Roman Shakespeare and Adaptation: A Short Survey of the Silent Films

A number of scholars have rightly remarked that Shakespeare’s re-use of classical antiquity was functional rather than devotional, fashionable rather than experimental, and, as always in his career as a playwright, the Bard adapted for the stage materials already available in his cultural surroundings – theatrical, literary and visual materials – but with unexpected twists and turns. The intermedial writing of Shakespeare’s adaptation of the Roman past for the Elizabethan stage made his ancient Rome ready to be further adapted into other already existing media and in media yet unborn, like, first and foremost, cinema, the new medium which was invented by the end of the Nineteenth century, and which rapidly grew popular as only the Elizabethan playhouse had been before. The paramount place that Shakespeare held in the development of the seventh art and in its purchase of a prestigious artistic status is renowned; however, starting from the acknowledged importance of Shakespeare in the history of cinema, we might ask what the specific role of screen adaptations of his Roman plays is. In the present chapter I confine myself to a necessarily brief survey of the adaptations of Roman Shakespeare in the Silent era, focusing in particular on a few versions of Julius Caesar.