The Latin Root Anxies In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

In the beginning of Act 1 Scene 2, Caesar arrives to the public square with Antony, Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and the Soothsayer, who was among the crowd of people that was also following Caesar. It was day of Lupercal, which was the day to honor the fertility god. Caesar asks Antony to touch his wife, Calpurnia, so that she could become fertile. As Antony agrees, the Soothsayer calls out to Caesar and Caesar yells for the Soothsayer to come in front of him so that he could see his face. When the Soothsayer says, “Beware the ides of March” (5.20) he warns him that his life's in danger and that he should be cautious of his surroundings. Though Caesar brushes off the warning thinking that the Soothsayer is crazy

Back in Shakespeare times, they spoke differently than people do today like speaking Latin. Nowadays, not many people speak that language anymore. In this quote, the Soothsayer says the date, which is “ides of March.”. The latin root “ides” means to divide which means that the ides of every month in the Roman calendar falls in the middle. Therefore explains why the quote says “Ides of March” instead of March 15th, which is what most people say at this moment in time. However, today we still use the same literary devices as Shakespeare does. For instance, in the quote, Shakespeare uses foreshadowing and dramatic irony. The Soothsayer utters these words to warn Caesar, which foreshadows Caesar’s death later on in the play. The foreshadowing in this line then leads to the literary device dramatic irony because the audience knows that something dreadful is going to happen to Caesar later on in the play, but Caesar himself does not know. In addition, Fate vs Free Will is the theme of this quote because this is a clear warning for Caesar, yet due to his arrogance and ambition, it prevents him from taking this warning thoughtfully. It was his choice whether or not he should listen to the