Discuss the role of superstition in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Many superstitions of the Elizabethan Age date back to much earlier times, including the Age of the Roman Empire.  Thus, the inclusion of omens and dreams in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is of great significance both to the audience and to the play itself.  Throughout the play, there are soothsayers, dreams, ghosts, and personal interpretations of the stars that greatly affect the characters.

Caesar, of course, ignores all supernatural warnings and signs for fear that the Roman people think him weak.  He refuses to listen to the soothsayer who cautions him against the Ides of March; he ignores his wife's entreaties to not attend the Senate because she has had a most portentous dream.  The storm of the previous night moves him not.  All these signs he ignores lest his role as leader be questioned; yet, ironically, he is easily swayed by Decius's interpretations of these omens and dreams that he should, indeed, go to the Senate.

And, it is this vacillation between disbelief and belief that threads the play Julius Caesar.  For instance, in "the seduction scene" of Act I, Cassius tells Brutus,

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. I,ii,140-141)

But later, in Act V, he tells Messala that he once "held Epicurus strong," meaning he does not believe, as Epicurus did, that the gods interest themselves in men's affairs.  but, now, Brutus says, "...I change my mind" (V,i,78-79). Cassius tells Messala of an omen that presaged death.

Likewise, Brutus vacillates between belief and disbelief in omens and other superstitions. For, in Act I, he is convinced by Cassius's statement that destiny lies in the hands of each man.  Later, he ignores the portents of the suicide of his wife Portia; however, he talks to Cassius of destiny regarding their forthcoming battle in Philippi:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures. (IV,iii, 244-250)

And, directly after this speech, Brutus encounters the ghost of Caesar, telling it,

That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare?
Speak to me what thou art. ...
Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. (IV,iii,315-317)

But when Cassius tells Brutus that "the affairs of men rests still incertain" after having witnessed the omen of the eagles, Brutus rejects such ideas saying,

But I do find it cowardly and vile,
For fear of what might fall, so to prevent
The time of life, arming myself with patience
To stay the providence of some high powers
That govern us below. (V,iii,112-116)

These words, indeed, echo those of Caesar before he goes to the Senate.  Is it, then, the ghost of Caesar which has made Brutus say these words--"thy [Brutus's] evil spirit"--or himself?

Certainly, from the opening festival of Lupercal in which infertile women hope to change their condition during this superstitious holiday, to the words of the soothsayer that presage the tragedy of Julius Caesar, superstition, along with its acceptance and rejection, is a powerful force in Shakespeare's classic play. But, perhaps like modern man, the Romans manipulated their superstitions to fit their own inner desires, fears, and motives, underscoring the statement of William Jennings Bryant:

Destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

And, so it is true, as Cassius says, that "the fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves."

In the play "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, the author combines two very interesting and contrasting ideas. The first is the Roman civilization with it's logical and practical way of accomplishing projects of epic proportions - a method based on fact and cold analysis. The second idea contrasts this sceptical and logical society with the idea of imagination and surmise or superstition and fear - an idea the Romans couldn't quite let go of when they beheld it in the peoples they conquered. The Romans would leave nothing to chance and preferred to have all bases covered - even if there was nothing in the native religions or superstitions. So in "Beware the ides of March" we have a soothsayer trying to warn Caesar that bad things might happen if events were scheduled on a certain day. The Muslim festival of Ide at that time is worth researching too.

How superstitious is Caesar in Julius Caesar?

Superstition is not something simple or quantifiable. One rarely refers to one's own beliefs as superstitions. Instead, the term is used as a way to denigrate the beliefs of others as inherently irrational. In thinking about whether Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's play was superstitious, we actually need to consider three separate questions:

• Whether Caesar was portrayed as superstitious according to the beliefs of his own period
• Whether Caesar would have been considered superstitious in Shakespeare's period
• Whether a twenty-first century rationalist would consider him superstitious

In response to the first of these questions, Caesar's belief systems appear fairly normal for his period. He is not portrayed as someone the Romans would have considered overly superstitious and in fact is initially skeptical about Calpurnia's dreams and the warnings of the soothsayer, making him appear rational and skeptical within the context of the play. 

Shakespeare was writing in a Christian context in which traditional pagan Roman religion would have been considered superstition or even idolatry, but certain pagan beliefs such as astrology were actually assimilated into Renaissance Christianity. Thus the original audience might have considered him moderately superstitious.

A twenty-first century rationalist would consider many of Caesar's beliefs pure superstition. 

Shakespeare characterizes Caesar as superstitious but not as superstitious as Calpurnia. In the first act, Caesar orders Mark Antony to touch his barren wife because an old belief claims that the touch from the race's winner will eradicate infertility. Later, Caesar is almost convinced by the stormy night, the prophet's reading, and his wife's bad dream not to go to the Senate. This demonstrates that he does give credence to what would be considered superstitions by most observers. However, in the end, Caesar's pride is stronger than his belief in such old wives' tales, and he allows Decius to persuade him that he should go to the Capitol in order to be crowned and in order to maintain his reputation.