<P> The text of Julius Caesar in the First Folio is the only authoritative text for the play . The Folio text is notable for its quality and consistency; scholars judge it to have been set into type from a theatrical prompt - book . </P> <P> The play contains many anachronistic elements from the Elizabethan era . The characters mention objects such as hats and doublets (large, heavy jackets)--neither of which existed in ancient Rome . Caesar is mentioned to be wearing an Elizabethan doublet instead of a Roman toga . At one point a clock is heard to strike and Brutus notes it with "Count the clock". </P> <P> Maria Wyke has written that the play reflects the general anxiety of Elizabethan England over succession of leadership . At the time of its creation and first performance, Queen Elizabeth, a strong ruler, was elderly and had refused to name a successor, leading to worries that a civil war similar to that of Rome might break out after her death . </P> <P> Critics of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar differ greatly on their views of Caesar and Brutus . Many have debated whether Caesar or Brutus is the protagonist of the play, because of the title character's death in Act Three, Scene One . But Caesar compares himself to the Northern Star, and perhaps it would be foolish not to consider him as the axial character of the play, around whom the entire story turns . Intertwined in this debate is a smattering of philosophical and psychological ideologies on republicanism and monarchism . One author, Robert C. Reynolds, devotes attention to the names or epithets given to both Brutus and Caesar in his essay "Ironic Epithet in Julius Caesar". This author points out that Casca praises Brutus at face value, but then inadvertently compares him to a disreputable joke of a man by calling him an alchemist, "Oh, he sits high in all the people's hearts, / And that which would appear offence in us / His countenance, like richest alchemy, / Will change to virtue and to worthiness" (I. iii. 158 - 60). Reynolds also talks about Caesar and his "Colossus" epithet, which he points out has its obvious connotations of power and manliness, but also lesser known connotations of an outward glorious front and inward chaos . </P>

How do the characters in julius caesar die