Shakespeare - a modern psychologist

The Face of Man

Before closing, it seems proper to approach for a moment two characters in the English playwright's world very much debated upon. Shakespeare placed between them hundreds of faces whose individuality accompanies us anywhere and anytime in our lives.

In a dialogue occurring between Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, the former makes a casual description of Cassius, trying to clarify his own feelings rather than addressing his lieutenant (see Julius Caesar - Act I, Scene II). Caesar wishes to have around him only fat men, men not eaten up by dreams or ambitions, men driven by the fruits of joy and well-being away from any manly questions, by gluttons and effeminate epicureans who are not tormented by the temptation of any possible better or righter, who doze off like angels in day-time and sleep like logs at night. Yet Cassius has "a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much". The leader of men suddenly generalizes: "such men are dangerous". Mark Antony avoids the worded truth (with its false claim at universality and its subjective bias that sees danger in a man of progress) and defends Cassius by imperceptibly pushing him away from the ranks of the intellectuals, who are considered to be a menace to Caesar's dictatorship. The latter clings to his simple remark that proves so rich in implications: "would he were fatter!" Although he claims not to fear Cassius, there is something that urges him to make up his mind why he feels that Cassius should be feared.

Cassius lives a leisurely life, hence he reads too much, possesses an exceptional sense of observation and, moreover, he even puts it to use, that is, he does not confine himself to reading history and philosophy, but also reads between the lines about the actions of the high-and-mighty. He dislikes shows and music, because he is obsessed with what happens around him; he is a fanatic of social realities. He seldom smiles. And, which is even stranger, whenever he does it is as if he were laughing at himself. If the man is capable of mocking himself, what on earth could prevent him from laughing at the others? One laughs at faults. Whoever sees his own faults (which is so difficult and so unusual) sees the others' so much better and feels the ones of his superiors as being so much more serious. So, when one learns about being led by questionable people, how can one still enjoy the moment? The heart then knows no more rest. By drawing such a portrait, Caesar attempts to explain Mark Antony "what is to be fear'd", not what frightens him - so he claims - and adds: "for always I am Caesar", hiding his growing dread behind the shield of a passing fame.

Here is the portrait of the all-ages revolutionary: a man worried by all sorts of questions, aware of reality, and determined to find a way of changing that reality, who looks for it day and night in the past, in the present, in the dialectics of life itself.



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