Christ and Caesar

Bill Long

We meet Julius Caesar in 1.2 though his name is first mentioned in the opening scene of the play. In that scene (1.1) there is a heated exchanged between workmen who wanted a holiday to rejoice in the triumph of Caesar (over Pompey's sons in Munda, Spain, in 45 B.C.) and the Tribunes of the People, who upbraid them for their fickleness because they previously had supported Pompey.

Caesar's Authority

Caesar appears in person in 1.2. In fewer than 25 lines at the beginning of this scene Shakespeare creates the aura of Caesar's unquestioned authority. If first impressions are given and gained within 30 seconds of meeting a person, the reader receives the impression of a confident, powerful, busy, authoritative and arrogant Caesar. What often is not noticed, however, is that in no less than three instances in these 25 lines Shakespeare either quotes from the Gospels or alludes to them in scenes where Jesus of Nazareth is demonstrating his authority. Though it is anachronistic, of course, for Caesar to be speaking in New Testament language, Shakespeare's use of these allusions helps create an atmosphere of deference and honor to the conquering hero.

New Testament Allusions

1. Caesar first directs Antony as he runs the ceremonial Lupercalia course to make sure he touches the barren Calphurnia. Such touching enables people to "shake off their sterile curse (1.2.8)." Immediately Antony responds, "When Caesar says, 'Do this,' it is perform'd (1.2.10)." Caesar speaks, and it happens. The words leave his lips, and the deed is done. The words "Do this" play a significant role in a discussion of authority between Jesus and a Roman centurion whose servant he heals. In that passage, Luke 7:1-10, the centurion comes to Jesus to beg on behalf of a beloved servant who is close to death. Jesus accompanies the centurion home but while they are still some distance from the home, the centurion balks. He realizes he isn't worthy to have Jesus come into his home. He is a man who knows the authority structure of armies and empires, and he knows that Jesus, the "commander in chief" of the world, should never stoop to enter his home. The centurion can say to others "Do this" and they do it (Lk. 7:8), but he isn't worthy of Jesus' visit. Jesus commends the man's faith: "Not even in Israel have I found such faith (Lk. 7:9)." Shakespeare's biblically literate audience would have heard the "Do this" in 1.2.10 and be brought into the world and authority of Jesus.

2. As Caesar is passing along the way, he hears a voice "shriller than all the music (1.2.16)." Caesar's response is to stop and say, "Who is it in the press that calls on me? (1.2.15)" The scene calls to mind Jesus' healing of the woman with the flow of blood (Mk. 5:25-34). As Jesus is passing along a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. When Jesus perceived that his garment had been touched, he asked "Who touched my garments (Mk. 5:30)?" The disciples chided him, "You see the crowd pressing around you.... (Mk. 5:31)." [I am quoting from the RSV, to be sure, a 1952 translation of the Greek text; but the word "prease" appears as a noun in Mk. 5:30 in the Geneva Bible, a Bible known to Shakespeare]. Shakespeare's use of the word "press" would suggest to the audience a reference to another dominating and dominical figure who also was surrounded by an admiring crowd.

3. The person that calls on Caesar with a voice "shriller than all the music" is not a person needing healing but rather the soothsayer. Brutus helpfully tells Caesar that the soothsayer told him to beware the Ides of March but Caesar wants to hear the words himself. So Caesar says, "Set him before me, let me see his face./ Fellow come from the throng, look upon Caesar (1.2.20-21)." Though the language is not identical, the words are reminiscent of the healing of the blind beggar Bartimaeus (Mk. 10:46-52). Bartimaeus repeatedly cried for Jesus to hear him. Jesus stopped when he heard the cries and said, "Call him (Mk. 10:49)." The man came to Jesus so that Jesus could talk to him directly and then heal him.

One usually thinks of the economy of Shakespeare's language when he compresses images and words to express a more full thought. Here, however, Shakespeare's repeated compressed allusions or quotations to the Gospels emphasizing the healing power and authority of Jesus serves to remind even the most casual listener that someone of near divine authority is present. Then, once that end is established, in fewer than 25 lines, Caesar disappears, to be replaced by Brutus and Cassius, who then plot to undo this man of great authority.