|
Have questions?
Contact us
Already a member? Sign in
|
Get every literary device explanation for Julius CaesarPlus so much more...
Sign up for LitCharts A+Get instant access to every literary device explanation, plus so much more...
Allusion
Explanation and Analysis—Ate, Goddess of Ruin:
In Act 3, Scene 1, Antony kneels by Caesar's dead body and offers a grief-filled soliloquy as tribute to his fallen friend. He makes a prophecy that Rome will plunge into a time of war, and alludes to classical mythology as he predicts how Caesar's ghost will come back for revenge:
And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men groaning for burial.
"Ate" is an allusion to the Greek goddess Atë. According to Hesiod’s account of the Greek pantheon, Theogeny, she is the goddess of Ruin or destruction. For Caesar to return with Ate by his side, as Antony predicts, would mean the potential end of Rome or at least its descent into chaos. This sort of classical allusion tethers Julius Caesar to its historical source material. Antony’s appeal to the Greco-Roman pantheon would have reminded the contemporary audience of the distance between Elizabethan England and Caesar’s time, and therefore made it safer for Shakespeare to use his play to critique the politics of the time and forewarn the English population of the dangers of political power struggles.
Monthly
Annual (Best Value)
$595USD/mo
Charged $71.40 USD every year
Teacher$795USD/mo
Charged $95.40 USD every year
Literature Guide PDFs
LitCharts PDFs for every book you'll read this year.
Instant PDF downloads of all 2241 LitCharts literature guides and of every new one we publish. Try a free sample literature guide.
"Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!"
Quotes Explanations
Find the perfect quote. Understand it perfectly. Then rock the citation, too.
For all 49,971 quotes we cover.
For all 49,971 quotes we cover.
Teacher Editions
Close reading made easy for students.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Common Core-aligned
PDFs of modern translations of every one of Shakespeare's 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 3 longer poems.
Literary Terms and Devices
Definitions and examples for every literary term and device you need to know.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Try a free sample literary term PDF.
Advanced Search
Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
Related Themes
Comparing and contrasting texts? Find where any theme occurs across all of LitCharts in seconds.
Poetry Guides
Line-by-line explanations and analysis of figurative language and poetic devices.
For every lyric poem we cover.
For every lyric poem we cover.
