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Act 1 Scene 1
Summary
Two tribunes, Flavius and Murellus, enter a Roman street along with various commoners
...
Murellus engages a cobbler in an
inquiry about his profession and misinterprets his puns and grows angry with him
...
He wants to watch his parade through the city to celebrate Caesar’s
triumph in a recent battle against Pompey
...
Murellus asks, suggesting that Caesar’s victory does not merit a
triumph since it involves no conquering of a foreign foe to the greater glory of Rome
...
Now, however, due to a mere twist of fate, they rush out to celebrate his downfall
...

After the commoners leave, Flavius orders Murellus to go to the Capitol and remove any crowns placed
on statues of Caesar
...
This is because he believes that if he is able to regulate Caesar’s support, he would
be able to regulate his power
...
The
plebeians who once supported Pompey are now celebrating the downfall of Pompey at the hands of
Caesar
...
Removing the decorations
adorning statues of Caesar seems to placate both of them as they view it as signs of Caesar’s reign being
removed
...

The cobbler is a typical Shakespearean character, with puns and wordplay
...
Ironically, it is Murellus that is unable to
understand the puns
...
On the other hand, Flavius although able to understand the cobbler, has a
mindset where he thinks that laborers are only good for one thing, labour, as seen from his reproach of the
cobbler when he does not have his tools with him on a workday
...


Act 1 Scene 2
Summary
Caesar enters a public square with Antony, Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, and
a Soothsayer; he is followed by a throng of citizens and then by Flavius and Murellus
...
Caesar urges him to touch
Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, as he runs, since Roman superstition holds that the touch of a ceremonial runner
will cure barrenness
...

Suddenly, a soothsayer calls out from the crowd for Caesar to beware of the ides of March
...
Caesar simply dismisses his
words and carries on with the procession
...

Cassius asks Brutus if he is able to see his own face, and Brutus replies that he cannot
...

Suddenly, shouting is heard and Brutus says that he is afraid Caesar would become king
...
He says that although he loves Caesar, he
loves honour more than he fears death
...
/ We both have fed as well, and we can both / Endure the winter’s cold as well as
he”
...
Cassius
had to drag him from the water
...
Cassius marvels to think that a man with such a feeble constitution should now
stand at the head of the civilized world
...
He then proceeds to say that they owe their underling status not to fate but their own failure to take
action
...
He
wonders in what sort of age they are living when one man can tower over the rest of the population
...
Although unwilling to be further persuaded, he
admits that he would rather not be a citizen of Rome in such strange times as the present, meaning a time
where Caesar is a ruler of Rome
...
When Caesar sees Cassius, he comments to Antony that he
does not trust Cassius
...
Yond Cassius has a lean and hunry look; He thinks too much
...
”
Antony then states that Cassius is in fact a noble Roman, and not dangerous
...
Caesar urges Antony to
come to his right side—he is deaf in his left ear—and tell him what he thinks of Cassius
...

Cassius and Brutus then pull Casca aside to ask him what happened at the procession
...
While the
crowd cheered for Caesar, he got a fit and fell to the ground while foaming at the mouth
...
Casca
notes, however, that Caesar’s fit did not seem to affect his authority: although he suffered his seizure
directly before the crowd, the people did not cease to express their love
...
However,
the crowd upon hearing the speech Cicero gave, smiled at one another and shook their heads
...
Casca then departs, followed by Brutus
...
ii
...
He decides to
forge letters from Roman citizens declaring their support for Brutus and their fear of Caesar’s ascent to
power; he will throw them into Brutus’s house that evening
...
Caesar’s choice to ignore the Soothsayer’s
advice proves the first in a series of failures to heed warnings about his fate
...
When Caesar orders Antony to touch Calpurnia, Antony replies that
Caesar need merely speak and his word will become fact—that is, Caesar’s authority is so strong that his
word immediately brings about the requested action
...
The implication that Caesar may be impotent or sterile suggests that when
Caesar dies, he may be without an heir to his position
...
Brutus appears to be a man at war with himself, torn
between his love for Caesar and his honorable concern for Rome
...
Cassius steps into Brutus’s personal
crisis and begins his campaign to turn Brutus against Caesar, flattering Brutus’s pride by offering to be his
mirror and thus relaying to him the ostensible high regard in which the citizens hold him
...
But Cassius observes only Caesar’s frail human body, his

private self
...

Caesar, on the other hand, shows much more perceptiveness in his analysis of Cassius; he observes both
Cassius’s private and public personas and notices a discord
...
Caesar comments to Antony, “He loves no plays, /
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music
...
Cassius remains merely a
public man, without any suggestion of a private self
...

When Caesar refused the crown not once, twice but thrice, it serves to question whether Caesar is really
ambitious, or if he is truly humble
...

At the close of the scene, when Cassius plots to turn Brutus against Caesar by planting forged letters in
Brutus’s house, Cassius has shrewdly perceived that Brutus’s internal conflict is more likely to be
influenced by what he believes the populace to think than by his own personal misgivings
...
Cassius aims to take advantage of
Brutus’s weakest point, namely, Brutus’s honorable concerns for Rome; Brutus’s inflexible ideals leave
him open for manipulation by Cassius
...


Act 1 Scene 3
Summary
Casca meets Cicero on a Roman street
...
Casca relates that he saw a man with his hands on fire, and yet his flesh was not
burning
...

Many others have seen men on fire walking in the streets, and an owl, a nocturnal bird, was seen sitting
out in the marketplace during the day
...
With so many abnormal events happening at once, Casca declares that they are definitely not
natural occurrences and insists that there are dangers ahead
...
(“Indeed it is a strange-disposèd
time; / But men may construe things after their fashion, / Clean from the purpose of the things
themselves”) Cicero asks if Caesar is coming to the Capitol the next day; Casca replies that he is
...

Cassius then enters
...
” Cassius is able to
distinguish his voice and knows it is Casca
...
When Casca asks why, Cassius replies that he
is pleased and believes that the gods are using these events to warn the Roman Republic of a “monstrous
state”, meaning an abnormal state of affairs which is Caesar’s assassination and an atrocious government
...
” He also calls Caesar
“prodigious grown, / And fearful, as these strange eruptions are”
...

Cassius draws his dagger and swears to the gods that if they can make a weak man like Caesar so
powerful, then they can empower Cassius to defeat a tyrant
...
He declares that Rome must be merely trash or
rubbish to give itself up so easily to Caesar’s fire
...

Cinna then enters and Cassius divulges his plan to build opposition against Caesar, to engage Brutus in
their plan to overthrow Caesar
...
Cassius claims that
Brutus has already come three-quarters of the way toward turning against Caesar; he hopes the letters will
bring him the rest of the way around
...


Analysis
Scene 3 opens with the natural world reflecting the unrest of the state
...
Cicero, a senator and thus a representative of the status quo, is, on the other
hand, blissfully unaware of the danger at hand
...
Cicero's response is that men will interpret signs in the way they want to
...
Thus the reader is left with
two contrasting images: Cassius as strong, intuitive, clever; Caesar as weak, deluded, and rather
unintelligent
...
In order to convince Casca of the worth of his cause,
Cassius does just as Cicero, the great orator, has suggested men would — he interprets and manipulates
the omens for his own purposes
...
" The monstrous state, Casca is meant to believe, is Caesar's Rome
...
" Casca asks directly if Cassius means Caesar but, not wanting
to reveal himself too quickly and not wanting to leave the possibility open that his words could be turned
against him, Cassius allows Casca to draw his own conclusions
...
He points out that Caesar is just a man, not a god, and that all of these terrible
visions can be overcome by a true, idealized Roman who calls on the spirits of his ancestors for strength
and perseverance
...

Casca joins the plot and the conspirators' faction is enlarged, but to be successful, the person they really
need is Brutus
...

When Cassius relishes in the terrors of the night, he insinuates that the “monstrous state” of which the
heavens warn refers to Caesar and his overweening ambition, yet he himself has become something of a
monster—obsessed with bringing Caesar down, brazenly unafraid of lethal lightning bolts, and haughty
about this fearlessness
...

Cassius is seen to have successfully interpreted Brutus’ swaying of his will, and identifies that in order for
Brutus to fully support the conspirators, only a little push is needed, in the form of forged letters dictating
the merits of Brutus’ and cons of Caesar
...


Act 2 Scene 1
Summary
Brutus paces back and forth in his garden
...
He knows with certainty that Caesar will be crowned king; what he questions
is whether or not Caesar will be corrupted by his power
...
Brutus compares Caesar to the egg of a serpent
“which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous”; thus, he determines to “kill him in the shell”
...
Brutus reads the letter, which
accuses him of sleeping while Rome is threatened: “Brutus, thou sleep’st
...
Brutus
interprets the letter as a protest against Caesar: “Thus must I piece it out: / Shall Rome stand under one
man’s awe?”
...
A knock comes at the door
...
They include Casca, Decius, Cinna,
Metellus, and Trebonius
...
The two speak briefly before rejoining the others
...
They have no need of oaths, he says, since
their cause should be strong enough to bind them together
...
Cassius then
suggests that they would do well to kill Antony in addition to Caesar, but Brutus refuses, saying that this
would make their plan too bloody
...
He says that they
should kill him boldly, but not viciously, so that they might be perceived as purging the state rather than
as murderers
...

Cassius states that no one knows whether Caesar will come to the Capitol that day, since the warnings of
augurs (seers or soothsayers) after this brutal evening might keep him at home
...

Suddenly, Metellus brings up Ligarius, someone who bears a grudge against Caesar
...
Brutus then asks them to bring Ligarius to meet him
...

Brutus’s wife, Portia, enters the garden
...
He says that he has felt unwell
...
She asks why he refuses to tell her his concerns,
insisting that, as his wife, she should be told about his problems and assuring him that she will keep his

secrets
...
They hear a knock at the
door, and Brutus sends her away with a promise to talk to her later
...
He says he would not be sick if he could be sure that Brutus was involved in
a scheme in the name of honor
...
Ligarius rejoices and accompanies Brutus offstage
to hear more of the plan
...
It's not for personal reasons that he will do it, but for the general;
that is, for the good of the people of Rome
...
He has to admit, however, that
Caesar has not yet committed any of these wrongs
...
" The final element of
his persuasion comes from an outside source
...

The letters that Cassius has penned have been discovered in Brutus' closet; he reads them and is
persuaded by them under the same harsh and distorting "exhalations of the air" that light the conspirators'
way to Brutus' doorstep
...
This shows that Brutus in fact wants to remain as honourable
as possible even though he wants to join the conspirators, he is stubborn and is only willing to join them if
there is a true “honourable” reason to do so
...
By that light,
one can see that Brutus is as tainted as any of the other conspirators
...
"O
Conspiracy, / Sham'st thou to show thy dang'rous brow by night, / When evils are most free?" (emphasis
added)
...
After a brief, whispered discussion with
Cassius, Brutus takes on the leadership of the group, and when Cassius calls on the group to swear to
continue as they have planned, Brutus stops them, and begins by a sort of negative persuasion to fix their
resolve and establish himself as leader
...
If their motives are not strong enough,
an oath will not help them to accomplish the deed
...
This is how Brutus convinces his men
...
By stripping away the words of an oath and
by replacing that oath with images of valiant Romans, their very blood carrying strength, nobility, and
constancy, Brutus inspires his men and establishes himself as their leader
...

It is ironic for Brutus to ask them not to take up an oath as Brutus, who has declared loyalty and
friendship to Caesar and now casts those commitments aside
...


Blood imagery begins to replace the lightening and flame that dominated the earlier part of the scene
...
By means of this fluid image,
Shakespeare moves easily between all the connotations that blood offers
...
By this bloodletting, they believe they will regain the
masculinity and strength that the state has lost
...

Just as interesting is the image of blood that Brutus' wife, Portia, brings to the stage
...
" She
knows something is very wrong
...
" Her husband attempts to put off her questions but she, among all the characters of
the play, seems most able to cut through the darkness and see the truth
...
" Portia represents strong Roman womanhood, yet can still only be defined
in terms of the men around her, shw=owing the power difference in how men and women are treated
...
Portia's credibility is described in the images of blood
...
"
Yet, although Brutus appears completely determined in his interactions with the conspirators, his inability
to confess his thoughts to Portia signifies that he still harbors traces of doubt regarding the legitimacy of
his plan
...
Her husband’s dismissal of her intuitions, like
Caesar’s of Calpurnia’s, leads to folly and points to his largest mistake: his decision to ignore his private
feelings, loyalties, and misgivings for the sake of a plan that he believes to be for the public good
...

Three times she has called out in her sleep about Caesar’s murder
...
Calpurnia enters and insists that Caesar not leave the house after
so many bad signs
...
But Calpurnia, who has never heeded
omens before, speaks of what happened in the city earlier that night: dead men walked, ghosts wandered
the city, a lioness gave birth in the street, and lightning shattered the skies
...

Caesar counters that nothing can change the plans of the gods
...
Calpurnia says that the heavens
proclaim the death of only great men, so the omens must have to do with him
...
He cannot understand why men fear death, which must come eventually
to all
...
Caesar rejects their interpretation, but Calphurnia does
finally persuade him to stay at home and have Antony tell the senators that he is sick
...
/ That is enough to satisfy the Senate
...
Decius, resorting to the flattery to which he knows Caesar is susceptible, reinterprets
the dream saying that actually the dream signifies that Romans will all gain lifeblood from the strength of
Caesar
...
Moreover, Caesar would lose public regard if he were
perceived as so easily swayed by a woman, or by fear
...

He calls for his robe and prepares to depart
...
Finally, Antony enters
...

Analysis
If Portia is noble with a husband who views her as an equal, Calphurnia, Caesar's wife, suffers greatly in
comparison
...
Still, there is truth in Calphurnia's dreams and real caring for her husband in her
attempts to keep him from going to the Capitol
...
Caesar feels her sincerity, and relents
...
Calphurnia describes "fierce, fiery warriors which
drizzled blood upon the Capitol," but Caesar responds that "cowards die many times before their deaths
...
But as Calphurnia kneels before him, he is persuaded
...
She, too, knelt before her husband and he was
persuaded
...

Calpurnia’s dream of the bleeding statue perfectly foreshadows the eventual unfolding of the
assassination plot: the statue is a symbol of Caesar’s corpse, and the vague smiling Romans turn out, of
course, to be the conspirators, reveling in his bloodshed
...
If one argues that omens serve as warnings by which individuals can avoid disaster, then one
must view Caesar’s inflexibility regarding these omens as an arrogance that brings about his death
...
It shows that Caesar is easily seduced when his ego is stroked and when offered
power
...
He intends to give the letter to Caesar and stands along the route that
Caesar will take to the Senate, prepared to hand the letter to him as he passes
...
He remains
hopeful, however, that if his letter gets read, Caesar may yet live
...
Artemidorus is a diviner and his note to Caesar contains only facts,
but has one great fault: For Caesar to acknowledge the facts, he has to admit that he is not a god,
providing bloody sustenance to all of Rome, but a mere mortal
...

This scene allows you to see another opinion of Caesar
...
From this man's viewpoint, the reader gets a hint of the greatness that was
once Caesar
...
Given that Artemidorus knows all about the
conspirators and their plans, it is made clear that the latter have not kept quiet
...


Act 2 Scene 4
Summary
Portia and Lucius enter the street in front of Brutus' house, where Portia is extremely excited
...
She struggles to maintain
self-control and reacts violently to imagined noises that she thinks emanate from the Capitol
...
Portia inquires if
he knows of any plans to harm Caesar, and he answers only that he fears what may happen to Caesar
...
Portia sends Lucius to give her greetings to Brutus and to
tell him that she is in good spirits, and then to report back immediately to her
...
This shows that Brutus trusts Portia enough to give her a rundown of the
events that are to happen, and he views her as an equal
...

In this scene, Portia wishes to act but cannot for she has "a man's mind, but a woman's might
...


Act 3 Scene 1
Summary
Artemidorus and the Soothsayer await Caesar in the street
...
" The soothsayer answers, "Aye, Caesar, but not gone
...

Artemidorus approaches with his letter, saying that its contents are a matter of closest concern for Caesar
...
Artemidorus tells him to read it instantly, but Caesar dismisses him as crazy
...
" Cassius worries that his plot has been discovered
...

Metellus approaches Caesar to request that his brother, Publius Cimber, who has been banished from
Rome, be granted permission to return
...
Brutus and Cassius kneel at Caesar’s feet and repeat
Metellus’s plea; Caesar answers that he will not change his mind now, declaring himself as “constant as
the Northern Star”
...
Their pleadings rise in intensity and
suddenly, from behind, Casca stabs Caesar
...
Trebonius enters to announce that Antony has fled
...
He urges them to bend down and bathe their hands in Caesar’s blood, then walk
to the marketplace (the Roman Forum) with their bloodied swords to cry “Peace, freedom and liberty!”
...

Antony’s servant enters with a message: Antony, having learned of Caesar’s death, sends word that he
loved Caesar but will now vow to serve Brutus if Brutus promises not to punish him for his past
allegiance
...
Brutus
remarks to Cassius that Antony will surely be an ally now, but Cassius replies that he still has misgivings
...
He marvels how a man so great in deed and reputation could end
as such a small and pathetic body
...
Brutus tells Antony not
to beg for death, saying that although their hands appear bloody, their hearts have been, and continue to
be, full of pity; although they must appear to him now as having acted in cruelty, their actual motives

stemmed from sympathy and love for the Roman populace
...
Antony
says he does not doubt their wisdom and shakes each of their bloody hands, staining the not-yet-bloodied
hands of Trebonius, who has returned from leading Antony astray, in the process
...
After Antony praises Caesar’s bravery, Cassius questions his loyalty
...
He emphasizes that he will gladly ally
himself with all of the former conspirators, as long as they can explain to him why Caesar was dangerous
...
Antony asks if he might bring the
body to the Forum and speak a funeral oration
...
He tells Brutus that Antony will surely move the people against them if he is allowed to
speak
...
He
believes that the people will admire his magnanimity for allowing Antony, a friend of Caesar’s, to take
part in the funeral, and that the episode will benefit the conspiracy’s public image
...

When the conspirators have departed, Antony begs pardon of Caesar's dead body for his having been
"meek and gentle with these butchers
...

A servant enters then and says that Octavius Caesar is seven leagues from Rome, but that he is coming
...
Antony urges the servant to come to the Forum and hear his
funeral speech
...

Analysis
Just preceding his death, Caesar refuses Artemidorus’s pleas to speak with him, saying that he gives last
priority to his nearest, most personal concerns
...
This sense of invulnerability manifests itself clearly when Caesar compares himself to
the North Star, which never moves from its position at the center of the sky: “constant as the Northern
Star, / Of whose true fixed and resting quality / There is no fellow in the firmament
...
i
...
He not only considers himself steadfast but also infallible,
beyond the questioning of mortal men, as he compares the foolish idea of him being persuaded of
something to the impossible act of hefting the weight of Mount Olympus
...


His refusal to pardon Metellus’s banished brother serves to show that his belief in the sanctity of his own
authority is unwavering up to the moment that he is killed
...
With the words Caesar says, “Et tu, Brute?” Caesar apprehends the immensity of the plot
to kill him—a plot so total that it includes even his friends—and simultaneously levels a heartbroken
reproach at his former friend
...
He assures them that they have his allegiance and shakes
their hands, thus smearing himself with Caesar’s blood and marking Trebonius with blood as well
...
Yet he does so in a handshake, an apparent gesture of
allegiance
...

Antony is able to cover his feelings, not only so that he can place himself in a position to avenge Caesar's
death, but also so that he can find his own position of power
...
Gone are the images of him as
womanizer and drunkard
...

Cassius’s worries about Antony’s rhetorical skill prove justified
...
Surely the conspirators run a great risk by letting such a fickle audience listen to the
mournful Antony
...

Because he feels that he himself, by helping to murder a dear friend, has sacrificed the most, Brutus
believes that he will be respected for giving priority to public matters over private ones
...


Act 3 Scene 3
Summary
Brutus and Cassius enter the Forum, which is thronged with citizens demanding satisfaction
...
Brutus asks the citizens to contain their emotions until he has finished, to
bear in mind that he is honorable, and to use their reason in order to judge him
...
He did not kill Caesar out of a lack of love
for him, he says, but because his love for Rome outweighed his love of a single man
...
He feared that the Romans would
live as slaves under Caesar’s leadership
...
He thus
concludes that he has offended no one and asserts that now Caesar’s death has been accounted for, with
both his virtues and faults in life given due attention
...

Antony then enters with Caesar’s body
...
The plebeians cheer Brutus’s apparent
kindness, declaring that Brutus should be Caesar
...
Brutus exits
...
They now believe that
Caesar was a tyrant and that Brutus did right to kill him
...
He asks the
audience to listen, for he has come to bury Caesar, not to praise him
...
ii
...
He adds that Caesar brought to Rome many captives, whose countrymen had to pay
their ransoms, thus filling Rome’s coffers
...
Antony continues that Caesar sympathized with the poor: “When that the
poor have cried, Caesar hath wept” (III
...
88)
...
Again, he ponders aloud whether this
humility constituted ambition
...

Antony pauses to weep
...
Antony speaks again, saying that he
would gladly stir them to mutiny and rebellion, though he will not harm Brutus or Cassius, for they
are—again—honorable men
...
The plebeians beg him to read it
...
They implore him to
read it
...
The plebeians call the conspirators traitors and demand that Antony read the will
...
Looking at the body, Antony points out the wounds that Brutus and Cassius

inflicted, reminding the crowd how Caesar loved Brutus, and yet Brutus stabbed him viciously
...
Then he uncovers the body for all to see
...
Antony says that they should not be stirred to mutiny against
such “honourable men”
...
He proclaims himself a plain man; he speaks only what he knows, he says—he will let
Caesar’s wounds speak the rest
...

The people declare that they will mutiny nonetheless
...
He now reads that Caesar has bequeathed a sum of money from his personal holdings to
every man in Rome
...
Antony continues reading, revealing Caesar’s plans to make his private parks and gardens
available for the people’s pleasure
...
Antony is content; he muses, "Mischief,
thou art afoot, / Take thou what course thou wilt!"
...

Octavius’s servant enters
...
Antony is pleased and decides to visit him immediately to plan to take advantage of the chaos
he has created
...
We observe each speaker’s effect on the crowd and see
the power that words can have—how they can stir emotion, alter opinion, and induce action
...
Again, the audience is given an understanding of the masses
as easily swayed — they do not seem able to form their own opinions but take on the coloration of the
most persuasive orator
...
Brutus convinces them of his cause by his use of reason
...
He desires to convey that this message comes from the mouth of a concerned Roman citizen,
not from the mouth of a greedy usurper
...
What more dramatic effect could there be than Antony entering the
forum bearing the body of the slain leader? No matter what Brutus says, and despite the fact that the
crowd is emphatically on his side, from this moment, all eyes are turned to Mark Antony and the corpse
he bears
...
What follows is Antony's
now-famous "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise

him" funeral oration
...
He has
turned his audience's attention from the "evil ambition" of which Brutus spoke
...
ii
...
Antony answers Brutus’s allegation that Caesar was “ambitious” by
reminding the crowd of the wealth that Caesar brought to Rome, Caesar’s sympathy for the poor, and his
refusal to take the throne when offered it—details seeming to disprove any charges of ambition
...

Antony’s refined oratorical skill enables him to manipulate the crowd into begging him to read Caesar’s
will
...
’Tis good you know not that you are his heirs”
...
He thus gains their favor
...
In placing himself physically among the
crowd, Antony joins the commoners without sacrificing his rhetorical influence over them
...
He claims, with false modesty, that he is not a great orator, like Brutus, and that he doesn’t intend
to incite revolt
...

Having prepared the kindling with his speech, Antony lights the fire of the people’s fury with his
presentation of Caesar’s will
...
Antony predicts and utilizes the people’s sense of injustice
at being stripped of so generous a ruler
...


Act 3 Scene 3
Summary
Cinna the poet is on his way to attend Caesar's funeral when he is accosted by a group of riotous citizens
who demand to know who he is and where he is going
...
They mistake him, however, for the conspirator Cinna and move to assault
him
...
" With Cinna captive, the crowd exits, declaring their intent to
burn the houses belonging to Brutus, Cassius, Decius, Casca, and Caius Ligarius
...
The reader can
imagine them surrounding Cinna the poet, closing in on him, firing questions from all sides
...
This is the realm of mob rule
...
While the body may lie dead, the
true Caesar, the leader of the people, lives on in their hearts—as he does in the anxious minds of the
conspirators: Brutus will soon encounter Caesar’s ghost near the battlefield
...


Act 4 Scene 1
Summary
After they have formed the Second Triumvirate, Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus meet in Rome to decide
which Romans shall live and which shall die
...
Antony suggests that, as a way of saving money, they examine Caesar’s
will to see if they can redirect some of his funds
...

After he exits, Antony tells Octavius that Lepidus may be fit to run errands but that he is not fit to rule
one-third of the world; after they are through using him, they will assume the power he temporarily
enjoys
...
Antony answers that his horse also has those qualities; therefore, Lepidus will be trained and
used
...

Analysis
These scenes deal with the events that take place in the vacuum of power left by Caesar’s death
...
Now, ironically, he searches for ways to turn these funds into cash in order to raise an army
against Brutus and Cassius
...
In this manner, you can confirm what you may already believe — that Antony has
manipulated the people with his own advantage in mind
...
Lepidus, who is, in effect, Antony's messenger, sent to
retrieve Caesar's will, has no power
...
So why does Shakespeare concern the reader with this question? Because this
power struggle is another aspect of the concern that desire and appetite are at the root of the destruction
taking place in Rome
...

Despite the fact that Brutus tries to convince himself that he kills Caesar because of logic and reason, he
and the others are as much ruled by passion as anyone else
...
)
Brutus is unaware of his own emotional nature and denies it, thus losing its potential power
...
In
this scene, his emotional nature can be sidelined when cruel, rational thought is required
...
He is able to understand and control passion
...

The triumvirs, particularly Antony, are more "successful" than are the conspirators, as the audience sees
in the next scene; however, this success comes at the cost of cruelty, betrayal, and tyranny
...
Brutus, in particular,
is unable to get a handle on fear, even paranoia
...

In a strange dialogue with Octavius, he also badly insults Lepidus, explaining how, just as his horse has
been taught to fight, turn, stop, and move his body according to Antony’s will, so, too, must Lepidus now
be trained
...
Lepidus proves an effective tool for them in that he is
malleable and apparently not intelligent enough to devise his own motives
...


Act 4 Scene 2
Summary
Meanwhile, Brutus waits with his men in camp and meets with Lucillius, Titinius, and Pindarus
...
He says that Cassius is becoming more
and more displeased with Brutus, and Brutus worries that their ties may be weakening
...

Brutus responds that he would not wrong a friend and suggests that they converse inside his tent so that
"both our armies" will not see them quarreling
...

Analysis
Just as powerful men have struggled for supreme power in the previous scene, here you see the struggle
of men as they fall out of love
...
) Note the type of passionate language used to describe how Brutus
and Cassius feel
...
Ever note, Lucilius, / When
love begins to sicken and decay / It useth an enforced ceremony
...
The question of how to reconcile
passion and reason — the mind and the body — are ultimately unresolved
...
In the
previous scene, Antony speaks of Lepidus as a horse as a way of indicating the latter's inferior position
...
" Antony's use of the imagery indicates control; Brutus', a loss of control
...

Brutus replies that Cassius should not have written defending such a cause, and Brutus charges him with
having an "itching palm" — that is, Cassius has been selling offices
...
He asks Cassius if they should
now allow themselves to descend into the very corruption that they tried to eliminate
...
and he says strongly that he would "rather
be a dog and bay the moon" than be a Roman who would sell his honor for money
...

The two men insult each other, and Brutus expresses the reasons for his disappointment in Cassius
...
Cassius claims that he did not deny Brutus, but that the
messenger misreported Brutus’s words
...
He hopes
that Antony and Octavius will kill him soon, for, having lost his closest ally and friend, he no longer
desires to live
...

Brutus tells Cassius to put his dagger away and says that they both are merely ill-tempered
...
Outside, Lucillius is attempting to prevent a poet from entering the tent,
but the poet squeezes past him and scolds Brutus and Cassius for arguing: “Love and be friends, as two
such men should be, / For I have seen more years, I’m sure, than ye”
...

Cassius and Brutus drink wine together
...
Brutus
explains that he has been under many emotional burdens lately, the foremost of which has been the death
of his wife, Portia; he recently received news that she killed herself by swallowing fire
...
Messala asks Brutus if he has had word from Portia, and when Brutus
answers negatively, Messala comments that this seems strange
...
But Brutus insists that Messala tell him the truth, and
Messala reports that Portia is dead as she thought Brutus had died and committed suicide by swallowing
hot coals
...
Brutus suggests
that they march to Philippi to meet the enemy
...
Brutus protests that they are
at the peak of their readiness and should seize the opportunity
...


When his guests have departed, Brutus tells his servant Lucius to call some of his men to sleep with him
in his tent
...
Brutus then asks Lucius to play some music
...
Brutus resumes reading a book he has begun, but he is suddenly interrupted by the entry of
Caesar's ghost
...
" It has appeared only to say that they will meet again at Philippi
...
They all swear that they have seen and heard nothing
...
Their argument seems to arise partially from a misunderstanding but also partially from
stubbornness
...
We
see that Brutus speaks against corruption, but when he has no other means of paying his army, he quickly
consents to unscrupulousness, if only indirectly
...
She's swallowed coals, a most painful — and some would say, fitting —
way of death
...
But in doing so, she does not contain and remove the difficulties facing
Rome
...

The news of her death to Brutus is delayed
...
What is Shakespeare's purpose in delaying such news? Impact
...
Moments of impact such as
these offer a pause, a catching of breath that reveals multitudes
...
Loss and betrayal are essential elements of grief, but Brutus, unable to speak these disloyal
thoughts against his wife, transfers his feelings to Cassius
...
It is
Cassius who leaves him
...
By
banishing thoughts of his wife, Brutus is left with his companions of war
...


Brutus cannot sleep—perhaps because he is brooding internally on his guilt; in any case, this guilt is soon
manifested externally in the form of the Ghost of Caesar
...

The dream foreshadows — and Brutus realizes — that Brutus will die in the battles to come, and that his
death will not be the last
...


Act 5 Scene 1
Summary
Octavius and Antony enter the battlefield at Philippi with their armies
...
Antony, the more experienced soldier, tells Octavius to attack from the left
...
Antony
asks Octavius why he questions his authority, but Octavius stands firm
...
The two sides immediately
hurl insults at one another: Antony accuses Brutus of hypocrisy in the assassination and he derides the
conspirators for the cowardly way that they killed Caesar
...
Octavius suggests that they
cease talking and begin fighting and boasts that he will not sheath his sword until he has either revenged
Caesar or has been killed by traitors
...
Cassius calls Octavius a "peevish
schoolboy" and Antony a "masker and a reveller
...
Octavius,
Antony, and their armies exit
...
Both Brutus and Cassius say that they would be unwilling to return to Rome in chains,
and would much rather die
...
" They part having
made up and having their friendship reconciled
...
The previous four acts have been
largely about words, persuasion, the (mis)use and (mis)interpretation of words, and the power of
language
...
The real battle of words, however, occurs between the triumvirate
and the conspirators
...
In
Act I, scene ii, Antony comments, “When Caesar says ‘Do this,’ it is performed”; such authority is the
mark of a powerful leader (I
...
12)
...
Antony, noticing this similarity between adopted son and father, begins calling
Octavius “Caesar
...
In at
least one way, then, Caesar’s permanence is established
...
When Brutus insists that “good words are better than bad strokes,” Antony
replies, “In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words
...
i
...
Antony suggests that Brutus’s use of rhetoric has been just
as damaging to Rome as his physical blows, for by falsely swearing allegiance to Caesar he deceived and
betrayed him—hypocritically, he murdered Caesar even as he cheered in support of him
...
i
...
The politicians engage in a skillful rhetorical skirmish, but, ultimately, their
words have no effective power
...


Act 5 Scene 2
Summary
During the early course of the battle of Philippi, Brutus sends Messala with a message, urging Cassius to
engage the enemy forces at once
...

Analysis
Brutus' actions in this scene embody both hope and the rashness born of having nothing more to lose
...


Act 5 Scene 3
Summary
The next scene finds Cassius standing on a hill with Titinius (an officer in Cassius’ army), watching the
battle and lamenting its course
...
Pindarus now runs up to Cassius with a
report: Antony’s troops have entered Cassius’s camp
...
Cassius refuses to move but, catching sight of a group of burning tents, asks if those tents are his
...
Cassius then notices a series of advancing troops in the distance; he gives
Titinius his horse and instructs him to find out whose troops they are
...
Caesar
then order Pindarus (his servant) to mount the hill and watch Titinius
...
Distraught at this news of what he takes to be his best
friend’s capture, Cassius tells Pindarus to watch no more
...
Cassius gives Pindarus his sword,
covers his own eyes, and asks Pindarus to kill him
...
Pindarus does so, and Cassius
dies, saying, "Caesar, thou art revenged, / Even with the sword that killed thee
...
He
now enters with Messala, hoping to comfort Cassius with the news that Octavius' men have been
overthrown by Brutus
...
While Messala goes to report his tragic discovery to
Brutus, Titinius mourns over Cassius’s body, anguished that a man whom he greatly admired died over
such a mistake
...

Brutus now enters with Messala and his men
...
To both of them, he pays a sad farewell, calling Cassius "the last of all the Romans
...
Brutus hopes to find victory in a second fight
...
They refer
strongly to Caesar’s death: like Caesar, Cassius dies after failing to perceive the truth; and he dies from
his own sword, the same sword that killed Caesar
...

Brutus, with the ghostly visitor of the previous night fresh in his mind, also interprets Cassius’s death as
the doings of a vengeful Caesar
...
Yet now the power
of Caesar appears to linger on, as events unfold in exact compliance with what Caesar would have
wished
...

Cassius grasps at Pindarus' words as justification for what he desires: death
...
This
interpretation of his death will be all the more hurtful to Brutus
...
Cassius desires a virtuous death, and he believes that
dying out of respect and sympathy for his captured friend will afford him just such an end: “O coward
that I am, to live so long / To see my best friend ta’en before my face!”
...
Cassius’s last line widens this gap between his conception and reality: “Caesar, thou
art revenged, / Even with the sword that killed thee”
...
Yet
while the sword that kills both is, fatefully, the same, the hands that drive it are not, ruining Cassius’s
parallel
...
Rather, the only witness, Pindarus, a lowly slave, flees to his freedom, “where never
Roman shall take note of him”
...

What is interesting to note is the way in which the audience's views of these two characters has changed
since the beginning of the play
...
His motives for killing
Caesar were murky — the readers knew there was more to Cassius' intentions than he admitted
...
At the
end, Cassius is prepared to show his great love for his friend and, although this love is noble in itself, it
diminishes him to some degree
...
In contrast to
Brutus' virility in the face of his great friend's death, Cassius is less manly
...
In
addition, any doubts that the audience may have had about Brutus' nobility are swept aside by the
sympathy gained for him through the powerful friendship he has developed with Cassius
...
He urges
them all to stand upright and brave
...
Young Cato is killed, and Lucilius is captured by Antony's soldiers who think that he is Brutus
...
When Antony arrives and asks for Brutus, Lucilius tells him that Brutus is alive and will never
be taken prisoner
...
Antony then asks his soldiers
to see if Brutus is alive or dead, and bring him word in Octavius’ tent
...
In this scene, Antony's soldiers mistake Lucilius for Brutus, the former
having taken on the latter's identity in order to protect him, hoping to convince the soldiers that they have
captured Brutus, and thus give up looking for him
...

Now that he is taken prisoner, and not killed, will Lucilius be as valuable a friend as Antony suggests?
Lucilius seems the least likely person to switch allegiances, and by the end of the play there is no clear
answer whether he will
...
This belief is an indication of the type of ruler he
will be — one who is willing to forget both principles and loyalties
...
Loyalty lasts as long as the battle, and when faced with the reality
of life among the winners, one ought to change sides
...
In fact, his views indicate, to some degree, that when
Antony and the triumvirate rule — for they surely will — they will rule a world devoid of the nobility of
men like Brutus and Lucilius
...
They are tired from battle, and Brutus whispers a
request first to Clitus and then to Dardanius; he wants one of the men to kill him
...

He tells Volumnius that Caesar's ghost appeared to him again; he knows that it is time for him to die
...
Volumnius refuses, believing it an improper act for a friend to perform
...
Brutus wishes his comrades
farewell, including Strato, who has awakened from a quick nap; he repeats that it is time for him to die
...
Brutus asks Strato to stay behind
and they are alone
...
Impaling himself on the sword, Brutus declares that in killing himself he acts on motives
twice as pure as those with which he killed Caesar, and that Caesar should consider himself avenged:
“Caesar, now be still
...

Octavius, Antony, Messala, Lucilius, and others enter and come upon Strato with Brutus' body
...
Octavius offers to take
into his service all who have followed Brutus, and Antony delivers a brief and now-famous oration over
the body of Brutus beginning, "This was the noblest Roman of them all
...
Brutus was a worthy citizen, a rare example of a real man
...
The men depart to celebrate their victory
...

Brutus preserves his noble bravery to the end: unlike the cowardly Cassius, who has his slave stab him
while he, Cassius, covers his face, Brutus decides calmly on his death and impales himself on his own
sword
...

Additionally, whereas the dead Cassius is immediately abandoned by a lowly slave, the dead Brutus is
almost immediately celebrated by his enemy as the noblest of Romans
...
When the Ghost of Caesar appears
to him on the battlefield, he unflinchingly accepts his defeat and the inevitability of his death
...
Although Caesar gives the play its name, he has few lines and dies early in the third
act
...


History tells us that Antony will soon be ousted from the triumvirate by Octavius’s growing power
...
The idealistic, tormented Brutus, struggling between his love for Caesar and his belief in
the ideal of a republic, faces the most difficult of decisions—a decision in which the most is at stake—and
he chooses wrongly
...
His ideal proves
too rigid in the political world of the play, in which it appears that one succeeds only through
chameleon-like adaptability, through bargaining and compromise—skills that Antony masterfully
displays
...
Even though Antony and
Octavius have the last word, their praises are, in fact, epilogue
...
Shakespeare's finales almost
always leave room for doubt, and this play is no exception
...


Act 2 Scene 2 Seduction Scene
Cassius highlights Brutus’ worthiness
Cassius says “Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?”
...

Nothing that no mirror could revel Brutus’ worthiness to himself, Cassius offers to serve as a human
mirror so that Brutus may discover himself and conceive of himself in new ways
...
He informs Brutus that Roman citizens
look to him as a better leader than Caesar under whom they groan with “this age’s yoke”,
or tyranny
...
”
● Praising Brutus’ sense of equality
○ Arguing that Caesar has “now become a god”, Cassius tells Brutus that there is no reason
that Caesar should be held above the other noblemen; Brutus is as worthy as Caesar as
shown in the next quote
...
Men at some
time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves,
that we are underlings
...

● Praising Brutus’ republican ideals
○ Cassius then appeals to their desire for Rome to hold republican ideals and not allow a
despot to run the country
...
C
...
Cassius also recounts an episode when Caesar had a
fever in Spain and experienced a seizure
...
Cassius wants Brutus to marvel at the fact that a man
with such a feeble constitution should now stand at the head of the civilised world
...
” — Cassius A1S2
Cassius convinces Brutus that Caesar is bad for Rome as he knows that Brutus’ first concern is for the
people of Rome
He plants the idea in Brutus that Caesar us too powerful and that power causes people to be corrupt so as
to convince him to join in the conspiracy
...


Asking rhetorical questions
The questions are worded in such a way where the only logical answer makes Caesar look bad, so when
he plants these questions in Brutus’ head, he gets him to really start thinking about the damage Caesar is
causing Rome
...
It moves Brutus to act because he feels Caesar’s death will be for the good of his beloved country
...

● “You have done that you should be sorry for
...

○ This means that Brutus says that Cassius should be responsible for killing Caesar
...
This provides dramatic
irony for the audience but this is not ironic for Brutus as it is part of his character
...


CHARACTERS
Julius Caesar
A successful military leader who wants the crown of Rome
...
He is assassinated midway through the play;
later, his spirit appears to Brutus at Sardis and also at Philippi
...
The senate has concluded
To give a crown to mighty
Caesar this day
...
”
— Decius A2S2

This shows that Caesar had
evidently died partly due to his
arrogance
...
This proves that
his arrogance, boastfulness
overcame his rational thoughts
and he chose pride and fame of
being crowned in front of a large
crowd over being careful
...
Give me
my robe, because I’ll go
...


This quote was said by Caesar
on the Ides of March, before he
was killed
...
The things him dying, Caesar replied with
that threatened me Ne’er looked this
...
When they shall he shall leave for what threatens
see The face of Caesar, they are him has only seen his back, but
vanished
...
This explains to us that
Caesar is fearless towards any
threats towards him as he
believes that he is more fearful
than them
...

Thus, Caesar is shown to be
arrogant and boastful here as he
thinks very highly of himself to
the point that he believes
nothing can threaten him
...
/ We are two lions littered in
one day, / And I the elder and
more terrible; / And Caesar shall
go forth
...
He
personifies ‘danger’ as a person
he wages war upon and in the
end, he wins
...


“Caesar should be a beast
without a heart, If he should stay
home today for fear
...
Danger knows full
well That Caesar is more
dangerous than he
...
This shows
that Caesar is narcissistic and
vain as he speaks about himself
in third person
...
He places
himself on a higher pedestal
compared to death even though
he is still susceptible to death as
he is mortal and thinks that he
has a power over death
...


“I could be well moved, if I
were as you; If I could pray to
move, prayers would move me;
But I am constant as the
Northern Star, of whose

Once again, Caesar is comparing
himself to something out of his
reach
...
He does

Physically weak

true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the
firmament
...
It is this
overbearing
pride
and
confidence that does him in
before his death
...


Deaf in his left ear
Constantly has fits
Falls sick easily
Unable to swim

Shows that Caesar is physically
weak and typically not of the
physical state one would expect
of a leader
...


Manipulative

Complexity
character

He refused the crown three This made the plebeians root for
times
...
This makes the plebeians
believe that he is not ambitious
and has no intention of ruling
Rome but in fact, he has plans to
do so
...

of

Caesar’s

Julius Caesar is not the main
character of the play that bears
his name; Brutus has over four
times as many lines, and the
play does not show us Caesar’s
point of view
...

If Caesar were to become king,

it would mean the end of
Rome’s republican system of
government, in which senators,
representing the citizens of
Rome, wield most of the power
...

Caesar never explicitly stated he
wants to become king— he
even refuses the crown three
times in a
dramatic public
display— but everything he
says and does demonstrates that
he regards himself as special and
superior to other mortals
...


Marcus Brutus
Composed

Popilius Lena “wished today our
enterprise might thrive” and did
not panic
...

This shows that Brutus is
composed as he is able to keep
his cool in such a situation
where his intentions might have
been revealed; allowing for a
successful
assassination of
Caesar
...

is in you Antony
...
” — Brutus A1S2

Strong-willed

When Cassius wanted to
assassinate Antony as well,
Brutus strongly objected and
stood his ground
...


This shows that Brutus was
more adamant to follow his
plans than to listen to others
...


Patriotic

Decided to assassinate Caesar
for what he believed was the
good of Rome and made the
majority of his decisions
thinking of Rome
...
This shows that Brutus
is patriotic to a fault, the fact
that he is willing to betray his
best friend for a nation and even
kill him
...


Noble (to himself)

Brutus always justifies his Brutus strongly believes in his
actions to himself and believes own motives and does not hide
he is noble
things
from
others
...
However, to him, he
is noble
...
” — Brutus he states that he would rather die
A1S2
than be dishonourable
...


Naive

He trusted Antony and allowed
him to speak to the plebeians
after Julius Caesar was killed
and did not think that Antony
would turn them against him
...
Clearly, Brutus
misjudges the influence Antony
will have on the crowd
...
It is
this innocence and naivety that
leads to his downfall
...
” — Brutus A4S3

He is being hypocritical as he is
known to always be noble and
does not stand for bribes and is
criticising Cassius for even
accepting bribes, yet he still gets
angry at Cassius for not sending
him the money he earned from
bribes
...

However, his actions already
show that he is not as noble as
he thought himself to be
...
The fact
that he is willing to sacrifice the
life of his best friend is already
an ignoble act
...
”

Brutus does not want to include
Cicero in the plot, despite there
being many benefits to doing so
...


Caius Cassius
Weak-willed

Did not argue with Brutus over This shows that Cassius though
whether to kill Antony and manipulative, is emotionally
accepted Brutus’ decision
weak
...
If only he had the
capacity to insist, the ending of
Julius Caesar would not have
turned out in that way as Antony
would no longer be around to
exact revenge on them
...
Based on the fact
that Cassius is cunning but
intelligent, it is possible he
might have given in as he feels
that Brutus is a person of value
in his plan
...
He was
active
in
seeking
out
conspirators who could help in
removing Caesar from power
...


Mark Antony
Good orator

“Friends, Romans, countrymen
...
” — the minds of the fickle-minded
Antony A3S2
plebeians from them supporting
the
conspirators
to now
supporting Caesar and have
them declare his death to be
unjust
...
It is
this skill that allows him to take
over Rome as one of the
triumvirates
...
He cares
about her and tries to take her
opinions into account
...
When
Calphurnia is shown on stage,
she was labelled as “barren” by
her husband and was only given
one line to show her obedience
towards him
...
She complies, but this
surely must be humiliating
...
Her only lines in this
scene are “Here, my lord”
...


‘equal’ with Brutus
shows how caring a
husband
Brutus
is
compared to Caesar
Adds tension to plot in
A2S4
evokes pity in audience
towards Brutus after her
death

Her relationship with Brutus
comes across as closer and more
intimate
than
Calphurnia’s
relationship with Caesar, which
seems more distant
...

However, Portia is still unable to
move her husband enough to
confide in her
...

and Titinius
...
The fact that he is
still around to influence major
decisions show that his power
never truly fades with time
...


“Do not consent / That Antony
speak in his funeral
...
This
scene is dramatically significant
as it is a big mistake that Brutus
makes, as Antony is a good
speaker and even greater
manipulator
...


“Give me your hands all over,
one by one
...
”
“No, not an oath
...
Brutus does
not think that swearing an oath
is necessary, as he thinks of it as
degrading and that their belief
should be strong enough to not
need an oath
...


“I think it is not meet Mark

Brutus’ idealistic and honorable

Antony, so well beloved of
Caesar, Should outlive Caesar
...
”
“Let us be sacrificers, not
butchers”
“Let us kill him boldly, but not
wrathfully”
“We shall be called purgers, not
murderers
...
Cassius does not
think that letting Antony live is
the right choice, but Brutus is a
weak judge of character due to
his honor and makes the wrong
decisions
...


“‘Tis better that the enemy seek
us, / So shall he waste his
means, weary his soldiers, /
Doing himself offence, whilst
we, lying still, / Are full of rest,
defence
and
nimbleness
...
” — Brutus
A4S3

Brutus pretends to listen to other
people’s advice, but still thinks
his own is better
...


“Brutus gave the word too early,
/Who, having some advantage
on Octavius, / Took it too
eagerly; his soldiers fell to spoil,
/ Whilst we by Antony are all
enclosed
...
However,
due to Brutus giving the word
too early, his soldiers have
started looting instead of
fighting the war
...
/ In Wine is
this I bury all unkindness, friendship
...
”
“My heart is thirsty for that
noble pledge
...
He tries to
make sure Brutus is alright,
and
this
shows
their
honorable relationship
...
/ If we do
meet again, why, we shall
smile; / If not, why then this
parting was well made
...
There is a
display of deep affection, and
they know full well they may
or may not have the chance to
meet each other again
...
” [Brutus]
“Not for yours either
...
Portia is worried
about Brutus as he has not
been acting well
...


“Good Portia, go to bed”
“Is Brutus sick, and is it
physical / To walk unbraced
and suck up the humours / Of
the dank morning?”

They are genuinely concerned
for each other’s wellbeing,
showing
their
good
relationship with each other
...


“No man bears sorrow better
...
”
Portia dying, and he is upset
...
”
— Brutus A4S3

Moreover he was not by
Portia’s side when she had
died, and that must have also
saddened him badly
...

my statue, / Which like a
fountain with an hundred
spouts / Did run pure blood;
and many lusty Romans /
Came smiling, and did bathe
their hands in it
...

In
Elizabethan
times,
superstitious omens was of
great importance and they
were not to be ignored or
taken lightly
...

This had in turn led Caesar to
go to the senate and
afterward, his death
...
/
Give me my robe, for I will go
...
Caesar pretends to be
him
...
”
disinterested in superstition,
however he has a superstitious
nature
...

The Soothsayer
“Beware the ides of March”

Artemidorus tries to show

Artemidorus’ letter
“What touches us ourself shall
be last served
...
He tries to
maintain his public image and
tries to show that his own
interest is secondary, but this
in turn results in his death
...
”
soothsayer’s warning
After looking at his face, Caesar
determines him as just a
“dreamer” and dismisses his
warning — A2S2

Caesar’s pride makes him
overlook the fact that the
soothsayer’s words to him could
very well be true
...


Manhood and Honour

Manipulation/Deception
When Cassius tries to persuade
Brutus to go against Caesar, and
reveals in a soliloquy his true
intentions
...
For who so firm that
cannot be reduced?” — Cassius
Powerful because: Even noble A1S2
Brutus may be swayed by
Cassius’
cunning
and
manipulative words

Cassius’ soliloquy reveals his
clear intention to ‘seduce’
Brutus with his insinuations of
Caesar’s
weaknesses
and
excesses
...


“I will this night, in several

Cassius is blatant here in stating

Decius masterfully convinces
Caesar to go to the Senate
through deception, manipulating
him through Caesar’s vanity,
pride and ambition
...
” — Cassius
A1S2

his intention to deceive Brutus
into thinking that he has the
support of many Romans of her
were to go against Caesar by
sending him forged letters
...
”
— Decius A2S2

Decius cleverly implies that
Caesar’s weak excuse for
staying at home will be laughed
at, deftly avoiding insulting him
directly
...

dream by flattering him with the
notion that Rome shall “suck
reviving blood” from him
...
”
objective ny planting the
suggestion in Caesar’s head
...
’” — Decius A2S2

Decius appeals to Caesar’s ego
here, implying that he will be
mocked by his hypothetical
critics, perhaps even adopted
their imagined mocking tone
...


Antony appears to be grieving “Brutus is noble, wise, valiant,

Antony is careful to praise both

and pretends to accept the
conspirators justification for
killing Caesar in front of the
conspirators, while secretly
plotting to turn the Romans
against them
Powerful because: How Antony
cleverly gains the confidence of
the conspirators, in particular
Brutus, so that he has an
opportunity to turn the tables on
them
...
”

and honest; Caesar was mighty,
bold, royal, and loving
...
” — Antony A3S1

Brutus and Caesar
...
If Antony had criticised
the conspirators, he would be
deemed hostile to their cause
...

By appearing to want to hear out
their reasons for killing Caesar,
he comes across as fair and
honourable, which would appeal
to Brutus
...


SYMBOLS
Omens
The weird happenings signify “A common slave— you know
something bad is about to him well by sight— Held up his
happen
left hand, which did flame and
burn Like twenty torches joined;
and yet his hand, Not sensible of
fire, remained unscorched
...
Until
Caesar’s death, each time an
omen or nightmare is reported,
“Besides— I ha’ not since put the audience is reminded of
up my sword— Against the Caesar’s impending demise
...
”
is fated to occur or whether they
serve as warnings for what
“Men, all in fire, walk up and might occur if the characters do
down the streets
...
Whether or not
“And yesterday the bird of night individuals can affect their
did sit, Even at noon-day, upon destinies, characters repeatedly
their market-place, Hooting and fail to interpret the omens
shrieking
...
In a larger sense, the
omens in Julius Caesar thus
imply the dangers of failing to
perceive and analyze the details
of one’s world
...
” He also calls
Caesar
“prodigious grown, / And
fearful,
as these strange
eruptions are”

Cassius
interprets
and
manipulates the omens for his
own purposes
...
The
monstrous state, Casca is meant
to believe, is Caesar's Rome
...
" This is meant to try to

convince Casca to join the
conspiracy without being too
obvious
...

This is no ordinary storm and its
violence and the extraordinary
events that accompany it would
be recognised by the audience as
a bad omen, even though it is
not pointed out clearly
...

The descriptive speeches of
Casca
and
Cassius,
one
apparently wondering why all
the commotion, the other
providing the answer are
powerful in their effect
...


Women and wives
Represents the silencing of the
gentler, more humanising female
voice as the men allow pride,
ambition, hatred and anger to
rule their actions
...
Caesar being unwilling to
listen to Calphurnia as he was
blinded by the possibility of
being crowned caused him to
downplay Calphurnia’s dream
...
“PEOPLE LIKE CASSIUS ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN PEOPLE LIKE CAESAR
...
Although Cassius is a
selfish, evil and manipulative man, he does not have enough influence over people
...

Cassius is one of the conspirators who believes that killing Caesar would instantly give him the power
that Caesar had
...
He wanted
to eliminate Caesar as he felt that it was not fair that only Caesar is given the fame and glory while he gets
little of it
...
This shows of Cassius being dangerous as he was the first one to have a desire of
Caesar being dead
...
Unlike him, Caesar is a well-liked leader who everyone listens to
...
Caesar could influence anyone to do anything
he wants due to his growing power at that point in time
...
This thus makes him a dangerous man
...
When he refused the crown three times, the action made people think that he is humble and
honourable
...
These actions add on to why Caesar is dangerous
...

If Caesar's role is swapped with Cassius, Caesar would have made the job much easier to achieve
...
“O JULIUS CAESAR, THOU ART MIGHTY YET!” HOW DOES THIS REMARK OF
BRUTUS REFLECT ONE OF THE MAJOR THEMES IN THE PLAY?
The famous quote, 'O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet,' is said by Brutus as he stands over the dead
bodies of Cassius and Titinius, another soldier who was fighting on their side
...
Titinius saw the body of Cassius
and also committed suicide
...
He says they are the
last true Romans, and that the entire world will be poorer for their loss
...
There
will be time later for their funerals
...
This reflects one
of the overarching themes of power
...
The quote also helps to portray
the theme of power, as it was the fear of power which had led to the assassination and the civil war
...

Caesar's influence and power did not die with him
...
Brutus already acknowledges this when he said
this quote
...
This can be shown
when Cassius says "Caesar, thou art revenged, Even with the sword that kill'd thee
...
It
means that caesar would be avenged by the same sword that killed him
...
This shows the
heavy influence of Caesar's spirit, eventually playing a part in driving Cassius to his death despite him
being the main orchestrator of Caesar's assassination
...
He addresses Caesar by "Julius Caesar", making
it seem more formal and distant
...
This quote is significant as Brutus is speaking formally
...
This shows a difference in power, seemingly as if Brutus was of
a lower rank
...
This can be shown when Brutus realises that even though Caesar is dead, there
is no change for the better, which he had hoped for, and it seems that the assassination has led to more
destruction and civil war
...
Brutus seems to think that even though Caesar is dead, he is still powerful enough to come back
and take revenge on the conspirators who had killed him(as if he was still alive)
...
ANTONY’S SPEECH: AN ANALYSIS OF CREATIVITY AND THE ART OF BEING
CLEVER
...
In the funeral speech he
gave after the death of Caesar, he argued that Caesar's death was not justified and used persuasive
techniques to do so
...
Antony's speech was very effective because of
the way he used them
...
He says, "the noble Brutus hath told [the audience] Caesar was
ambitious" (IV ii
...
Antony says Caesar
had refused the crown three times
...
ii
...
Furthermore, he says that Brutus said Caesar was ambitious and that Brutus was an honorable
man
...
With Antony saying that Brutus was an honorable man, but then contradicting that by giving
examples of how what Brutus said was wrong, Brutus' argument is weakened
...

The words Antony uses appeals to the audience's sense of respect for Caesar, which causes them to go
against the conspirators, and, in turn, benefits Antony's argument
...
ii
...

The word "sacred" alters Caesar's blood to make it seem like Caesar was special
...
Also, a lock of Caesar's hair is a "rich legacy" (IV
...
137)
...
Words like this do
not describe normal people, so they imply that Caesar was a successful person
...
Antony
repeats that "Brutus is an honorable man" (IV
...
95) so many times that it alters the literal meaning
...
This sarcasm gives credit to Antony's argument by
making fun of Brutus' honor, which, weakens Brutus' argument
...
Antony "remember[s] the first time Caesar put
[the mantle] on" (IV
...
171-172)
...
ii
...
The fact that the story was even told is bound to cause a
few tears to be shed because the audience would remember Caesar when he was alive
...
If they were truly missing Caesar and were honestly
sorry about his death, then this would cause rage and anger toward Caesar's murderers
...
Caesar was killed by "Cassius' dagger" (IV
...
175) and "Brutus' stab" (IV
...
177), and
since the audience loved Caesar before, this would cause the plebeians to be angry at whoever killed their
loved one
...
After Antony talks about how Caesar was murdered, the

crowd turns against the conspirators even more: "They were villains!" and "They were traitors!"
(IV
...
155-157)
...

In the end, Antony managed to get the plebeians to agree with him because of the persuasive devices he
uses
...
He used these techniques in a creative way and tied
them into each other to deliver a sarcastic, powerful, and sad speech
...


Q
...

When Brutus speaks to the Romans, he has two purposes
...
His second purpose is to introduce Mark
Antony
...
He implies that he's a "good guy" for
letting Caesar's best friend speak, but he's naive when he decides not to stay to listen to Antony
...
" Brutus's
speech is practically a failure
...
"Those that will hear me speak, let
'em stay here; / Those that will follow Cassius, go with him
...
Brutus does
not have the authority of a powerful leader
...

The most serious flaw in Brutus's speech is that he is not specific or detailed; he is too vague
...
(What does he mean by honorable?
Is it honorable to assassinate a leader for the reasons Brutus offers?) I loved Caesar as much as you did,
but Caesar was a threat to Rome because he was ambitious
...
In fact, the word ambitious is
a poor choice because it has favorable connotations as well as negative ones
...
But Brutus assumes that ambition is all
bad
...
He doesn't give any convincing evidence to prove that
Caesar deserved to die
...
This is an example of the either-or fallacy, one kind of faulty reasoning
...
In fact, there are many other possible alternatives between these two extremes
...
He says “Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? Who is here so vile
that will not love his country?" (Act III, Scene 2) He pauses for effect, knowing full well that no one will
publicly admit to being unpatriotic
...
He is very sincere, But
Brutus is far less passionate and thus far less convincing to the mob than Antony is
...
And he ignores Rule 1 of Persuasive Speaking: Nobody
believes anybody without proof
...
Brutus may or may not be an honorable man, but he is certainly a terrible
orator
...
BRUTUS VS CASSIUS AND SIGNIFICANCE
...

Despite
their
differences in character traits,
the two characters are very
intimate, especially in A4S3
where they quarrel
...
One example is
Cassius’ speech to Brutus
where he heavily criticises
Caesar to be “as a sick girl”
...
The intimacy of
Brutus and Cassius is directly in
contrast with the cold, distant
relations between Antony and
Octavius, which is more out of
necessity than friendship
...


The manner they view others
Brutus seems to see others in a
relatively optimistic light
...
He also did not see
the threat of Antony, hoping that
he will be like a limb of Caesar,
useless when the head is off
...
MISTAKES BRUTUS HAS MADE
...
COMMENT ON THE DRAMATIC EFFECT OF THE “HORRID SIGHTS” WHICH
CALPHURNIA DESCRIBES
...
This is considered to be an omen pointing at
Caesar's death as lions are predatory animals which are known to attack and kill humans at times, thus
signifying Caesar's death at the hands of the conspirators who can possibly be likened to the lions
...
"hath whelped" means has given boil"
...
Hence, we can draw parallels between the members of the
conspiracy and the lioness and her newborn litter with the lioness representing Cassius, as he was the one
to orchestrate the assassination scheme, and the newborn cubs representing the other conspirators, as they
had merely joined Cassius' plot with some persuasion from Cassius
...
We can view
this as a reference to the fact that the conspirators hide in plain sight among the other Romans without
even the astute-minded Caesar seeing their true intentions
...
Thus, this detail
foreshadows Caesar's death by drawing parallels between the lions and the conspirators
...

Calphurnia:
And graves have yawned, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol
...

O Caesar, these things are beyond all use
And I do fear them
...
After the death of Caesar,
Rome is split into two parties, one in support of Brutus and Cassius, and the other in support of the new
triumvirate which consists of Antony, Octavius and Lepidus
...
In the
case of Brutus, he would have most likely been filled with the regret of killing Caesar
...

For Cassius, he would have died with unfinished business
...
After having killed Caesar, Cassius would have
most likely aimed to climb his way up the political ladder
...
By the time he decided to commit suicide, Cassius was still far
from being one of the most powerful men in Rome, hence he would have ended his life without
accomplishing all he had set out to do
...
However, unlike the first detail which focuses on leading up to Caesar's
death, the second detail puts heavy focus on the impact Caesar's death has or will have on Rome
...
READ CAESAR’S DESCRIPTION OF CASSIUS BETWEEN LINES 1-19
...
REFER TO BOTH CAESAR’S
DESCRIPTION AND EARLIER EPISODES INVOLVING CASSIUS TO SUPPORT YOUR
VIEWS
...
He accurately pinpoints the aspects of Cassius
which makes him a threat to Caesar
...
This suggests that Caesar's impression of Cassius is that Cassius is a covetous creature
...

We see an example of this when Cassius laments in spite to Brutus about how he has to "bend his body"
to Caesar if Caesar had simply glanced at him
...
What is strange about this claim, is that factually, Caesar was
known to be an incredibly strong swimmer
...
Additionally, one questions on how a simple swimming
race between Cassius and Caesar can be tied to the unjust ruling and position of Caesar in the Senate
...
As such, we see that Caesar is correct in deducing that Cassius
has a rather covetous nature as evidenced by the jealousy and envy of Cassius's words
...
Such men are dangerous"
...
He knows that keeping a person
who plots and plans very much like Cassius does, is a danger to him, for Cassius could easily backstab
Caesar with a well thought plan
...
The first instance of this would be Cassius's compliments to Brutus
...
For Cassius to suddenly flatter Brutus seems particularly suspicious, especially given
his covetous nature
...
He then concludes with "
Brutus' will start a spirit as soon as Caesar” indirectly suggesting that Brutus is comparable to Caesar
...


Q
...
”
DISCUSS
...
In many instances of the book, the crowd is seen having quite a great impact on the
outcome of situations
...
From this, it is evident
that the crowd is particularly important in the play, especially after the death of Caesar
...

In Act 1 Scene 1, the plebeians parade a street over the victory of Caesar over the sons of Pompey, acting
peacefully and answering the tribunes respectfully and truthfully
...
However, this Scene
reflects the foolishness and fickle minded personality of the plebeians; that they would simply host a
celebration over the conquering of another leader of Rome
...
Apart from that, it shows that the crowd is extremely prone to
hero-worship as they somewhat unknowingly and readily offer Caesar the crown and exalt him
...
"If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them,
as they use to do players in the theatre, I am no true man" was Casca's report of the incident when Caesar
was elected as King thrice
...

In Act 3 Scene 2, Brutus, Cassius and Mark Antony deliver their speeches in front of the plebeians,
Brutus and Cassius attempting to justify their actions of killing Caesar
...
When the citizens first hear Brutus' reasons for slaying Caesar, that he loves Rome more
than he does Caesar, and that he and the others stayed Caesar to save Rome from tyranny and keep them
free, they cheer Brutus and tell him to live, rather than sacrifice his life at their demand
...
This is exceptionally clear when the crowd is swayed
by Brutus' persuasive oratory instead of his abstract ideals and political motives
...
Through this, he was able to play on the crowd's
sense of guilt and regret and evokes pity and grief in the crowd, turning it into an enraged mob
...
) to
have such power and ultimately, it is the plebeians' support that those higher up in the hierarchy are
fighting for
...

In Act 3 Scene 3, the plebeians end up murdering Cinna the poet just because his name was similar to that
of Cinna the conspirator
...
" just to justify their killing of the innocent
Cinna
...


“YOND CASSIUS HAS A LEAN AND HUNGRY LOOK; HE THINKS TOO MUCH
...
” HOW FAR DO YOU THINK THIS DESCRIPTION OF CAESAR IS
JUSTIFIED? SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER WITH CLOSE REFERENCE TO THE PLAY
...
Caesar's assessment of Cassius in Act 1 Scene 2 is astute and accurate
for the most part
...
Cassius thinks too much
...
Caesar's intuition is accurate:
Cassius' envy and his fear of Caesar's growing power and of Caesar's great ambition lead him to persuade
Brutus that Caesar had to be stopped
...

Cassius is driven by personal resentment and antagonism
...
In Act 1 Scene 2 his words seethe with energy and
passion as he compares "we petty men" to the demi-god Caesar
...
Men at some time are
masters of their fates; The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are
underlings
...

Cassius, prime mover of the assassination plot against Julius Caesar, here continues a speech he hopes
will draw Brutus into the conspiracy
...
The philosophical sentiments are appropriately classical, specifically Stoic: it is
man who controls his own destiny, not heavenly powers
...
Brutus
has been trusting to fate to restrain his friend Caesar's ambitions, when Brutus really ought to think, like
Cassius, about seizing fate for himself
...
He is passionate about getting rid of Caesar by masterminding
the conspiracy and motivating the others to join
...
" (Act 1 Scene 2) More so he hates him because Caesar once had a fever and cried "As
a sick girl", (1
...
128) and suffers from epilepsy
...

Another example of Cassius refined manipulation is when he deceives Casca by telling him that a fearful
storm is a sign of displeasure over Caesar from the gods; he emotionally appeals to Casca to join him in
taking immediate action against Caesar, before worse portents follow
...
They have allowed a man to gain excessive power;
therefore, they have the responsibility to stop him, and with a man of Caesar's well-known ambition, that
can only mean assassination
...
He is able to study his prey to figure out a suitable style of winning him over
...
He uses Cinna to take this paper and "lay it in the praetor's chair, where Brutus
may but find it
...
" (Act 1 Scene 3) In this clear manipulation, or dramatic
irony, Brutus thinks after he reads the letters that he needs to join the conspiracy to save the Roman
people who are suffering under Caesar's rule
...
Cassius sees
Brutus as the catalyst that will unite the leading nobles in a conspiracy, and he makes the recruitment of
Brutus his first priority
...

Clearly, Cassius is dangerous
...
When Caesar tells Antony that Cassius is dangerous, Antony answers, "Fear
him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous
...
" He was no doubt expressing
sentiments popular at the time
...
He almost loses control because of fear when Popilius reveals
that the conspirators' plans have been leaked; he gives vent to anger in his argument with Brutus in the
tent at Sardis; he expresses an understanding tolerance of the poet who pleads for him and Brutus to stop
their quarrel; and he threatens suicide repeatedly and finally chooses self-inflicted death to humiliating
capture by Antony and Octavius
...

Of all the leading characters in Julius Caesar, Cassius develops most as the action progresses
...

Bythe end of Act IV, Scene 3, he is a calm friend of Brutus who will remain faithful to their friendship
until death
...




---