The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

When no privileged form of violence can be recognized, Gerard says, violence spreads unchecked and reduces everyone to the same condition. Antagonists become indistinguishable and turn into what Gerard calls doubles. In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, conspirators are urged by their leader Brutus to think of what they intend as a sacrifice. But this attempt to invest Caesar's execution with a moral beauty that lifts it clear of any taint of mere violence will fail when Mark Anthony contests Brutus' interpretation.