Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Cäsar und Kleopatra
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love witty talk, history told with a grin, and stories about how leaders learn and teach. It is also a welcoming choice for anyone curious about Shaw.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Caesar and Cleopatra is a play by Bernard Shaw, written in 1898 and printed in 1901 in a volume called Three Plays for Puritans. It shows Julius Caesar in Egypt, close to the age of fifty, meeting a girl of sixteen who will become queen. Shaw wanted to take Caesar down from the marble pedestal that history and Shakespeare had given him and show a living man, tired, funny, clever and oddly kind.
The play follows a few months in Alexandria, where Caesar arrives in the middle of a quarrel over the Egyptian crown. A frightened, spoiled girl and a calm Roman soldier-statesman begin a lesson that runs both ways. You get sharp comedy, a hard look at how power really works, and a Caesar who prefers mercy because it is useful as well as decent. Shaw also pokes fun at national habits, especially British ones. Let us begin with the strange meeting that opens the story, in the desert at night.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A god opens the show, then a desertFree
- 2Caesar meets a girl who fears him
- 3Rome comes to a court full of schemers
- 4Pompey's death and the lesson of mercy
- 5Cleopatra learns what a queen must be
- 6What the play says about power and how it is told
Punkt 1 von 6
A god opens the show, then a desert
The play begins with a prologue spoken by Ra, the Egyptian sun god. He talks to the audience in a teasing way, reminding them that Rome and Egypt are very old and that people in the story will behave much as people do now. It sets the tone at once. Shaw wants us to treat the ancient world as a place full of real, ordinary, quarrelsome humans.
Then the scene moves to the Syrian desert, near the great Sphinx, on a night in Egypt. Rome has a strong hold on the region, and Pompey, Caesar's rival, has been beaten and has fled. Caesar has followed him to Egypt. Egypt itself is split, because the young boy king Ptolemy and his young half sister Cleopatra are rivals for power, and each has advisers pulling the strings.
Caesar walks out alone under the stars and speaks to the Sphinx as if it were an old friend. He talks about being lonely and about having seen too much of human folly. The speech shows us a man who thinks as well as commands. It also shows that Shaw's Caesar is lonely at the top, and that he can laugh at himself.
This is a bold way to start a play about a conqueror. There is no trumpet and no army. There is one man, a statue and a great deal of quiet. The audience learns who Caesar is before it sees him do anything, and the most important thing about him is how his mind works.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Julius Caesar
- A calm, witty Roman general, he becomes Cleopatra's teacher while navigating the rivalries of the Egyptian court.
- Cleopatra
- Egypt's frightened sixteen-year-old queen, she rivals her brother Ptolemy and learns about leadership from Caesar.
- Rufio
- Caesar's blunt, loyal officer, he watches over his general and values practical soldiering over courtly manners.
- Britannus
- Caesar's solemn British secretary, he treats his homeland's customs as universal rules and serves his master devotedly.
- Ptolemy
- Cleopatra's brother and rival for Egypt's throne, he is a boy king guided by his advisers.
- Pothinus
- The Egyptian treasurer and Ptolemy's chief adviser, he schemes to preserve his influence at court.
- Ftatateeta
- Cleopatra's fierce nurse, she encourages her mistress's pride and associates royal authority with the power to punish.
- Apollodorus
- A Sicilian art lover and Cleopatra's devoted friend, he brings theatrical flair to helping the young queen.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 37,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 30 min
- Listening time4 h 5 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about Cäsar und Kleopatra
What is Caesar and Cleopatra about?
It follows Julius Caesar in Alexandria, where he gets caught up in a quarrel over the Egyptian throne. He meets the young Cleopatra and helps her grow from a frightened girl into a queen, in a comic play about power.
Is Caesar and Cleopatra a true story?
It is built on real history. Caesar did go to Egypt and meet Cleopatra, but Shaw changes and invents much for comedy and argument. He wrote it in 1898 and printed it in 1901, so it is a fiction on a historical frame.
Who is Britannus in Caesar and Cleopatra?
Britannus is Caesar's secretary, a serious Briton who follows rules and thinks British customs are the way the world should be. Shaw uses him as a comic figure to tease narrow national pride.
Is Caesar and Cleopatra hard to read?
No. It is a play, mostly lively talk, and the language is clear. The story is simple to follow and often funny.
What is the main message of Caesar and Cleopatra?
Shaw argues that true leadership needs calm, clear sight and mercy, not cruelty or show. The play also mocks national pride and shows great figures as ordinary, flawed and often funny people.