Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Brutus’

Beware!

Today’s the Ides of March, so Shakespeare pops into consciousness, as he so often does, even unconsciously. The soothsayer – and boy would it be nice to have a good one now – speaks the line first – “Beware the Ides of March” – as Julius Caesar passes by in the procession but Caesar doesn’t quite catch it so Brutus repeats it. Very cool that it’s Brutus, considering what’s to come, and so many actors playing Brutus have had a field day with that. But we’re dealing with Shakespeare here, where every day’s a field day. Was he a dog lover? Afraid not. There are lots of dog references – including “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war” also from Julius Caesar, but there is only one named canine character in all of the plays – Crab in Two Gentlemen of Verona (below) – and the references are neutral at best, and never loving. Well, no one’s perfect, not even Mr. S.