Portrayal of The Protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's 'Caesar and Cleopatra'.

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ABSTRACT

Julius Caesar adalah seorang jenderal Romawi yang terkenal dengan kemampuannya menyatukan Gaul dibawah kekuasaan Romawi, dan ambisinya untuk menjadi diktator atas Roma. Banyak pengarang yang mengangkat karakter Julius Caesar dalam karya mereka, salah satunya adalah George Bernard Shaw yang menggambarkan karakter Caesar berbeda dari pengarang-pengarang lainnya.

Dalam tugas akhir ini penulis menganalisis karya G. B. Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra, dimana dalam karya tersebut Caesar digambarkan melalui sudut pandang yang berbeda dari apa yang tertulis dalam buku-buku sejarah. Dalam drama tersebut, pengarang mencoba membuat pembaca melihat Julius Caesar bukan sebagai Julius Caesar yang haus kekuasaan dan gemar berperang tetapi Julius Caesar yang bermoral, penuh perhatian, dan memiliki selera humor dalam kesehariannya , sifat-sifat yang tidak pembaca dapati dalam buku-buku maupun artikel mengenai Julius Caesar. Pengarang mempertahankan kesamaan yang ada pada tokoh sejarah maupun pada tokoh rekaannya dan juga perbedaan-perbedaan di antara mereka.

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APPENDICES

Synopsis of Caesar and Cleopatra

The play starts with a prologue by Ra, an Egyptian god, who addresses his speech to the audience. In the prologue, Ra explains about Rome and its condition, and he also tells about Julius Caesar and how he wants to change the old Rome. The first act starts with Caesar’s first meeting with Cleopatra, a young queen who wants to be the sole ruler of Egypt but who is very incompetent and full of fear of the Romans. After that, Caesar meets other Egyptian characters including Ptolemy, the king, and Pothinus, his guardian; he states his purpose of coming to Egypt, which is to collect taxes, and the Egyptians get angry and suddenly Caesar is besieged and has to go to Pharos for further strategy. In Pharos, Caesar waits for backup army while protecting the rest of the soldiers in the island. Cleopatra visits him there, which ends with them swimming back to Alexandria.

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23 Maranatha Christian University Biography of George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 26 July 1856 to George Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth Shaw. He was known as a playwright, a critic, and a political activist. He was also an amateur photographer. He was awarded Nobel Prize of Literature in 1925, an Oscar in 1938, and Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for his Pygmalion. He was best known for his plays, which concerned about education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege. He felt angry with the exploitation of working class and wrote much about that. Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend and they lived in Ayot St. Lawrence, a place which was later called “Shaw’s Corner”. His education was irregular, due to his dislike of

organized learning. He quit school and began to work as a clerk in a public office (1876), and then he went to London and continued his study by reading and exploring in British Museum and public libraries. He started to write since then. He produced 63 plays, some of which are Mrs. Warren’s Profession (1898), Pygmalion (1914), Man and Superman (1903), and Caesar and Cleopatra (1901). His plays were first performed in 1890s. His novels, Cashel Byron's Profession (1886), An Unsocial Socialist (1887), Love among the Artists (1900), The Irrational Knot (1905), and Immaturity (1931) were not as successful as his plays. His later plays would never be as good as his earlier ones, but some of them are also noticeable, like St. Joan (1924). He sometimes wrote a very long preface for his plays, which contained his own thoughts about the issue appeared in the play. He died on 2 November 1950.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Julius Caesar (100BC – 44BC) was a Roman military leader and a great politician at his time, and was well known for his slogan “Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)” (McManus). He really was successful in his political career, partly for his being ambitious and the rest because of the fact that “throughout his life he has known as an eloquent speaker”

(McManus); he was able to captivate people with his words and he made a good use of it to put himself on the top position. Born “into the prestigious Julian clan” (“Julius Caesar (100BC -44BC)”), he set his ambition to reach the top of Roman political system, and progressed himself

through it (“Julius Caesar (100BC-44BC)”). He was a victorious general and had conquered a lot of countries to be put into Roman Empire “...conquer[ed] most of what is now central

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2 Maranatha Christian University Throughout his campaign, Caesar practiced—and widely publicized—his policy of clemency (he would put no one to death and confiscate no property)” (McManus) although some

critics said that Caesar practiced his clemency only to win people’s heart, as said in the introduction of the play: “the real Caesar could be savage, for all his vaunted ‘clemency’ (Shaw

xxxii).” His great power and ambition made some traitors decided to kill him before he became more powerful. His death had led Roman Empire into civil war and ended up in the traitors’ loss. Being a military leader, he was said to have no humour. According to Mommsen, a 19th-century German historian, “Caesar had a normal Roman’s unpoetic temperament”, and “Mommsen’s

description of him mentions no trace of humour,” said Shaw (xxxii).

Since Julius Caesar was a very great figure in history, many authors wrote about him. Some tried to capture the Julius Caesar known by most people, some tried to picture the different sides of him; G. B. Shaw was one of the authors who tried to portray the different sides of Julius Caesar. George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) dedicated himself to art, including literature, and wrote 63 plays in total. “He would not write a line purely for idle entertainment,…” (Rockman 8). He used his literary works to express his own thoughts, and he used them smartly. He had received critiques but he stuck to the style and continued making more great plays against the era of melodrama. In the late 19th century, people were used to plays staged merely for entertainment; Shaw, who was a drama critic at that time, felt quite disappointed with that condition and decided to follow the path of fellow dramatists like Ibsen and Chekhov to break a new ground, by “challenging their audiences with serious ideas bravely faced. . . .” (Shaw xxiii)

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3 Maranatha Christian University Caesar’s characteristics in this play. Although the play does not thoroughly fit the historical facts,

it still has several corresponding details in the story. In this play, I can see how Shaw creates an interesting story by using a different style than most playwrights at his time to portray people; giving his Julius Caesar in this play some poetic and humorous traits which contradict the common image of the Roman General and carrying the storyline not typically like in most too-dramatic plays in the era.

In this thesis, I would like to discuss the portrayal of the protagonist, Julius Caesar. Portrayal is “the act of showing or describing somebody/something in a picture, play, book, etc.;

a particular way in which this is done” (“Portrayal”). I am going to identify his characteristics and figure out the purpose of the author in creating the protagonist with certain portrayal.

Statement of the Problem

After reading the play, there are some things I would like to discuss: 1. How is the protagonist portrayed in the play?

2. What is the purpose of the author by creating such a character?

Purpose of the Study

The purposes of writing this thesis are:

1. To see how the protagonist is portrayed in the play.

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4 Maranatha Christian University Method of Research

The method I use is library research. I start by reading the play, Caesar and Cleopatra. Then I analyse the novel by using formalism. I take some references and resources from the Internet and books to support the analysis and assist me to write the thesis. Finally, I draw a conclusion from my analysis.

Organization of the Thesis

I divide the thesis into three chapters. In the first chapter, I present the Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study, the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. The second chapter is the Portrayal of the Protagonist in George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra. The third chapter

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

Having analysed the portrayal of Julius Caesar in G. B. Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra in the previous chapter, I find out that the historical figure, Julius Caesar, and G. B. Shaw’s Julius Caesar share one similarity and some differences. The similarity of their portrayals lies on the fact that they are both portrayed as a brave general. The Julius Caesar in historical sources is portrayed as a war general with his undeniable capability to capture many lands under the Roman Empire by defeating opponents in battlefields; Shaw’s Caesar, on the other hand, is placed at

a calmer setting of place and time but still Shaw is able to pull out a courageous characteristic through his reactions toward events happening in the story.

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17 Maranatha Christian University hearts with his eloquence and leadership, not only Shaw’s Caesar is portrayed as a capable general but also as a person who cares about the Roman soldiers he brings with him. He even cares about Cleopatra, who is practically a stranger to him; his caring actions can be seen throughout the play.

Julius Caesar’s savageness is not the issue that Shaw highlights in

portraying his Caesar. In real life, the man seems to be heartless as he slays many people during his attempt to acquire areas for the Roman Empire, but in Caesar and Cleopatra, Shaw’s Caesar is a man who holds virtues in his life. His Caesar condemns wrongdoings and later realizes that he has no rights to punish the wrongdoers because he is just as bad as them.

Shaw’s Caesar also shows sense of humour, unlike the historical figure,

Julius Caesar, who is devoid of such emotion. Shaw’s Caesar jokes and teases,

replies to a mock wittily, and consoles a mourning heart by his playful characteristic; the portrayal we cannot find in Julius Caesar in history.

Considering the similarity and the differences found between Julius Caesar’s and G. B. Shaw’s Caesar’s characteristics, I conclude that Shaw’s

purpose of creating such a character is to let the readers see Julius Caesar, the historical figure they know, in a different view.

Shaw maintains Caesar’s inevitable characteristic, which is his being

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18 Maranatha Christian University from the history, although by writing the play in such a way he states his disagreement with the current trend at that time, melodrama.

The similarity the historical figure and Shaw’s Caesar share has led to the differences and then to the purpose of the author in creating Caesar’s character with such portrayal. Shaw wants to show Julius Caesar from different perspective in Caesar and Cleopatra by giving his Caesar a caring portrayal rather than following the history books.

Shaw also gives his Caesar virtuous characteristic, providing the readers a figure that is straight, not judgemental, and holds to life virtues rather than a man with camouflaged ambition under his practice of clemency. The next difference is about Shaw’s Caesar’s humorous side which Shaw thinks very important in his

character making since it makes his Caesar different from the original historical figure or other writers’ portrayals of Julius Caesar.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text

Shaw, George Bernard. Caesar and Cleopatra. 1989. Caesar and Cleopatra. Ed. Frances Frazer. Hong Kong: Wing King Tong Co. Ltd., 1985. Print. 11 – 121.

References

“Caring.” Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th Ed. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

“Courage.” Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th Ed. Oxford:

“Courageous.” Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th Ed.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

“George Bernard Shaw.” McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. United

States of America: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1972. 142-174. Print.

“George Bernard Shaw-Biography.” Nobelprize.org. 2010. n.p. n.d. Web. 24 Mar.

2010.

“Humorous.” Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th Ed.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

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Mc Manus, Barbara F. “Julius Caesar: Historical Background.” Vroma. 2009.

Web. 17 May 2010.

“Portrayal.” Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th Ed. Oxford:

Rockman, Robert. The Plays of G. B. Shaw. New York: Monarch Press, 1964. Print. 6 – 13, 22 – 32.

Toynbee, Arnold Joseph. “Julius Caesar.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2012

“Virtuous.” Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th Ed. Oxford: