William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
Brutus joins the conspiracy against Caesar for the good of Rome, and the assassination sets off a civil war.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (101 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (89 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
Need more than a few plays?
All 37 plays in every format cost $99, less than 8 single Full Packages. PDFs only: $55 for all 37.
- Genre
- Tragedy
- Written
- c. 1599
- Setting
- Rome, Sardis and Philippi
- Scenes
- 18
- Speaking roles
- 48
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 20m
What happens in Julius Caesar
In Rome, Cassius persuades Brutus, an honourable senator, that Julius Caesar's rising power is a threat to the republic. Despite warnings from a soothsayer, his wife Calpurnia's dream and omens, Caesar goes to the Capitol on the Ides of March, where the conspirators stab him. Brutus speaks to the crowd and wins their support, but Mark Antony, with Caesar's body, turns them against the conspirators.
Antony, Octavius and Lepidus form a triumvirate. Brutus and Cassius flee Rome and raise armies. In their camp they quarrel, and Brutus sees Caesar's ghost. At the battle of Philippi, their forces are defeated. Cassius dies after mistaking a defeat for a loss and Brutus, rather than be captured, falls on his sword. Antony praises Brutus as the noblest Roman of them all.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 48 characters speak; 34 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Brutus | | 217 |
| Cassius | | 144 |
| Antony | | 54 |
| Caesar | | 45 |
| Casca | | 39 |
| Portia | | 16 |
| Octavius | | 19 |
| Decius Brutus | | 12 |
For directors
Brutus has about 28 percent of the words, Cassius 20 and Antony 13, so the play depends on three strong actors, even though Caesar himself has only about 6 percent. Five roles exceed 5 percent. With 48 speaking roles, 34 under 1 percent, doubling among citizens, senators, conspirators and soldiers is easy and most casts need only a modest company. At 140 minutes uncut it is one of the shorter tragedies and fits an evening without heavy cutting.
Cutting notes
- Trim the opening scene with the tribunes Flavius and Marullus, which many productions shorten.
- Shorten the omens and storm scenes in Act I and Act II.
- Condense the Act V battle sequences, keeping the deaths of Cassius and Brutus.
For teachers
Students study political ideals and personal motives, rhetoric and persuasion, fate and free will, and honour. Frequently taught passages include the opening scene with the tribunes, the assassination, the funeral orations of Brutus and Antony in Act III scene ii, and the quarrel of Brutus and Cassius in Act IV. It is a common first Shakespeare play in secondary schools and a standard text for study of persuasive speech.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of Julius Caesar?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 18 scenes and about 19,200 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this Julius Caesar script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
