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.