In broad strokes, Shakespeare follows the flow of events of recorded history.

In tragic style, the ensuing battle doesn’t work out well for Brutus, Cassius, or those who are with them. Caesar’s right-hand man, Marcus Antony, and Caesar’s heir, Octavius, purse the conspirators who’d been forced to leave the city by an angry citizenry after Mark Antony gave a clever speech at Caesar’s funeral. The play’s second half involves a battle between pro-Caesar forces and the forces of the conspirators. Early in the play, Caesar returns to Rome and is warned by a soothsayer to “Beware the ides of March” (March 15th.) Near the play’s mid-point, the ides arrive, and the soothsayer is proven correct. Brutus’s participation both lends moral authority to the act and will help get others to take part. However, even in the opening acts much of the story revolves around Brutus, because Cassius knows Brutus must be on-board because he’s both popular and respected. Unlike Brutus, Cassius mostly wants Caesar dead because of jealousy over the dictator’s power and popularity. In the first half of the play, the conspirators are assembled and the conspiracy planned - with Cassius leading the charge. The lead is Brutus, the one member of the cabal of executioners that kill Julius Caesar who does so because he truly believes that Caesar has too much power and that the Roman leader’s ambition will result in yet more power flowing to him at the expense of Romans.

As with Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline,” the titular character isn’t the play’s main character – but is the most “bankable” name.

William shakespeare book julius caesar