Recent Comments

1. 17 minutes ago on Pooch Cafe

   Poncho watches scary movies for inspiration.

2. 43 minutes ago on Barney & Clyde

   Ω

3. about 2 hours ago on Richard's Poor Almanac

   Dadsplaining.

4. about 2 hours ago on Pooch Cafe

   Yeah, it would have been nice, wouldn’t it?

5. about 3 hours ago on Monty

   (more)

   As far as the political message goes, it’s mostly just “Whatever you think of the head of state, assassination is a bad idea.”

   When “Julius Caesar” was first produced in 1600, Elizabeth I was 67 years old; she was going to be dead soon, with no clear successor. Power vacuums are dangerous. Not only had she been a target for assassination her whole reign (the Pope himself had said that any Catholic who killed Elizabeth wasn’t committing a sin), there was also a history in England (as elsewhere) of successful military leaders riding the popularity of a string of victories to a push to take the crown (as Caesar did). Essex’s Rebellion against Elizabeth wasn’t until 1601, and so could not have been the direct inspiration for Shakespeare’s portrayal of Caesar, but it could be that Essex took the wrong inspiration from the play. (The Essex plot famously included getting Shakespeare’s company (the Lord Chamberlain’s Men) to do a commissioned performance of “Richard II,” which features the overthrow and imprisonment of a sitting king. The entire company narrowly avoided swinging from a rope for agreeing.)

6. about 3 hours ago on Pooch Cafe

   Territory and resources are the motivational forces of most wars, and “God is on our side” is just one tool in the box.

7. about 4 hours ago on Monty

   It’s rather more complicated than that. The title of the play notwithstanding, It’s about Brutus, not about Caesar. Brutus did what he knew was a terrible act for what he (alone among the conspirators) believed to be a very good reason. Brutus killed (helped kill) Caesar not for what Ceasar had done in the past, but for what he feared Caesar would do in the future. Ceasar’s dying words were “Et tu, Brutus? Then die, Caesar.” In other words, “Even Brutus wants me dead? In that case…” (there are different ways to complete that thought).

   Was Caesar power-hungry, or simply “ambitious”? Is ambition criminal? Caesar would not take advice and counsel from others; when he decided to do something, he was as constant as the North Star. Is that admirable self-assuredness, or is it dangerous bullheadedness? It depends on what he decides to do, but it’s a big risk to take on someone with sole power.

   Reread the speeches by both Brutus and Antony following the killing; both sides of the argument are laid out in full. Perhaps you, like Rome, end up swayed by Antony (it sounds like you’re already most of the way there). But even after Brutus was dead, Antony said he was “the noblest Roman of all.”

8. about 5 hours ago on Barney & Clyde

   Winning the election didn’t make Disaster Pumpkin any less of a cruel idiot.

   More cruelty and more idiocy are on the way, and this IS one of the ways to deal with it. It mustn’t be further normalized.

9. about 5 hours ago on Baldo

   You could challenge her to a game of Calvinball, but I think she’d beat you at that too.

10. about 14 hours ago on Monty

    On a more serious note, if Caesar doesn’t die when he dies you’d have to rewrite everything that follows (not to mention history).