NO PERFECT HEROES. REVISITING THE HEROIC IDEAL IN MANGA SHAKESPEARE JULIUS CAESAR
NO PERFECT HEROES. REVISITING THE HEROIC IDEAL IN MANGA SHAKESPEARE JULIUS CAESAR

Summary/Abstract: In recent years manga has become a widely appreciated form of graphic adaptation of Shakespeare’s highly complex works into pop culture. Domesticated in the western world, manga adaptations of Shakespearean plays make them more accessible to younger generations and offer readers a sense of immediacy that the written text alone cannot challenge. This paper explores the ways in which two western manga transmediations of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar offer several (conflicting) perspectives on what makes a man a hero, while also playing with black/darkness and white/light and numerous shades of grey. Heroic conventions and virtues such as dignity and honour, courage and bravery, self-discipline and social responsibility are revised not only by Shakespeare himself, but also by the manga artists in agreement with the medium’s requirements and with their own understanding of the heroic.

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