Octavius' Final Lines

Octavius' Final Lines

  • Submitted By: Gimmi
  • Date Submitted: 10/29/2009 5:15 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 837
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 707

The passage from the last scene of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar concludes to leave Octavius as the new somewhat character. The last six lines in the passage which are the lines of the play are spoken by the character Octavius. By making Octavius say the final lines Shakespeare ensures that the last news presented to the audience are those presented by the character of Octavius. This means that nothing else in the play can be presented afterwards to negate the ideas attributed to the character of Octavius thus making the character dominant in the minds of the audience as they leave. This transition of power to Octavius is hinted at earlier in the play making it a fitting conclusion. When Octavius is first introduced Shakespeare, through the words spoken by other characters, introduces him as ‘young’ Octavius. Later however, this adjective is replaced by the title ‘Caesar’ showing the audience that he is beginning to fill the role of the murdered Julius Caesar. Octavius also finishes the play with Brutus’ body in his ‘tent his boned to-night shall lie.’ This also shows the character of transition of power and links to the change of power Shakespeare showed from the conspirators to Mark Antony, who had control of Caesar’s body during the funeral speeches. By linking the two bodies Shakespeare almost creates a parallel scene at the end of the play, so reaffixing the conclusion with earlier scenes in the play.
Brutus is referred to as the ‘noblest Roman of them all’ in this passage and is also said by Octavius to be ‘honourably’. ‘Honour’ and ‘noble’ are two words that Shakespeare frequently associates with Brutus throughout the play, at first sparingly but later, in Antony’s speech to the crowd more and more frequently. This repetition makes the words seem to the audience to be sarcastic and meaningless and the words are debased in the play during a time of murder, war and corruption. In this final scene however, Shakespeare shown the audience that Brutus’ enemies...

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