11. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare I read Julius Caesar for the first time years ago, but my professor provided background information that was new to me and brought new perspectives to the text. Shakespeare's source-text for his Roman plays, Plutarch's Lives , includes the rumor that Julius Caesar had an affair with Marcus Brutus' mother and Brutus may have been his illegitimate son. What I also found interesting is that the famous line "Et tu Brute?" is not what Caesar is reported to have said, rather some accounts (not Plutarch's), say he spoke to Brutus in Greek; "You too, my son?" Shakespeare's decision to put the quote in another language indicates that he was aware of this rumor, but decided not to focus on the "son" part, changing it to Brutus. Previously, my interests in the play have been in Portia's role and the classic speech of Antony, but this time I looked at the characters psychologically, as I feel we're ...
Life, Books, and SFF