Roscius, the most famous Roman actor, is mentioned twice by Shakespeare, and in both contexts he is explicitly associated with death, although the historical Roscius was known for his skills as a comedian. When Henry VI is about to be murdered by Gloucester, he asks "What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?"(3H6.5.6.10 ). Hamlet makes fun of Polonius' age and pedantry when he anticipates his news about the arrival of the actors by saying "When Roscius was an actor in Rome" (Ham.2.2.390-391). But this first association of Polonius with acting has a sting to it. A little later Hamlet responds savagely to Polonius' complacent reminiscence that he acted the part of Caesar and that Brutus killed him:
105 It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a
106 calf there. Be the players ready? (Ham.3.2.105-106)
In any theatre company that has Julius Caesar and Hamlet in its repertoire the same actors are likely to encounter each other as Caesar and Brutus and Polonius and Hamlet. So the exchange has a proleptic quality: Brutus will kill Caesar again.
17 September 1999