DOI: https://doi.org/10.36344/ccijhss.2026.v12i09.003

Pages: 229-238

Background: William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar transforms the fall of a Roman ruler and the ensuing struggle for power into a tragedy of political judgement. Its principal source tradition is Plutarch’s Lives in Thomas North’s English translation. Understanding this relationship requires attention both to Shakespeare’s changes and to the dramatic possibilities already present in ancient biography. Objective: This article examines how narrative selection, temporal arrangement, characterisation, rhetoric, and theatrical symbolism reorganise inherited accounts into stage action. Methods: The study presents a qualitative comparative reading of selected episodes in Julius Caesar and the Plutarchan lives of Caesar, Brutus, and Antony. Act and scene references identify the dramatic evidence; chapter references identify corresponding ancient narratives. Modern editions and scholarship provide contextual support. The analysis distinguishes source retention, amplification, redistribution, and transformation, without claiming an exhaustive quantitative survey. Results: Shakespeare intensifies causal connections by juxtaposing the assassination, funeral persuasion, popular violence, and subsequent political repression. This creates dramatic acceleration without establishing that the entire story occupies exactly six consecutive days. Brutus’s deliberation and the contrast between public reputation and private vulnerability complicate political motivation. The funeral speeches turn reported persuasion into an unfolding contest over authority, while Portia, Calpurnia, and Cinna expose the exclusions and human costs of elite politics. Warnings, dreams, and apparitions are substantially inherited from Plutarch but receive new emphasis through their placement, interpretation, and embodiment. Conclusion: Shakespeare’s craftsmanship consists in reorganising an already interpretive historical tradition for theatrical representation. The play preserves uncertainty about motives and out