Plutarch used sources that were contemporaneous with the events. For Caesar, Brutus and Antony and Cleopatra, Plutarch was working with sources which were partisan because this is a period of civil war. Shakespeare's relying on Plutarch. Who's Plutarch relying on? It varies a bit. And I think for the plays we're interested in, we have to draw a clear distinction between Coriolanus on the one hand, and Julius Caesar and Antony or Cleopatra on the other.
In the second of two programmes marking In Our Time's 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's versions of history, continuing with the Roman plays. Rome was the setting for Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus and parts of Antony and Cleopatra and these plays gave Shakespeare the chance to explore ideas too controversial for English histories. How was Shakespeare reimagining Roman history, and what impact has that had on how we see Rome today?
The image above is of Marlon Brando playing Mark Antony in a scene from the film version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, 1953
With
Sir Jonathan Bate
Provost of Worcester College, University of Oxford
Catherine Steel
Professor of Classics and Dean of Research in the College of Arts at the University of Glasgow
And
Patrick Gray
Associate Professor of English Studies at Durham University
Producer: Simon Tillotson