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A balance between tyrannyCruel and aggressive use of power, often used to describe countries under the grip of a single oppressive leader. and stability is hard to strike in ancient Rome. From the beginning of the play, characters express their anxieties about Caesar amassing more power than should be possible in a republicA state in which the leaders are chosen by the people, and which has a president rather than a monarch. , and about the erosion of republican institutions which should temper him. They are aware that a certain concentration of power is necessary for stability, but also that too much concentration of power leads to tyranny. They refer to the Tarquin kings of Rome who ruled as tyrants before a people's uprising leading to the establishment of the Roman Republic, and fear deeply that Caesar could take Rome back to a monarchical system of absolute power. Since the banishment of these oppressive kings, Rome had been governed by Consuls - usually two at a time - who were brought to power by democratic means. Some critics assert that we should sympathise with Brutus' decision to betray his dear friend out of loyalty to the Republic, and to ward off tyranny.

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Julius Caesar is categorised sometimes as one of Shakespeare's "double tragedies", in the manner of Romeo and Juliet or Antony and Cleopatra. It fulfils almost all of the prerequisitesThe things or circumstances that are needed for something to happen. for Shakespearean tragedy: a hero cursed by his tragic flaw, a power struggle, the deaths of both the protagonist and his opponents, supernatural elements, external and internal conflict, and catharsisOriginally used by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to explain the power of art to dispel strong negative emotions. The term is used in psychotherapy to describe how patients can overcome difficulties by expressing and facing their fears.. But the tragedy can be read from two angles: as a tragedy of Caesar, the titular character, who becomes carried away by power and must be sacrificed, or the tragedy of Brutus, an equally towering figure who is persuaded into assassinating his close friend and thereby toppling his beloved republic. Despite the play's title, many see it as predominantly the latter: Caesar appears in only a few scenes and Shakespeare's focus clearly lies elsewhere.

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The play takes as its focus the Roman Republic at the end of its lifecycle, casting a keen eye over the factors which caused its demise. Shakespearean audiences would have been aware of the Roman Republic, which existed between 509BC and 27BC, and of the role that Caesar's assassination in 44BC played in catalysing its fall. Shakespeare's depictions of anxieties about the death of Republican institutions and fears that power was being taken out of the hands of the people are universal, and would have spoken to an Elizabethan audience just as much as they might speak to us today. Particularly relevant is the heightened atmosphere of political censorship taking place as Shakespeare chose to scribe Julius Caesar. Critics have long attempted to come up with a final answer to what Shakespeare was alluding to by choosing to write this play at this time, but many think that he could have been warning against the dangers of civil war, as the strong and elderly then-monarch Elizabeth I refused to name a successor, something which many thought would lead to conflict.

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The line "et tu, Brute?", which features in Act 3, Scene 1 at the moment of Caesar's assassination, has become an infamous byword for painful betrayal. But there is not just one betrayal in this play: though Caesar is betrayed both by Cassius and by Brutus, Brutus is also betrayed by being forced into action by Cassius' forged letters. Where Cassius' betrayal is pure deception for the sake of deception, Brutus sees himself as making a choice between his friend's life and the greater good: "As Caesar loved me, I weep for him;/as he was fortune, I rejoice at it; as he was/valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I/slew him."

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In Shakespeare's Rome, power is given to those with the greatest rhetorical skills. We might mock the plebeianA commoner. crowd who are stirred to take on wildly different opinions with every change of rhetorical direction. They are one minute celebrating Caesar, then commending Brutus for his death, then rioting against him after being roused by Antony. But nobody is free from the supreme authority of language. Cassius persuades Brutus, who is presented as broadly a good man, to collaborate in taking Caesar's life; both Caesar and Brutus allow pompousSelf-important and overly serious. , self-aggrandising speeches to shape their visions of themselves as indestructible. Rather than speeches being designed to reflect reality, rather they are written to shape and direct it.

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