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The Ides of March
The assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, has certainly gone down as one of the most ghastly, gruesome and shocking murders in history. His murder has been replayed in numerous dramas and literary works. In fact, it influenced the minds of playwrights so much that the great Shakespeare wrote a drama on it.
Shakespeare read about the murder of Caesar in Plutarch’s “Lives of the Greeks and Romans”. It was later written in Latin and translated to English by Sir Thomas North.
Of all the works on Caesar’s ghastly murder, the most popular is undoubtedly the one by Shakespeare. His drama deals with the assassination of Caesar and its aftermath. Critics argue that the play should have been named “The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus” instead of “Julius Caesar”. This is because most of the play deals with Brutus, one of the conspirators and Caesar’s friend, who suffers from conflicting emotions.
The conspirators, especially Brutus, thought that if Caesar was not murdered he would become an autocrat and by thus assuming all power, would “keep all others in servile fearfulness”, in Shakespeare’s words. But gradually after the murder of Caesar, Brutus realizes that the murder of his dear friend was needless.

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