The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 23.0282  Thursday, 5 July 2012

From:        John Briggs < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >

Date:         July 1, 2012 7:53:39 PM EDT

Subject:     Julius Caesar / Himself

I have just come across Garry Wills’ recent book “Rome and Rhetoric: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar” [Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities] (Yale, 2011). It was reviewed in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, of all places - quite possibly by mistake.

Anyway, Wills believes that whoever played Julius Caesar also played Cicero. What do people think? (I would be particularly interested in Steve Sohmer’s opinion.)

Wills thinks Burbage played Cicero/Caesar - which is nonsense, of course, as Burbage played Brutus (it is unlikely that Burbage ever doubled roles.) It is very probable that Shakespeare himself played Caesar - but did he also double as Cicero?

John Briggs