Shakespeare and the tenses

Question

In Anthony's speech there is a line that goes like this:

"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept."

Why the present perfect?

Why do you think it should be the simple past? See this webpage: use 1: present perfect used for an unspecified time before now; and use 5: multiple actions at different times in the past. I would guess that it's use 5—Caesar has wept several times when the poor have cried. — Peter Shor, Oct 17 '15 at 10:48
Hmm. According to this logic, the following sentence, written today, would be correct: "When his actors have asked him to write a new play, Shakespeare has always obliged." What am I missing? — Ricky, Oct 17 '15 at 10:48
Because "He wept each time the poor shed bitter tears" appears to be less poetic yet more, uh, natural-sounding. I don't know. — Ricky, Oct 17 '15 at 10:52
I wouldn't use the present perfect in the Shakespeare example today, but it would be perfectly fine if Shakespeare were still alive. At Shakespeare's funeral? It might be acceptable. — Peter Shor, Oct 17 '15 at 10:54
))) Ah! Thank you. Makes sense now. I guess the combination of "When" and "have" confused me. — Ricky, Oct 17 '15 at 10:58
Caesar's reputation is the subject of the speech. "The evil that men do lives after them; /The good is oft interred with their bones;/So let it be with Caesar. " Reputation lives on after death, and so Caesar's weeping is viewed from the point of view of the present besmirching of that reputation, by Brutus, namely, that Caesar was "ambitious". Caesar has wept when the poor have cried. Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. — TimR, Oct 17 '15 at 12:50

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 21 '15 at 04:01

"When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept."

Why the present perfect?

Modernise it a bit: "Whenever the poor have cried, Caesar has wept."

And fill in the details: "Whenever the poor have cried in the past , Caesar has wept with them."

Seems pretty normal to me.

1 Answers1