Shakespeare's Julius Caesar opens with simultaneous celebrations of Caesar's defeat of Pompey and Lupercal's annual fertility festival. The pairing of the two historically separate events, each celebrating distinct gender roles, dramatically highlights the importance of gender characterization. The patriarchal society of Rome requires a leader who embodies the virile spirit of the State with leadership characterized by strength, courage and constancy. Caesar quite appropriately assumes this role as he returns valiantly and victorious from the battlefields; therefore, to remove him from the strong ruler of Rome, Caesar's enemies must reduce his masculinity. Roman society views women as the embodiment of weaknesses, thinking that their physical, mental and political inferiority makes them of little use beyond reproductive purposes, explaining why throne aspirants feminize the identity of the male warrior figure to position him as unfit for the throne. crown. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The portrayal of the novel's two female characters, Portia and Calphurnia, captures the prevailing stereotypical perceptions of women. Caesar's wife, Calphurnia, demonstrates women's predisposition towards fear and superstition when she begs Caesar to stay at home after dreaming that a statue made in her likeness was Caesar shedding blood. Calphurnia establishes the sentiment that fear is a feminine trait with her plea to Caesar asking him to use her anxiety as an alibi, saying, "Don't go out today. Call it my fear." (2.2.50). Caesar temporarily agrees to this agreement with a veiled acknowledgment of reality – a rhetorical question relating to the fact that he is "afraid to tell the truth to the gray barbs" (2.2.67). Caesar then immediately shows his weak resolve when Decius easily convinces him to reverse his previous decision, and proceeds to greet the senators, demonstrating another dangerous characteristic associated with women, inconstancy. Portia similarly behaves in adhering to women's low expectation and demonstrates "how weak / the woman's heart is!" (2.4.40). She proves unreliable and reveals her involvement in the conspiracy to Lucius Brutus because she is overcome by fear. Caesar suffers a great insult because of his association with the weak will of women because in Roman society masculinity is the indicator of Roman dignity. Cassius undertakes a two-pronged strategy to make Caesar unfit for the position. By listing moments of weakness from Caesar's past that illustrate his feminine tendencies, Cassius systematically dismantles the manhood of a figure who is supposed to be the embodiment of Roman ideals of masculinity, but at the same time seeks to brand Caesar as an immovable and tyrannical leader to provide a solid moral rationale behind the conspiracy. Cassius's revelations highlight the question of how "[a] man of so weak character should / Then begin the majestic world" (1.2.129-130). Cassius saves him from drowning when Caesar shouts "'Help me, Cassius, or I will sink!'" (1.2.111). Similarly, Cassius reveals how Caesar cries for water "like a sick girl" (1.2.128). Continuing this attack, Cassius tells how Caesar, as a woman, "has become superstitious of late" (2.1.195). Ultimately, Caesar's vulnerability is fully realized through Cassius' projections because they provide the impetus for Brutus to join the cause. Providing further contrast to the denunciation of Caesar's strong and unyielding leadership are the physical imperfections that the conspirators exploitas indicators of female weakness. Caesar's physical imperfections include the possibility that he is deaf in one ear (1.2.213) because he has to turn his head to hear someone speak (1.2.17). To aggravate this defect, Cesare is also subject to epileptic attacks. Caesar adds credibility to the questioning of claims that his suitability for leadership falters at the very moment he is to receive the crown (1.2.247-254). Brutus's comment "It is as if he had falling sickness" foreshadows both literally and figuratively the progressive devolution of Caesar's masculinity which ultimately culminates in his bloody death. Caesar's death is forged with images of blood and tears that parallel a birth process in which the mother's life becomes a sacrifice for the child's survival. Perhaps in death Caesar is able to create a new Rome, putting an interesting twist on the competition for leadership of this new state between "his sons" Brutus and Antony. Antony's prediction that "'Internal fury and fierce civil strife/ Will encumber the whole part of Italy'" announces that Caesar's murder threatens the destruction of Rome's homeland (3.1.263-264). Since woman is the ruler of the domestic kingdom, the use of the word "domestic" inadvertently places Caesar in a feminine role. Caesar is symbolically the highest authority of a female entity, considering that Rome is classified as a female noun. Evoking further domestic imagery is Antony's comment that "mothers will but smile when they see/ Their children torn apart by the hands of war" (3.1.267-68). Perhaps by placing Caesar in an unconventional maternal role, Shakespeare allows him to conceive the children that his barren wife, Calphurnia, is never able to conceive, thus allowing for the full realization of the Lupercal, the event that symbolically opens the play. In Calphurnia's foreboding dream of Caesar's statue, "Which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts, / flowed pure blood, and many vigorous Romans / came smiling and bathed their hands in it" (2.2.76-79), Caesar becomes a mother which nurses as her own, suggesting that Caesar provides maternal lifeblood to his country in his death, reaffirming Decius' earlier interpretation of Calpurnia's dream that "from thee [Caesar] Rome will suck / Revive the blood" (2.2.87) . A variation on the notion of Caesar as a reproductive figure is the notable parallel between the bloody images used to discuss Caesar's body and women's menstrual cycles. The phrases "all the time there flowed blood" (3.2.191) and "business of bleeding" (3.1.168) that accompany this discussion create a distorted picture of the reproductive cycle. Assuming that Caesar achieves a changed form of reproduction, Shakespeare conveniently develops a bizarre and twisted characterization of sexuality. Caesar becomes further feminized when his figure is no longer that of an ideal valiant warrior who inspires men; rather the feminine vulnerability of her wounded arouses a feeling of pity. Brutus's comment "If I had as many eyes as your wounds / I would weep as fast as your blood flows" (3.1.200-01) recounts the transformation of a world recently clad in armories and weapons to affirm reduced tears. Caesar becomes like a woman completely raped by ruthless hunters who need a strong male figure to avenge the injustice done to her. Calphurnia's earlier use of the phrase "lusty Romans" adds a sexualized dimension to the regicide, allowing for the possibility of the hunters metaphorically raping Caesar. As the men ritualistically cover themselves in Caesar's blood, it is as if they celebrate the success of the hunt..