Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: An Ecocritical Investigation

By Sumana Biswas and Madhumalati Adhikari.

Published by The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

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The intended enterprise concentrates upon an ecocritical assessment of Julius Caesar (1601). The interconnection between Nature and man’s destiny has been vividly depicted in this play. The analysis has been carried out keeping in mind the common problems related to Nature/environment, race, colour, class and gender. The philosophical and physical affiliation of Nature in human life is also envisioned. The placement, features and identity of the characters along with their multidimensional functions are intertwined in every manner with their stagnancy or dynamism in their own environment. The ecocritical study of Julius Caesar heads towards inferring that an entity and its functions should conform to the principles of ecology in order to maintain a balanced eco-human relationship or else, chaos and disorder would reign and ruin all. The endeavour has equally focused upon horrors and menace of materialistic civilization instrumental in polluting, corrupting and disrupting the eco-environment, thus, aggravating ecological imbalance. Further, the anti-natural conservatism and prejudices prevailing and ruling in the man-made society against the biological world’s equity and impartiality has been highlighted too. The study simultaneously projects the aftermath of ecocidal and eco-friendly practices based upon the evidences supported by multiple incidents are projected in the play. Nature, in order to preserve the order and harmony, grants her fellow creatures opportunities and freedom to function and err, assesses them with the touchstone of bionomical principles, gives them chance to rectify through a set of warnings and finally do the editing by either severely punishing those who deliberately and callously decline to be ecological or reforming them into Nature-amicable entities with the aid of her own forces. The survey exhibits that there is more encounter than coordination between man and Nature. In an ideal situation, man must learn to adapt like Nature. Cultural values of human beings should be eco-supportive. Mere materialism and consumerism would lead man to an inauspicious disjunction from Nature, which will result into man’s destruction. Nature’s depletion would result in her aridity and this is bound to be disastrous for man. Man can be regenerated and rejuvenated only through Nature. Thus, Nature establishes herself as the ultimate and inevitable vanquisher and the resurrectionist.

Keywords:	Ecocritical Investigation, Julius Caesar, Eco-Human Relationship

International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Volume 3, Issue 6, pp.15-22. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 559.794KB).

Sumana Biswas

Research Scholar, Department of English, Rani Durgavati University, Kanpur, Jabalpur (MP), India

Sumana Biswas is born on 04.07.1975. She has done her M.A. in English Literature from Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur, India. Her subject of specialization during her Masters has been British Literature and Shakespeare. She has completed her M.Phil degree in English Literature from the same University. Her topic of M.Phil dissertation is “Images of women in shakespeare’s twelfth night and measure for measure: A feminist appraisal”. At present she is pursuing Ph.D in the same University and the topic is “Ecocritical Evaluation of Shakespeare’s Comedies and Tragedies”. At present she has one publication titled, “Myriad Hues of Protest and Tumultuous Aftermath in V.S. Naipaul’s Guerrillas” in press for Protest in Indian Fiction in English. Her fields of interest are Shakespearean Literature, Contemporary Literature, Indian Literature, Feminism, Eco-feminism, Ecocriticism, Colonialism, Post colonialism, and other Socio-critical theories.

Prof. Madhumalati Adhikari

Emeritus Fellow, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IITDM, Jabalpur (MP), India

Prof. Madhumalati Adhikari had been the Professor and Head in the Department of PG Studies and Research in English, Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur. She has retired in December 2003 and worked as guest professor in the same institute for sometime. At present she is an Emeritus Fellow at IIITDM, Jabalpur. She holds 23 years of research experience. Simultaneously, she has 25 national and international seminar/ conference papers to her credit besides 2 workshops. She holds the credit of having written and edited 6 books. Besides, she has 38 National published research papers and 3 international published research papers, to add to her credit. She is Co-editor of literary journals: Points of View and Vishleshana She has worked on British, American, African-American, Canadian and Indian English authors. Her analytical approach is dynamic and multidimensional. Her works and papers concentrate upon various socio-political, historical, philosophical, feminist, socio-economic, cultural, colonial, postcolonial, ecocritical and other modern and postmodern theories

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