The first instance a poet or man of the arts is shown in the play is in the few short moments leading up to the murder of Julius Caesar. It is the entirety of act two scene three that the audience is introduced to Artemidorus of Cidnos, a teacher of rhetoric. It is revealed that Artemidorus, with knowledge of the conspirators and the assassination plan, writes a letter of warning to Caesar and waits outside the capitol to give him the information. But upon multiple attempts of relaying the information under the guise of a “schedule” and communicating that the letter is regarding Caesar personally, Artemidorus is ignored and turned away by Caesar who even questions, “what, is the fellow mad?” (3.1.10). Caught up in his affairs of state, Caesar
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Shakespeare further explores the hypocrisy and irony of this hierarchical disregard for the arts and men of letters by exploiting the metatheatrical make up of the play itself. Throughout the tragedy, it is clear that politicians such as Julius Caesar, Brutus, and Antony know that they are actors on the public stage and thus craft their actions and words accordingly. This is seen when Antony thrice offered Caesar a crown where Casca recounts, “if the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theater, I am no true man” (1.2.269). Under this perspective, when Caesar appears before the public, he presents himself as an actor while the people respond to him like an enthusiastic audience. Similarly, when Antony is allowed to speak at Caesar’s funeral, he also plays the crowd perfectly so that his carefully crafted speech helps incite a civil war. At other times, characters directly acknowledge and seem to be aware that their actions will be dramatized for countless years to come, including the instance after Caesar is killed where Cassius predicts, “how many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown”
Shakespeare further explores the hypocrisy and irony of this hierarchical disregard for the arts and men of letters by exploiting the metatheatrical make up of the play itself. Throughout the tragedy, it is clear that politicians such as Julius Caesar, Brutus, and Antony know that they are actors on the public stage and thus craft their actions and words accordingly. This is seen when Antony thrice offered Caesar a crown where Casca recounts, “if the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theater, I am no true man” (1.2.269). Under this perspective, when Caesar appears before the public, he presents himself as an actor while the people respond to him like an enthusiastic audience. Similarly, when Antony is allowed to speak at Caesar’s funeral, he also plays the crowd perfectly so that his carefully crafted speech helps incite a civil war. At other times, characters directly acknowledge and seem to be aware that their actions will be dramatized for countless years to come, including the instance after Caesar is killed where Cassius predicts, “how many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown”