Cobbling souls in Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'

The opening episode of Julius Caesar introduces playgoers to the notion of 'cobbling souls', a phenomenon unique to this tragedy among Shakespeare's Classical plays. Cobbling souls in this drama variously means creating, that is to say, evoking, Christian-like compassion for the suffering of others and forgiveness of their faults as well as fashioning a soul-bond between adversaries, such as Cassius and Brutus are when hunted by Antony and Octavius. Shakespeare's careful use of the word 'soul' in Julius Caesar contributes strongly to the Christian subtext of this play, mainly by helping to define both the personal and cultural tragedy of a Classical society. Analysis of the meanings that Shakespeare gives to the words 'spirit' and 'soul' in Julius Caesar, as well as in his other Elizabethan plays and poems with Classical settings, helps us better appreciate the tragic dimension of the evocation of soul in the imminent play Hamlet.