Julius Caesar (29 page)

Preparation of “
Julius Caesar
in Performance” was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Thanks as always to our indefatigable and eagle-eyed copy editor Tracey Day and to Ray Addicott for overseeing the production process with rigor and calmness.

Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.

Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company’s official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.

For more information see
www.shakespeare.org.uk
.

Maya Angelou
•
A. S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Harold Evans
•
Charles Frazier
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Jessica Hagedorn
•
Richard Howard
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Azar Nafisi
•
Joyce Carol Oates
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Salman Rushdie
•
Oliver Sacks
•
Carolyn See
•
Gore Vidal

1.1
Location: a public place in Rome

¹
Hence!
Get away!

³
mechanical
working men, artisans

³
walk
be out and about

⁴
sign
i.e. clothing, tools

⁷
rule
measuring stick (plays on the sense of “decorum, discipline”)

¹⁰
in respect of
compared with

¹⁰
fine workman
skilled craftsman

¹⁰
but
merely

¹¹
cobbler
shoe mender/one who mends clumsily

¹²
directly
plainly/immediately

¹⁴
soles
puns on “souls”

¹⁵
naughty
wicked

¹⁶
be not out
do not be angry/do not have holes in your shoes

¹⁷
mend you
repair your shoes/improve your temper

²⁰
cobble
fix; plays on the sense of “have sex with”

²¹
awl
shoe-mending tool used to prick leather/penis

²¹
meddle
get involved/have sex

²²
tradesman’s matters
professional issues/sex/prostitution

²²
women’s matters
the concerns of women/sex or perhaps “vaginas”

²³
withal
nevertheless (puns on
with all/awl
)

²³
shoes
plays on sense of “vaginas”

²⁴
recover
patch/restore to health (may play on sense of “cover with my body during sex”)

²⁴
proper
fine/handsome

²⁴
trod upon
plays on sense of “had sex with”

²⁵
leather
could also be slang for “vagina”

²⁵
neat’s leather
cowhide, i.e. shoes;

²⁵
gone upon
walked on/had sex with

²⁵
handiwork
possible connotations of masturbation

²⁶
wherefore
why

³⁰
triumph
victory/ceremonious procession in which the victors rode in chariots with their captives chained

³²
tributaries
prisoners of war (for whom a ransom would be demanded)

³³
grace
adorn

³⁶
Pompey
great Roman general defeated by Caesar at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC; he fled to Egypt where he was murdered

⁴⁰
livelong
entire

⁴⁴
That
so that

⁴⁴
Tiber
Rome’s river

⁴⁵
replication
reverberation, echo

⁴⁶
concave
hollowed out/curved

⁴⁸
cull out
choose for yourself

⁵⁰
blood
lifeblood/relatives (specifically, his sons, who were also defeated by Caesar)

⁵³
intermit
stop

⁵⁸
till … all
i.e. until the water level rises from its very lowest to reach the highest banks

⁶⁰
basest mettle
lowly dispositions/base metal (an image from alchemy, the pseudoscience that sought to turn base metals into gold)

⁶⁰
moved
stirred, persuaded/changed (into gold)

⁶²
Capitol
Capitoline Hill, site of the temple of supreme Roman god Jupiter; used in the play as the location of the senate house

⁶³
images
statues of Caesar

⁶⁴
ceremonies
ornamental trappings of state/worshipful tokens

⁶⁶
feast of Lupercal
Roman festival held on February 15 in honor of Lupercus, the god of shepherds; festivities centered around the Lupercal, a cave in which a wolf was believed to have suckled Rome’s founders, Romulus and Remus

⁶⁸
trophies
tokens of victory

⁶⁸
about
walk about (the city)

⁶⁹
vulgar
common people

⁷⁰
thick
numerous, thronging

⁷²
pitch
height (achieved by bird of prey before swooping)

⁷³
else
otherwise

1.2
for
ready for

1.2
course
wearing nothing but goat skins, youths celebrating the festival of Lupercal ran around Palatine Hill, striking women with strips of goat hide to promote fertility

1.2
Soothsayer
prophet

²
ho
a call for attention

⁵
Stand … course
in order that Calpurnia should be touched by Antony, as an aid to fertility

¹⁸
press
crowd

²¹
Ides of March
March 15

Sennet
trumpet call signaling a procession

²⁹
order
arrangement/proceedings

³²
gamesome
fond of sport/lively/merry

³³
quick
lively

³⁶
now of late
lately

³⁸
wont
accustomed

³⁹
bear … Over
are too unyielding and unfamiliar toward

⁴²
if … myself
i.e. if I have seemed distant, it is because I have directed all my anxieties inward

⁴⁴
Merely
entirely

⁴⁵
passions … difference
conflicting emotions/powerful feelings that have come between myself and my friends

⁴⁶
Conceptions
thoughts

⁴⁶
only proper
belonging only/only appropriate

⁴⁷
soil
stain/explanation

⁵⁰
construe
interpret, understand

⁵²
shows
outward manifestations

⁵⁴
By means whereof
as a result of which

⁵⁴
buried
kept to itself/suppressed/put to rest

⁵⁵
cogitations
thoughts, ideas

⁵⁸
But
except

⁵⁹
just
true

⁶¹
turn
return/reflect

⁶³
shadow
reflection

⁶⁴
of … respect
most highly regarded men

⁶⁶
yoke
apparatus worn on the neck, used to restrict the movement of a captive or conquered enemy

⁶⁷
had his eyes
i.e. saw things for himself/saw things as the speaker did

⁷¹
Therefore
hence/as for that

⁷³
glass
mirror

⁷⁴
modestly
without exaggeration

⁷⁴
discover
reveal

⁷⁵
That … of
i.e. your potential

⁷⁶
jealous on
mistrustful of

⁷⁶
gentle
noble/kind

⁷⁷
common laughter
subject of public ridicule

⁷⁷
did use
were I accustomed

⁷⁸
stale
make stale/depreciate/make into a laughingstock

⁷⁸
ordinary
common, banal

⁷⁹
protester
declarer of friendship

⁸¹
scandal
scorn/slander

⁸²
profess myself
declare friendship

⁸³
rout
rabble/assembled company

Flourish
trumpet fanfare accompanying a person in authority

⁹¹
aught
anything

⁹²
Set … i’th’other
i.e. present me with both

⁹³
indifferently
impartially

⁹⁴
speed
prosper

⁹⁷
favour
appearance/face

¹⁰¹
as lief
as soon, rather

¹⁰¹
be
exist

¹⁰²
such … myself
i.e. a fellow man

¹⁰⁷
chafing with
fretting at/raging against

¹⁰⁹
flood
river

¹¹¹
Accoutrèd
dressed

¹¹²
bade
invited/told

¹¹³
buffet it
beat it back

¹¹⁴
lusty sinews
vigorous muscles, strong arms

¹¹⁵
stemming
cutting through

¹¹⁵
hearts of controversy
competitive hearts, contentious spirits

¹¹⁶
ere
before

¹¹⁸
Aeneas
legendary founder of Rome; Virgil’s
Aeneid
relates how he carried his old father,
Anchises
, on his back as they escaped from the burning city of
Troy

¹²³
bend his body
i.e. bow

¹²⁶
mark
note, observe

¹²⁸
from … fly
i.e. became pale (colour plays on the sense of “military flag,” the lips being cowardly deserters)

¹²⁹
bend
gaze