"The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins Remorse from power" (On "Julius Caesar")

For this play, I'm always struck by the struggle between the face Caesar shows to the people of Rome, the one he shows to his friends, and the one he only shows to his most private self. Does he truly want to be a king? Or does he just want everyone to want him to be king? 

There is a difference: nowhere does Caesar or any of the other Romans discuss the duties that would fall to him, should he be crowned. In fact, there is not truly any deep discussion of him desiring any powers in particular, though that is the fear that underlies his murder. Brutus simply says that Caesar "when he once attains the upmost round. / He then unto the ladder turns his back, / Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees / By which he did ascend. So Caesar may." (II.i). But he isn't certain; he only knows that Caesar may turn his back on his friends and become a tyrant. But what is it that Brutus fears Caesar will do with his powers?

The people, too, seem torn. They clearly love Caesar. They cheer for him when Antony hands him a coronet, but they cheer even louder when Caesar refuses it (in a show of humility that he immediately regrets in a fainting spell.) Casca claims that "before he fell down, when he perceived the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his throat to cut." And yet, immediately afterward, states that "if Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less" (I.ii).

Later, right before his assassination, Caesar briefly bows to the exhortations of Calpurnia to stay home after her nightmare, but the conspirators draw him out with the lie that the senate hopes to crown him that day. He did not venture out on his own to be crowned, but the possibility that others would grant the crown to him leads him to his doom.

As I mentioned, there is a difference between wanting to be king and wanting others to want you to be king. Perhaps it's simply taken for granted that the audience would understand Caesar's ambition, but if so, why does Antony harp on the falseness of that accusation in his funeral speech? Does Caesar truly have ambitions to be king? Or does he simply want the accolades, the lauds, the coronets and applause and fawning of the crowd?

"If Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less." 

What if he had stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot someone? 

(By the way, I'm two years behind schedule on this thought. Bravo to New York's Public Theater.) 

Paterson Joseph as Brutus and Theo Ogundipe as the Soothsayer in the 2012 Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Julius Caesar, which is on my most list of most coveted productions to have ever seen. *sigh*