Guys, It’s "Julius"

For some reason, it greatly bothers me that the characters in Julius Caesar seem to use Caesar as the given name of Julius Caesar. It’s not his name, it’s his title! It’s like calling Jesus “Mr. Christ” when you should probably be calling him “Mr. Nazareth” (though, frankly, I’d call him “sir”).

It’s hard to believe Will would erroneously misname Julius’ character, being such a scholarly playwright. Perhaps, like today, the common folk referred to Julius as the Caesar, so Will decided to use terminology they were already familiar with (even today, talk about Caesar and everyone will assume you mean Julius). Then again, perhaps William is responsible for the confusion of today because his play became so embedded in the culture.

Is this a healthy thing to obsess about?

…As an afterthought: I think it is healthy to obsess yourself with the question of how deeply Will Shakespeare’s works permeate our modern American culture. Really. And how they secretly affect the words that come out of your mouth every day. The reason I can be quite confident in saying that the Will’s works can change your life (see the description in the header of Caliban’s Island) is because they already have. Find out how they have and you’ll become exponentially wiser and more socially powerful.