The Death of Caesar: A Play in Three Acts

By Voltaire

Voltaire's The Death of Caesar (Mort de César, 1735) is often erroneously described as a reworking of the first three acts of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Instead, Voltaire rewrote the text in its entirety, using a different approach that focuses on the act of tyrannicide, with the complication that Caesar has revealed to Brutus that the latter is actually his son. Brutus is an ardent republican whom Caesar wants to convert to his side. Ultimately, the son places the needs of the country over any paternal connection, and participates in the tyrant's assassination on the Ides of March. Great political drama, and a rediscovered classic of French literature!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Release date: Feb 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781434449290

Voltaire

Voltaire was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778)a French philosopher and an author who was as prolific as he was influential. In books, pamphlets and plays, he startled, scandalized and inspired his age with savagely sharp satire that unsparingly attacked the most prominent institutions of his day, including royalty and the Roman Catholic Church. His fiery support of freedom of speech and religion, of the separation of church and state, and his intolerance for abuse of power can be seen as ahead of his time, but earned him repeated imprisonments and exile before they won him fame and adulation.

Book preview