Criticism of the Image of Blood in Julius Caesar
Gail Kern Paster, author of "In the Spirit of Men there is no blood": Blood as Trope of Gender In Julius Caesar
v In Roman society, bleeding was seen as an act of self control.
v There are two ways to bleed: spilling the blood and leaking the blood.
· Spilling blood infers that there is control over the body. Men spilled blood because they were supposed to be self-controlled. They had closed bodies that did not leak blood.
· Leaking the blood infers that there is no self control over the body. Women leaked blood naturally, and were thus seen as the weaker sex. They had no ability to control their flow of blood as men did.
v In Julius Caesar, there was role reversal when it came to bleeding--a man became like a woman, and a woman became like a man.
· Julius Caesar became like a woman. When he was stabbed by the conspirators, his wounds were said to have 'leaked' blood and the blood would not stop flowing. He became a weaker figure, and his power as a man was transferred to the conspirators.
· Portia, Brutus' wife, became like a man. She, like her father Cato, who killed himself rather than submit to Caesar, spilled her blood when she killed herself. It was an act of self control and power, as a man would have.
v To see a more detailed discussion of gender issues from the feminist perspective in Julius Caesar, click here.
John Erskine Hankins, author of "Shakespeare's Derived Imagery"
v The blood flowing from Caesar's wounds were visualized as the stream of death which is referred to in the text as the river Lethe.
· "Here didst thou fall, and here they hunters stand,
Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe." III.i.205-206
· "This stream becomes the stream of forgetfulness, in which one's glories are quickly drowned and forgot by the world after one's death. Hence Caesar's blood is referred to as 'lethe'; its flowing causes his death, and in its stream both he and his glories are drowned." p 206
· Caesar's blood shows his mortality, even though his "name is a symbol of earthly greatness and grandeur, of glory, fame and successful ambition". p 207
Clifford J. Ronan, author of "Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, I.i.51"
v This essay focuses on the phrase "Pompey's blood" that occurs in I.i.51.
· "...That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?"
· People who read this line often think that Shakespeare is referring to Pompey the Great. (p. 11)
· It may be true, but the line is ambiguous. Why? In 45 B.C. Caesar killed Pompey's sons, Sextus and Gnaeus. (p. 11)
· Not only is Shakespeare saying he killed Pompey, but he also killed his offspring as well.
v Pompey's blood was spilled. According to Gail Kern Paster's essay, Pompey must have been a strong figure, yet his power was transferred to Caesar as if his blood was leaked like Caesar. When Caesar leaked his blood, the power went to his conspirators. Does this mean then that power can be transferred from strong figures also?
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