizabethans at the time. Featuring some of the most powerfully resonant and rousing speeches of any of Shakespeare’s plays, Julius Caesar remains one of his most well-loved historical tragedies.


權力、腐敗和背叛都是莎士比亞最著名的歷史政治劇之核心。凱撒大帝鞏固權力的行動日趨明顯，因此有些人認為他會對羅馬人民造成威脅，於是當時的元老院議員策劃暗殺凱撒。然而凱撒的死，不但未能帶來和平，反而還導致內戰。本劇對於謀反的布魯圖斯與卡西烏斯相繼死亡之情節亦有著墨。與莎士比亞同時代的人應可看出這位劇作家意圖藉由羅馬共和轉而為羅馬帝國此一歷史來凸顯當時伊莉莎白時代的政局。《凱撒大帝》此劇有著莎士比亞所有戲劇裡最強而有力、引人共鳴又振奮人心的詞句，至今依舊是莎士比亞最廣受喜愛的歷史悲劇之一。