Introduction This one act play is a parody of Julius Caesar sans the tragic element in it. Lord Weston, a well-established judge is vain. He almost always boasts of his diligence and zealous service to the society. His assistant Roger is bored as a result of having been forced to listen to his tale of success often exposing his inflated ego. With his inflated ego, Judge Weston mistakes the scribbled words “Remember Caesar” to be a threat to his life.The comedy unfolds as the man called Caesar makes his appearance in the end to discuss rose trees to be planted. “Remember Caesar” is a Parody on William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”.
Sermon on diligence In the beginning of the play Roger demands half-day leave and that was enough for the judge to start his sermon 1 on the value of hard work and his standing in the society as an impartial judge. Roger conveniently switches off; his attention and pretends to take notes of the instructions of the judge. The judge I almost catches in his self-indulgent j absentmindedness. Roger escapes by the skin of his teeth by just rewinding from his memory the of-repeated j story of his success. He hoodwinks the judge as to the purpose of his demand for half-a-day leave by saying that he wanted to personally interview the award committee as to why they had not forwarded the documents. The judge was quite impressed. The judge asked him to walk to Mr. Clay’s office in the afternoon. He reiterated that diligence, courage and attention to details are required to cultivate an orderly mind. Without an orderly mind no man can hope to excel in any learned profession.
An assassination note At this juncture, he takes out a crumpled paper from his court pocket. While smoothening the rough paper he insisted j that attention to detail was the beginning ! of greatness. He reads two words “Remember Caesar”. His scholarly mind j connects Caesar to Ides of March and ; the most acted out scene of assassination in Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”.As a coincidence that particular day turns out to be 15th March when Caesar was assassinated by senators. Roger senses the premonition of the boss about a possible assassination. Both discuss the cases in which the strict judgement had angered the affected parties. Roger takes the opportunity to flatter his boss saying that he is always strict. But the judge says the law’s of England are strict.
Mrs. Weston’s sense of humour When Mrs. Weston hears about it, she tries to play the fool to satisfy the inflated ego of her husband. But she remembers to crack wise jokes all along. She hints that assassins try to hit only famous persons. She allows him to ruin the velvet coat by letting him soak it in a pail of water assuming that parcel would be a bomb to blow him up. When Weston brandishes the gun, she marks it as a poor attempt to foil the assassin by shooting oneself. She obeys the commands of her husband and closes all the doors except the kitchen because the maid is unperturbed by any threat. She is confident of handling any assassin. The ilex tree top gives an ideal location to shoot Mr. Weston according to Mrs. Weston. So, Mrs. Weston orders Joel, the gardener to stay under the ilex tree until further orders.
Comic relief It was only when one of Weston’s friends called Caesar comes to discuss about rose trees, he recalls that the writing on the paper was his own. He had falsely imagined the short ugly man who dashed against him to have kept it inside his pocket. Lady Weston apologises for having made a statement that an illiterate had made a venomous scribbling in the paper. Roger achieves spending the whole day doing nothing by flattering the boss that his safety was his priority and he could think of other things after he comes out safe.
Conclusion People who think highly of themselves become butt of ridicule when they stretch their imagination too far.
