Is the play Julius Caesar a comedy?

Answer 1

Yes, it's one of his later plays, called Romances. It has an incredibly complex plot, a number of good song lyrics and a surprise appearance by the god Jupiter.

The plot, as easily as I can tell it in a short space, goes something like this: Cymbeline, king of Britain in Roman times, has taken a second wife. By his first marriage he had two sons (which were kidnapped and have disappeared) and a daughter Imogen; by his second, he has a stepson Cloten. The Queen wants Imogen to marry Cloten; instead she marries a man called Postumus. The king is incensed and banishes Postumus to Italy, where he takes a bet from a man called Iachimo that Iachimo cannot seduce Imogen. Iachimo goes to Britain and tries seduction and when that doesn't work, spies on Imogen when she's asleep and learns some things about her body that nobody but her husband should know.

Postumus sends a servant to tell Imogen that Postumus is waiting for her in Wales. The servant is supposed to kill her on the road, but doesn't, and she flees to the protection of some Welsh hillbillies disguised as a boy (a favourite angle in Shakespeare's plots). The hillbillies kill Cloten who is searching for Imogen disguised as Postumus and throw out his head. Imogen comes across the body and thinks it's Postumus with even less brain than usual.

Cymbeline, meanwhile, has been persuaded by the Queen and Cloten to antagonize the Romans who invade, with Iachimo and Postumus serving in the invading army. Imogen (still disguised) attaches herself to the Roman commander as a page. Postumus deserts and switches sides and he and the hillbillies win the battle for Britain. After the battle, in a long scene, everyone reveals their secrets and they all live happily ever after except the Queen who has died upon hearing that Cloten was beheaded.

That's the gist. I said it was complex.

Answer 2

Julius Caesar is a historical play with a plot and tragedy as the genre.The comic scenes are often seen in Elizabethan tragedy for comic relief.

It is not a tragedy in the strict Greek principles.

Other answers: NO it is a tragedy. This is obvious if you read the play as the title character dies at the end of the first act and the last scene was once described as "everybody dies" . I heard that remark from a child once when leaving the theatre after a performance of Julius Caesar.

Answer 3

1. Yes, it certainly was.