William Shakespeare edited by Marvin Spevack - Julius Caesar

THE NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE

GENERAL EDITOR

Brian Gibbons

ASSOCIATE GENERAL EDITOR

A. R. Braunmuller, University of California, Los Angeles

From the publication of the first volumes in 1984 the General Editor of the New Cambridge Shakespeare was Philip Brockbank and the Associate General Editors were Brian Gibbons and Robin Hood. From 1990 to 1994 the General Editor was Brian Gibbons and the Associate General Editors were A. R. Braunmuller and Robin Hood.

JULIUS CAESAR

Professor Spevacks critical discussion shows how private desires and public affairs are inextricable in Julius Caesar and how Shakespeare frames the world of this play person, action, place, time within the operations of larger forces, mysterious, ironical and undeniable. The result is the full impact of tragedy. The commentary is remarkable for its attention to questions of staging and to precise lexical glossing. For this updated edition, Marga Munkelt has added a new section and new pictures to the Introduction, surveying stage and critical interpretations since the 1980s of Shakespeares most famous Roman play. The reading list has also been brought up to date.

THE NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE

Alls Well That Ends Well, edited by Russell Fraser

Antony and Cleopatra, edited by David Bevington

As You Like It, edited by Michael Hattaway

The Comedy of Errors, edited by T. S. Dorsch

Coriolanus, edited by Lee Bliss

Cymbeline, edited by Martin Butler

Hamlet, edited by Philip Edwards

Julius Caesar, edited by Marvin Spevack

King Edward III, edited by Giorgio Melchiori

The First Part of King Henry IV, edited by Herbert Weil and Judith Weil

The Second Part of King Henry IV, edited by Giorgio Melchiori

King Henry V, edited by Andrew Gurr

The First Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael Hattaway

The Second Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael Hattaway

The Third Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael Hattaway

King Henry VIII, edited by John Margeson

King John, edited by L. A. Beaurline

The Tragedy of King Lear, edited by Jay L. Halio

King Richard II, edited by Andrew Gurr

King Richard III, edited by Janis Lull

Loves Labours Lost, edited by William C. Carroll

Macbeth, edited by A. R. Braunmuller

Measure for Measure, edited by Brian Gibbons

The Merchant of Venice, edited by M. M. Mahood

The Merry Wives of Windsor, edited by David Crane

A Midsummer Nights Dream, edited by R. A. Foakes

Much Ado About Nothing, edited by F. H. Mares

Othello, edited by Norman Sanders

Pericles, edited by Doreen DelVecchio and Antony Hammond

The Poems, edited by John Roe

Romeo and Juliet, edited by G. Blakemore Evans

The Sonnets, edited by G. Blakemore Evans

The Taming of the Shrew, edited by Ann Thompson

The Tempest, edited by David Lindley

Timon of Athens, edited by Karl Klein

Titus Andronicus, edited by Alan Hughes

Troilus and Cressida, edited by Anthony B. Dawson

Twelfth Night, edited by Elizabeth Story Donno

The Two Gentlemen of Verona, edited by Kurt Schlueter

The Two Noble Kinsmen, edited by Robert Kean Turner and Patricia Tatspaugh

The Winters Tale, edited by Susan Snyder and Deborah T. Curren-Aquino

THE EARLY QUARTOS

The First Quarto of Hamlet, edited by Kathleen O. Irace

The First Quarto of King Henry V, edited by Andrew Gurr

The First Quarto of King Lear, edited by Jay L. Halio

The First Quarto of King Richard III, edited by Peter Davison

The First Quarto of Othello, edited by Scott McMillin

The First Quarto of Romeo and Juliet, edited by Lukas Erne

The Taming of a Shrew: The 1594 Quarto, edited by Stephen Roy Miller

JULIUS CAESAR

Updated edition

Edited by

MARVIN SPEVACK

Professor of English, University of Mnster

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press

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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521827911

Cambridge University Press 1988, 2003

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1988

Reprinted 1989, 1996, 1999, 2000 (twice), 2001 (twice), 2002 (twice)

Updated edition 2004

14th printing 2012

Printed and Bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CRO 4YY

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
Shakespeare, William.
Julius Caesar. (The New Cambridge Shakespeare).
I. Title. II. Spevack, Marvin
822.33 PR2808

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Shakespeare, William. 15641616.
Julius Caesar / edited by Marvin Spevack
p. cm. (The New Cambridge Shakespeare)
Bibliography
ISBN 978-0-521-82791-4 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-521-53513-1 (paperback)
1. Caesar, Julius Drama. I. Spevack, Marvin. II. Title.
III. Series: Shakespeare, William, 15641616. Works.
1984. Cambridge University Press.
PR2808.A2S64 1988
822.33 dc19 8727238 CIP

ISBN 0 978-0-521-82791-1 Hardback

ISBN 0 978-0-521-53513-7 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

For DIANNE AND BILLY

ILLUSTRATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am privileged to acknowledge the help I have received from students and colleagues, friends and strangers, who contributed their expertise and goodwill to this enterprise. I take pleasure in the fact that my debt is great and to many on both sides of the Atlantic.

In seminars in Mnster and New Mexico (where I spent the academic year 19856) I was able to profit from the remarks of the prospective users of a work of this kind: the reactions of students to the necessity and nature of the Commentary. In Mnster, my thanks to Sabine Ulrike Bckmann-de Villegas, Peter Hellfeuer, Michael Hiltscher, Thomas Pago, Ulrich Paul, Elisabeth Pirke, Clemens Sorgenfrey, Elke Stracke, Krishnan Venkatesh, Martin Wolny, and Angela Zatsch. In Albuquerque, to Mohamed Ali, Mary Lou Fisk, David Kreuter, Catherine Mecklenburg, Linda Oldham, and Jon Tuttle.

For help in the preparation of the manuscript in Albuquerque, I am indebted to Marta Field and K. T. Martin, for administrative encouragement to Hamlin C. Hill, and for computer support to Harry C. Broussard; in Mnster, to Lydia Remke for typing and Carsten Ehmke and Bernhard Friederici for computing. Marga Munkelt, as always, provided ready solutions to many and varied scholarly problems. Special credit is due to Elisabeth Pirke, who worked on all aspects in Mnster and Albuquerque, and to Sabine Ulrike Bckmann-de Villegas, who saw to all the final details as well as writing the section of the Introduction dealing with the stage history.