Oh "hai,"*

I finished Julius Caesar the other night. Standard spoiler warning, but (a) I doubt there are few who don't know the story and (b) you don't read the play for its suspenseful outcome anyway.

So I'm going to give a few random scattered "beginner's mind" impressions on this. Understand, I know about as much about Shakespeare as I know about changing the oil in my car (I know how to do it in theory and could do it if I have to, but I prefer to leave it to the experts). So if I sound like an idiot or if I'm restating the eye-rollingly obvious, please forgive me. But these are things that struck me:

- Although the play is about him ("you're so vain, you probably think this play is about you"?), we see very little of Caesar. And we don't hear from him at all until Act II. So most of what our impression of him is from Brutus, Cassius, and others. (And that impression is not so good).

- The reason Cassius gives for why Caesar must die: "He is too ambitious." This is an interesting thought, living in a time and a place where overweening ambition is often seen as a GOOD thing, and not-being-ambitious (or even being somewhat modest) brands you as a bit of a loser. Considering the times when the play was written: Elizabeth I was, from what I remember from school history, quite ambitious (at least as far as keeping the throne and not sharing power overmuch was concerned). And wasn't there some question about who would succeed her, seeing as she was the "virgin queen"?

- I kind of knew about the civil war that took place in the vacuum of power after Caesar's death (though hadn't he sort of appointed Antony to be his heir?). But I wasn't prepared for the level of carnage and people running their own selves through.

- That's something very different between ancient Greece/Rome and modern Western society, no? The idea of suiciding when facing defeat or dishonor in some way. (Although Brutus, maybe it was partly in response to Cassius' death).

- I presume Act IV, Scene iii, is the origin of the (sadly, little-used now) interjection, "Great Caesar's Ghost!"

- I still find Cassius' motivation interesting: yes, he is essentially a republican at heart, but it seems to me that his envy of Caesar - and his feeling that Caesar is weak and unworthy - also play a role.

- Brutus seems more honorable (and perhaps less bright/conniving) than Cassius

- I wonder if the Pennsylvania/Ohio pizza chain "Noble Roman's" took its name from the description Antony gave Caesar of Cassius ("...he's not dangerous/He's a noble Roman and well given"). Yeah, I feel kind of ill-read for not realizing that before.

- I have to admit I was surprised at how sad I felt at the conclusion of the play. So many people died. (Oh, I knew the basic historical outline. But it is somehow different when it is characters you have been "hearing" speak for many pages.)

I think I need to read one of the comedies next before either re-reading King Lear or tackling Henry III.

(*it amuses me to use a LOLism in a discussion of Shakespeare).