Assistant Professor,
Since the dawn of civilization, the commoner, the everyday person, has played an important role in shaping the society, government and nation. The common man, the subaltern, the group of inferior rank holds enormous strength to alter the society. This is why William Shakespeare portrays the strength and capacity of the common man in a large number of his plays. Even though his story requires Romans and kings, he thinks only of man-both royal and common. His forest-like plays, comprising both the commoners and the royals, are replete with a post-colonial perspective in an age in which hardly anyone was aware of this term. The portrayals of Shakespeare are still embedded in our hearts and minds as they display the general human nature of servants, fools and the common people-the subalterns. Julius Caesar (1599) is a good example of the impact of the role of commoners on power and politics of royals. In this play common people, in the form of a mob, are portrayed with such vigor that they possess the capacity to destroy or to save their nation. Shakespeare, very realistically, shows the strength and psychology of the people when they are part of a crowd-they cheer for victory, they can kill Cinna (the poet), and can revolt against the conspirators. He portrays the crowd which can do anything for the betterment of the society. The present paper, thus, intends to explore the role of commoners in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, as the back bone in the making and development of their nation. Also, the paper will delve deeper into the psychology of commoners in order to locate the post-colonial and subaltern touch in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
