George Bernard Shaw

Caesar and Cleopatra lllustrated George Bernard Shaw

The play has a prologue and an "Alternative to the Prologue". The prologue consists of the Egyptian god Ra addressing the audience directly, as if he could see them in the theater (i.e., breaking the fourth wall). He says that Pompey represents the old Rome and Caesar represents the new Rome. The gods favored Caesar, according to Ra, because he "lived the life they had given him boldly". Ra recounts the conflict between Caesar and Pompey, their battle at Pharsalus, and Pompey's eventual assassination in Egypt at the hands of Lucius Septimius.