Norman Sanders Livres

In this striking tragedy of political conflict, Shakespeare turns to the ancient Roman world and to the famous assassination of Julius Caesar by his republican opponents. The play is one of tumultuous rivalry, of prophetic warnings--"Beware the ides of March"--and of moving public oratory "Friends, Romans, countrymen!" Ironies abound and most of all for Brutus, whose fate it is to learn that his idealistic motives for joining the conspiracy against a would-be dictator are not enough to sustain the movement once Caesar is dead.

While Julius Caesar and Coriolanus are concentrated on the city of Rome, the epic love affair of Antony and Cleopatra extends across the Empire. Each of these plays is profoundly concerned with political action, with the relation between the political and the personal. Shakespeare, like Plutarch, closely scrutinizes his heroes and compels us to question what sort of men they are.In this collection each play is accompanied by notes and an introduction, making this edition of particular value to students and theater-goers.