Date of Award

4-2024

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

English

Advisor/Committee Chair

Ineke Murakami

Committee Member

Elliot Tetreault

Abstract

This project, titled Phantasma, can be described as a queer retelling of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in which Brutus is the central focus. It will interrogate the question of what draws readers back to that fateful day at the Roman Senate time and time again. It will also question what drew Shakespeare and his audience to it, as well as deconstruct the nuances of his recreation. The narrative will be greatly influenced by the structure of Shakespeare’s play, but will take on new forms as scenes are added in places where Brutus would ordinarily be “offstage”. Using queer theory as well as a balance between Renaissance cultural studies and Roman historical accounts, the story will be a combination of Shakespeare’s interpretation of the story of Julius Caesar (and of Brutus), as well as the reality of what Roman civilization was like for the living, breathing figures that took action on that Ides of March. The narrative form will allow me to interrogate the dynamics of gender and sexuality that functioned between Caesar, Cassius, and Brutus.

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