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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES

Julius Caesar is a play about a political assassination.  The
question it asks is:  is it ever right to use force to remove a
ruler from power?  You, as readers, can answer that question in
terms of your own experience in the last quarter of the 20th
century.  But if you're going to figure out what Shakespeare
thought, you'll have to know something about the values and
concerns of the Elizabethan world in which he lived.

History plays were popular during Shakespeare's lifetime
(1564-1616) because this was the Age of Discovery, and English
men and women were hungry to learn about worlds other than their
own.  But the Elizabethans also saw history as a mirror in which
to discover themselves and find answers to the problems of their
lives.  A play like Julius Caesar taught the Elizabethans about
Roman politics; it also offered an object lesson in how to live.
What was Shakespeare trying to teach his contemporaries?

To answer that question, let's take a look at Elizabethan
attitudes toward (a) monarchy and (b) order.

(A) MONARCHY

Today we believe in democracy and are suspicious of anyone who
seeks unlimited power.  We know what can happen when a Hitler or
a Stalin takes control of a government, and we know just how
corrupting power can be.  But Shakespeare and his contemporaries
had no such prejudice against strong rulers.  Their queen,
Elizabeth I, ruled with an iron hand for forty-five years (from
1558 to 1603), yet her subjects had great affection for her.
Under her rule the arts flourished and the economy prospered.
While the rest of Europe was embroiled in war, mostly between
Catholics and Protestants, England enjoyed a period relatively
free from civil strife.  Elizabeth's reign--and the reign of
other Tudor monarchs, beginning with Henry VII in 1485--brought
an end to the anarchy that had been England's fate during the
Wars of the Roses (1455-84).  To Shakespeare and his
contemporaries the message was clear:  only a strong, benevolent
ruler could protect the peace and save the country from plunging
into chaos again.  Shakespeare would probably not have approved
of the murder of Caesar.

(B) ORDER

In 1599, when Julius Caesar was first performed, Elizabeth was
old and failing.  She had never married and had no children to
succeed her.  Shakespeare and his contemporaries must have
worried greatly that someone (like Brutus?  like Cassius?) would
try to grab power and plunge the country into civil war.

When the Elizabethans spoke of order, they didn't just mean
political or social order.  Though they lived during what we
call today the English Renaissance, they still held many
medieval views about man and his relation to the universe.  They
knew the world was round, and that the earth was one of many
planets spinning in space.  And they knew from explorers that
there were continents besides their own.  But most believed, as
people in the Middle Ages believed, that the universe was ruled
by a benevolent God, and that everything, from the lowest flower
to the angels on high, had a divine purpose to fulfill.  The
king's right to rule came from God himself, and opposition to
the king earned the wrath of God and threw the whole system into
disorder.  Rulers had responsibilities, too, of course:  if they
didn't work for the good of the people, God would hold them to
account.  No one in this essentially medieval world lived or
functioned in isolation.  Everyone was linked together by a
chain of rights and obligations, and when someone broke that
chain, the whole system broke down and plunged the world into
chaos.  What destroys the divine harmony in Julius
Caesar--Cassius' jealousy, Caesar's ambition, or the fickleness
of the mob--is something you'll have to decide for yourself.
But whatever the cause, the results offend the heavens and throw
the entire country into disarray.

Today a sense of hopelessness and despair hangs over us:  a
mistake, a simple misunderstanding, and the bomb may drop and
destroy life on earth.  Our fate, we feel, is out of our
control.  But the Elizabethans were much more optimistic.
Forget chance:  if something went wrong, then someone had broken
God's laws, the laws of the universe.  Many would suffer, but in
the end the guilty would be punished and order restored.

Julius Caesar begins with a human act that, like a virus,
infects the body of the Roman state.  No one is untouched; some
grow sick, some die.  But in time the poison works its way out
of the system and the state grows healthy again.  In
Shakespeare's world, health, not sickness, is the natural
condition of man in God's divine plan.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  THE PLOT

The working people of Rome are overjoyed:  Julius Caesar has
beaten Pompey's sons in battle, and everyone's getting a day off
from work to celebrate Caesar's triumphant return.  But two
Roman officers, Flavius and Marullus, chase the crowds away:
how dare the citizens support a tyrant who threatens to
undermine hundreds of years of Republican (representative) rule!
Don't they know that Caesar wants to be king?

Caesar parades by in full glory, just in time to help celebrate
the races on the Feast of Lupercal.  A soothsayer bids him
"Beware the ides of March" (March 15), but Caesar--anxious not
to show fear in public dismisses the man as a dreamer.  The
procession passes by, leaving behind two Roman Senators:
Cassius, a long-time political enemy of Caesar, and Brutus,
Caesar's friend.  Like other members of the Senate, Brutus and
Cassius are aristocrats who fear that Caesar will take away
their ancient privileges.

Cassius now goes to work on Brutus, flattering him, reminding
him of his noble ancestry, trying all the while to determine
just how unhappy Brutus is with Caesar and just how willing
Brutus is to join the conspiracy.  Does Brutus know where
Cassius is leading him?  It's hard to tell.  Brutus admits only
that he's dissatisfied, and agrees to discuss the matter
further.

Caesar, now back from the races, tells his friend Antony that he
doesn't trust a man like Cassius, with his "lean and hungry
look." He has good reason to be suspicious.

Casca tells Brutus and Cassius how the Roman people three times
offered Caesar the crown, and how three times he refused it.
Perhaps Caesar doesn't want to be king--that's what his friends
would argue; but to his enemies, Caesar was merely playing on
the gullibility of the people, pretending to be humble in order
to win their support.

On a stormy night full of mysterious omens, Cassius converts
Casca to his cause and arranges for Cinna, a fellow-conspirator,
to throw a message through Brutus' window.  The note will, he
hopes, win the noble Senator to their side.

Alone in his garden, Brutus tries to justify the part he is
about to play in the murder of his friend, Caesar.  He decides
finally that Caesar's ambition poses a grave danger to the
future of the Republic and that Caesar should be destroyed, not
for what he is, but for what he's likely to become.  The
conspirators arrive at Brutus' house and agree to murder Caesar
the next day at the Capitol.  They would like to murder Antony,
too, but Brutus, anxious to keep his hands clean and to preserve
his precious honor, insists that Antony be spared.

After the conspirators leave, Brutus' wife Portia enters.  She
wants to know what's happening.  Brutus worries that the news
may be too frightening for her to bear, but nevertheless
confides in her.

Caesar has had a restless night, too.  His wife Calpurnia tries
to keep him home--she senses evil in the air--and at first he
relents.  But the conspirators arrive and persuade him to go to
the Senate as planned.  What would happen to his reputation if
his public thought the mighty Caesar was swayed by a
superstitious wife!

Calpurnia's fears turn out to be more than superstitions, for
the day is March 15, the ides of March.  Caesar ignores two more
warnings and, after delivering a speech full of extravagant
self-praise, he is stabbed by the conspirators and dies.

Antony, learning of the murder of his dearest friend, begs the
conspirators to let him speak at the funeral.  Believing that
right is on his side, Brutus agrees, over the objections of his
more realistic friends.  Left alone, Antony vows to revenge the
death of Caesar, even if it means plunging his country into
civil war.  In the meantime, Caesar's adopted son and heir,
Octavius, has arrived on the outskirts of Rome, and Antony
advises him to wait there till he can gauge the mood of the
country.

Brutus' funeral oration is a measured, well-reasoned speech,
appealing to the better instincts of the people and to their
abstract sense of duty to the state.  For a moment he wins them
over.  But then Antony inflames the crowds with an appeal to
their emotions.  Showing them Caesar's bloody clothes turns them
into an angry mob, hungry for revenge.  Blind with hate, they
roam the streets and tear apart the innocent poet Cinna.

Antony and Octavius now join forces with Lepidus to pursue and
destroy the conspirators, who have fled from Rome.  Anyone who
might endanger their cause is coldly put to death.  Brutus and
Cassius await this new triumverate at their camp near Sardis in
Asia Minor.  Should Cassius let an officer take bribes?  Brutus,
standing on his principles, says no, and vents his anger on his
friend.  At the root of his anger, however, is his unspoken
sorrow at the death of his beloved wife Portia.  Apparently
unable to deal with such an unsettling situation, she went mad
and took her life by swallowing hot coals.  Sadness over her
death brings Brutus and Cassius back together again, closer
perhaps than before.

At night Brutus is visited by the ghost of Caesar, who vows to
meet him again on the battlefield at Philippi in Greece.  The
next day the two armies--the army of Brutus and Cassius, and the
army of Antony and Octavius--stand in readiness at Philippi
while the four generals battle each other with words.  In the
first encounter, Brutus' troops defeat Octavius', and Antony's
troops overcome Cassius'.  Cassius, retreating to a nearby hill,
sends his trusted friend Titinius to find out whether
approaching troops are friends or foes.  Is Titinius captured?
It appears so; and Cassius, believing he has sent his good
friend to his death and that the battle is lost, takes his
life.

If only Cassius hadn't acted so rashly he might have saved his
life, for the reports turn out to be false and Titinius still
lives.  Brutus, not the enemy, arrives, and mourns the death of
his friend.

The tide now turns against Brutus.  Sensing defeat, and
unwilling to endure the dishonor of capture, he runs on his
sword and dies.  Like Caesar and Cassius, he thinks in his final
moments not of power or personal glory, but of friendship.

Antony delivers a eulogy over Brutus' body, calling him "the
noblest Roman of them all." Octavius agrees to take all of
Brutus' men into his service, a gesture of reconciliation that
bodes well for the future.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  JULIUS CAESAR

In order to discuss Shakespeare's play intelligently you have to
make up your mind about (1) Caesar's character, and (2) Caesar's
threat to the Roman Republic.  Either Caesar deserves to be
assassinated, or he doesn't.  On your answer hangs the meaning
of the play.

On one hand, Caesar is a tyrant whose ambition poses a real
danger to the Republic.  In that case, the hero of the play is
Brutus.  On the other hand, Caesar may be vain and arrogant, but
he is the only ruler strong enough to hold the Roman Republic
together, and a flawed ruler is better than none at all.  In
that case, Brutus becomes an impractical idealist who is
manipulated by a group of scheming politicians.

Whatever your position, there's no doubt that Shakespeare wants
to show us the private side of a public man, and to remind us
that our heroes are, like the rest of us, only human.  In
public, Caesar is worshipped like a god; in private, he is
superstitious, deaf, and subject to fits of epilepsy (falling
sickness).  Caesar's public image is like a mask he wears to
hide his weaknesses from others and from himself.  Yet at the
moment of death his mask slips, and we see another Caesar who
values friendship above all.

Let's look at Caesar in three different ways.

1.  Caesar's personal shortcomings are one reason to remove him
from power.  Another is his ambition, which threatens to
undermine the power of the people and their elected
representatives.

It's true that Antony calls Caesar "the noblest man / That ever
lived in the tide of times" (Act III, Scene i, lines 256-257),
but why believe Antony--a man blindly devoted to his master, who
is so bad a judge of character that he says of Cassius:

Fear him not, Caesar, he's not dangerous;

Act I, Scene ii, line 196

Caesar's refusal to accept the crown is no more than a cynical
political gesture to impress the masses.  His speech comparing
himself to the North Star is the height of arrogance and
blasphemy.  His refusal to pardon Publius Cimber is the mark of
a man incapable of justice or pity.  Such a man is a tyrant who
knows no limits and deserves to be destroyed.

2.  Caesar may be ambitious, but what of it?  Ambition in itself
is neither good nor bad.  Today, in our democratic age, we are
suspicious of politicians who seek unlimited power, but the
Elizabethans in Shakespeare's time lived under a strong monarchy
and would have had no such prejudice against strong rulers.  If
Shakespeare had wanted to show that Caesar was unfit to rule, he
could have found evidence to support that point of view in
Elizabethan history books; but nowhere in the play does he show
Caesar suppressing civil liberties.  Brutus himself is forced to
admit:

and, to speak truth of Caesar,

I have not known when his affections swayed

More than his reason.

Act II, Scene i, lines 19-21

A politician should be judged for his accomplishments, not for
his private life.  Even if Caesar is inflexible, the times
demand such behavior.

In his personal life, Caesar is considerate to his wife,
courteous to the conspirators, and generous to the Roman people.
He may be vain, but he has something to be vain about.  Friends
and enemies alike praise his courage and his accomplishments on
the battlefield--can they all be wrong?

3.  Caesar may be neither a hero nor a villain, but, like people
in real life, a mixture of both.  Educated theater-goers in
Shakespeare's time had this double image of Caesar, and
Shakespeare may have enjoyed reinforcing and undercutting their
preconceptions without ever resolving them.

Shakespeare had one other reason to make Caesar a mixture of
good and evil:  if Caesar were too noble, Brutus would become a
simple villain; if Caesar were too evil, Brutus would become a
simple hero.  In either case the moral dilemma raised by the
assassination would no longer exist.

How you yourself react to Caesar will perhaps say as much about
you as it says about him.  People with a strong need for
political order in their lives may want to defend him.  Those of
you with a more democratic faith in the individual may prefer to
see him as a threat to the people, and sympathize with Brutus.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  BRUTUS

Scholars, actors, students--all have disagreed about Brutus and
will continue to disagree as long as Julius Caesar is being read
and performed.

You can view Brutus as a man of high principles and integrity--a
man who is defeated, not by any personal shortcomings, but by
the underhandedness of Cassius, the fickleness of the mob, and
the inevitable march of Roman history from a republic to a
monarchy.

You can also see Brutus as a windbag--an unfeeling,
self-righteous bore who cloaks his evil deeds in high principles
and plunges his country into civil war.

Which is the "real" Brutus?  It depends in part on whether you
think the assassination was necessary.  It also depends on
whether you think Brutus uses language to convey the truth, or
to hide from it.  Take these lines of his:

For let the gods so speed me, as I love

The name of honor more than I fear death.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 88-89

Brutus thinks he is telling the truth--but is he?  Would a truly
honorable man need to call attention to his honor?

One point is indisputable:  Brutus believes in his principles,
and his principles do, to some extent, control his behavior.  He
stands apart from all the other characters in the way he is
influenced by ideas, rather than by feelings or the wish for
personal gain.  Cassius assassinates Caesar because he is
jealous of him; Brutus acts only for what he considers the best
interests of the state.  Antony is a man of action who pauses
only to consider the best way of getting from A to B; Brutus is
a man of ideas who weighs his behavior in terms of Right and
Wrong.  Antony believes that brute strength and passion rule the
world, and manipulates people accordingly; Brutus believes that
reason rules the world, and that people can be swayed by the
power of truth and logic.  Cassius and Antony see life as a game
or competition in which rewards go to the strongest or swiftest;
Brutus sees life as a confrontation of ideas in which rewards go
to the just.  He is such a private and self-contained man that
he won't even share the news of his wife's death with his good
friend Cassius.

Brutus is high-minded, but his principles do not seem to prepare
him very well for dealing with a corrupt world.  He cannot
recognize motives that are less noble than his own, and is
therefore preyed upon by unscrupulous politicians.  As Cassius
himself says behind Brutus' back:

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet I see

Thy honorable mettle may be wrought

From that it is disposed; therefore it is meet

That noble minds keep ever with their likes;

For who so from that cannot be seduced?

Act I, Scene ii, lines 308-312

Brutus' principles force him to spare Antony's life and to let
Antony speak at Caesar's funeral.  His own speech lacks power
(compared to Antony's) because he assumes that people can be led
by reason.  An honorable man, he uses language to communicate
the truth rather than to stir up the emotions of the people; he
doesn't understand that people want to be led--if not by Caesar,
then by someone else.

Some readers see Brutus as a bookish man who can function only
in a world of ideas.  True, he is not much of a politician; but
is it fair to describe him as a man whose head is in the clouds?
Cassius, after all, is constantly asking and taking his advice.
It is Brutus who calls for action and who takes the offensive at
Philippi; and it is Brutus, not Antony, who wins the battle.
Brutus does make some unwise decisions, but does that mean he is
incapable of functioning in the world?

Almost all the characters in Julius Caesar struggle to be better
than they are, and Brutus is no exception.  He, too, falls short
of his ideals.  Although he insists on living by the loftiest
principles, Cassius gets him to join the conspiracy by
flattering him and appealing to his sense of family pride.

Brutus tries to live by reason alone, yet he cannot sleep at
night, and is so plagued by a guilty conscience that Caesar's
ghost appears to him in a dream.  In his argument with Cassius,
Brutus is reduced to a squabbling child--perhaps because he is
mad with grief (though he tries not to show it) over the death
of his wife.  In the end Brutus takes his own life, in violation
of his Stoic philosophy, which demands that he accept whatever
fate holds in store for him.  Is Brutus a hero, then--or is he a
villain?  Let's look at him in both lights.

1.  Brutus is a man who cares more about principles than
people--who uses principles to justify the murder of a friend.
He is so blinded by ideals that he cannot see into his own
heart, or recognize the needs of the world.  He is a moral snob
who dislikes debate or compromise and always insists on getting
his own way.

This Brutus knows exactly what Cassius is up to, but lets
himself be led in order to keep his own hands clean.  He is a
hypocrite who hides behind lofty principles and pretty phrases.
Despite his reputation for honor, he is easily flattered and
concerned about his reputation.  His pride causes him to dismiss
Cicero--a potential rival--even though Cicero is the greatest
orator of the times.

In his refusal to accept his human limitations, Brutus is as
vain and dangerous as Caesar.

2.  Brutus is simply too noble for the world he lives in.  He
sacrifices his friend Caesar to do what is best for his country.
He remains faithful to his principles to the end.  Everyone,
even Caesar, admires him and seeks his friendship.  He is a
tragic figure only because he tries to be better than he can,
and falls.

Hero or villain--could Brutus possibly be both?  Does the world
need more men of principle, or less?  Shakespeare forces us to
ask these questions, but lets us find answers for ourselves.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  CASSIUS

There are many sides to Cassius.  This makes him difficult to
pin down or sum up in a phrase--but it also makes him true to
life.

Here are two opinions of Cassius.  From Caesar:

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

He thinks too much:  such men are dangerous.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 194-195

From Brutus:

The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!

It is impossible that ever Rome

Should breed thy fellow [equal].

Act V, Scene iii, lines 99-101

Both judgments are true--and false, for Cassius is different men
to different people.  Depending on how a person treats him, he
can be loving or ruthless, gentle or hard, passionate or aloof.
One moment he is deceiving his dear friend Brutus; the next, he
is craving affection from him.

When we first meet Cassius, he is busy lying, flattering,
forging letters, subverting the principles of his good friend
Brutus.  Caesar's opinion of him seems right on target.  He's
not motivated by the best interests of Rome, but by the desire
for revenge on a man who doesn't like him, Jealousy moves
him--jealousy of the fame and power of a man he considers no
more worthy than himself.

Caesar calls Cassius a "lean and hungry" man, and you may want
to take this as the final word on Cassius and interpret all his
actions in this light.  But Caesar's verdict is not the only
one.  Cassius' love for Brutus, for instance, seems quite
genuine--particularly after the assassination.  Cassius has many
admirers and friends who are willing to fight and die for him.
After the argument with Brutus, Cassius shows good-natured
tolerance for the Poet.  As death approaches, Cassius realizes
that he is not the measure of all things, and that there are
forces at work in the universe beyond his understanding and
control.  He takes his life, not because he has lost the battle,
but because he believes (mistakenly) that he has caused the
death of a friend.

Almost everything Cassius says and does, both before and after
the assassination, can be interpreted as a direct, emotional
reaction to people.  He responds to people as Brutus responds to
ideas.  Whether he is conspiring to kill Caesar or asking for
Brutus' love, Cassius is motivated by a boyish need for
affection, and by a boyish hatred of those who refuse it.  His
reasons for killing Caesar seem to be strictly personal.
Caesar, his close boyhood friend, has rejected him.  "Caesar
doth bear me hard," he says--Caesar bears a grudge against me
and therefore must be destroyed.

When Cassius meets Brutus, he is disturbed by the absence of
"that gentleness / And show of love as I was wont [accustomed]
to have" (Act I, Scene ii, lines 33-34).  In the quarrel scene,
Cassius tells Brutus, like a pouting child, "You love me not"
(Act IV, Scene iii, line 88).  What upsets Cassius most are not
Brutus' accusations but the fact that Brutus does not have "love
enough" to bear with him.

Cassius' spitefulness and his craving for affection are
childlike.  He seems genuinely perplexed that Caesar, a man no
stronger than himself, could become so powerful.  He behaves
like a boy who discovers that his idol has clay feet, and
destroys it rather than live with its imperfections.  "Such men
as he be never at heart's ease" (Act I, Scene ii, line 208),
says Caesar.

If you reread Cassius' speech against Caesar (Act I, Scene ii,
lines 90-161), you'll see how Cassius equates worthiness with
such traditionally masculine traits as physical strength and
endurance.  Perhaps because he has so little sense of himself,
and of his own worth, he suffers from a sensitive ego, and
measures himself not against some abstract standards of right
and wrong (as Brutus does), but against others.

Cassius blames himself for giving Caesar so much power:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 140-141

These are the words of a spiritual outcast, who sees himself
alone in the universe.  Only as death nears does Cassius
recognize himself as part of a divine plan, and achieve some
measure of peace.

Cassius, we learn from Caesar, "hears no music." Here's what
Lorenzo in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice says about
his type:

The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;

The motions of his spirit are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted

Act V, Scene i, lines 83-88

To Shakespeare, an inability to hear music was, quite literally,
an inability to hear the harmonies of the universe.  The fact
that Cassius hears no music does not in itself make him evil,
but it does reveal a lack of inner harmony, and a restlessness
that can never be satisfied.

Cassius and Caesar are enemies in life, but the two are almost
indistinguishable at the moment of death.  Both let their masks
slip, and reveal the gentleness that lies beneath.  At this
moment of truth, there is no masculine talk of revenge--no war
cries or curses--but a simple lament for the betrayal of
friends.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ANTONY

There are many "Antonys." One of them is passionate and
impulsive; the other is in complete control of his emotions.
One can cry over the death of his dear friend Caesar; the other
condemns his associates to death without batting an eyelash.
One makes a powerful political speech with perfect understanding
of human nature; the other can be so mistaken about human nature
that he calls Cassius "not dangerous."
Can such opposites exist within the same man?  It's possible
that Shakespeare couldn't make up his mind about Antony, and
painted an unfinished portrait of him.  It's also possible that
Shakespeare was trying to portray the many sides of an
opportunist.  An opportunist is a person who adjusts his values
to suit his purposes; who uses people and events to get what he
wants, regardless of principles or consequences.  If Antony is
such a man, it is understandable that, like a chameleon, he
would change colors from one moment to the next.

How different Antony is from Brutus!  Brutus stands behind his
principles, refusing to be swayed by circumstance; Antony never
lets principles stand in the way of success.  Brutus' conscience
keeps him up at night; tactics, manoeuvres, schemes--these are
what concern Antony.

A modern man, Antony takes the world as he finds it and uses
whatever means are necessary to get what he wants.  Life for him
is a game--serious, but a game nonetheless--and he is a skillful
player who knows how to win.

Antony is an opportunist, yes, but is he evil?  Look closely at
his words and actions, and you can find evidence to support that
point of view.  In his famous funeral oration, for instance,
nothing could be more offensive than the way he fires up the
masses by appealing to their basest emotions.  And nothing could
be more irresponsible than the way he unleases the "dogs of
war"--bringing death and destruction to innocent and guilty
alike.

Antony is cynical, callous and unprincipled, yet he is motivated
not by personal ambition but by the desire to revenge the death
of a friend.  His almost dog-like devotion to Caesar reveals a
deep capacity for loyalty and affection.  He is cunning, but,
unlike Brutus, completely honest with himself.  He may
manipulate people, but he speaks with conviction, and what he
says is deeply felt.  His funeral oration is more effective than
Brutus' because he speaks from the heart.

In the end, Antony (with Octavius' help), triumphs.  Is
Shakespeare suggesting that realists like Antony are the hope of
the future?  Perhaps Shakespeare is merely pointing out that
Antony and his kind are more likely to succeed in a world as
imperfect as the one we live in.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  OCTAVIUS

Octavius--Caesar's adopted son--is more important a character
than his appearances (only four) and his lines (only 30) would
indicate, since the fate of Rome rests in his hands after the
death of the conspirators.  From such limited information, we
have to decide whether Rome has been left in good hands.

What we should be able to agree on is this:  Octavius is a
capable soldier who accomplishes the work at hand by whatever
means are needed to achieve it.  Honorable men like Brutus can
be dangerous; perhaps Rome needs pragmatists like Octavius to
reestablish order.

The first time Octavius appears (Act IV, Scene i, line 2) he is
busy checking off names of people who must die--including the
brother of his friend Lepidus.  Is he a cold-blooded murderer,
then?  Perhaps.  But he is also a hardened soldier, who knows
that it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice individuals for the
sake of victory.  Like Brutus, he kills for what he considers
the greater good; but, unlike Brutus, he has no qualms about
it.

Moments later (Act IV, Scene i, lines 27-28), Octavius tries to
save Lepidus' life.  Since he showed no mercy to Lepidus'
brother, we can assume he is not just being a good guy, but that
he recognizes the practical value of having a "tried and valiant
soldier" in his ranks.

Yet Octavius lets Antony decide Lepidus' fate.  Is this a sign
of weakness?  Or is it the wise decision of a practical man, who
knows the issue isn't worth fighting over?

The second time Octavius appears (Act V, Scene i, lines 1-20),
he ignores Antony's wishes and insists on keeping his forces to
the right side of the battlefield.  "I do not cross you," he
tells Antony, "but I will do so." Octavius seems to be behaving
like a willful young Caesar, insisting on his natural right to
rule.  Whether his tone is spiteful, or firm but polite, you'll
have to decide for yourself.

Only moments later (line 24), Octavius asks Antony if they
should attack, and this time he gives in to Antony's wishes.
Once again you'll have to decide:  is Octavius incapable of
important decisions--or is he simply smart enough to listen to
someone with more experience?

The four generals now confront each other before the battle
(lines 27-66)--Octavius and Antony on one side, Brutus and
Cassius on the other.  Antony, Brutus and Cassius squabble like
children--only Octavius keeps his perspective.  "Come, come, the
cause," he says--let's keep our sights on what's important and
get to the matter at hand.

The third time we see Octavius (Act V, scene v, line 60), he
offers to take all of Brutus' men into his service.  This may be
an act of charity, but from what we know of Octavius, he is
probably motivated by the practical need to end the war and
bring both sides together under his single rule.  His intentions
may not matter so much as the fact that he is trying to end the
bloodshed and reestablish order.

As the successor to Caesar, Octavius is given the final words of
the play.  It is as a soldier, not as a noble man, that Octavius
praises Brutus, for nobility is a quality Octavius seems
indifferent to.  His tribute to Brutus may not be genuine--he is
probably only doing what is expected of him--but whatever his
motives, he seems to have no interest in revenge.  His desire to
reunite the country bodes well for the future of Rome.

(The historic Octavius did restore order.  He also restored the
Republic--but more in name than in fact.  The Senate retained
its forms and privileges, but the power resided in Octavius, who
controlled the army.  In 27 B.C.  Antony took the name of
Augustus and became the first Roman Emperor.  Shakespeare
portrays him principally as a soldier, yet during his reign he
became more interested in peace than in war, and his rule became
known as the golden age of Roman literature and architecture.)

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  PORTIA

There are two ways to view Portia.  Let's look at them.

1.  Portia is often seen today as a champion of women's
rights--a feminist living nearly four centuries ahead of her
time.

According to this view, Portia is a woman who demands equality
with her husband.  She insists on being treated as an
individual, not as an object or an idea.  She speaks of herself
and Brutus as "one" (Act II, Scene i, lines 261-278), and of
Brutus himself as "your self, your half." She demands to know
his secret, however painful it may be.  She will not be
condescended to; she will not be treated as a child.

This Portia is strong-willed but modest, dignified but tender.
She is one of the few characters in the play who uses language
to communicate the truth rather than to hide from it.  She has
an innate sense of wisdom that lets her see through words to the
very heart of things.  (When Brutus attributes his moodiness to
bad health, for instance, Portia immediately knows he is lying
to protect her.) Though Portia is high-minded and independent,
she is also a loving and devoted wife, who kills herself rather
than live alone.

2.  That is one view of Portia--there is another.

According to this less flattering view, Portia makes the mistake
of trying to be more than a woman, fails miserably, and brings
about her own destruction.

Portia points proudly to her self-inflicted wound (Act II, Scene
i, lines 299-302) to prove to Brutus just how capable she is of
functioning in a world of men.  She also prides herself on being
the daughter of Cato, a man famous for his integrity, who took
his own life rather than be taken prisoner (in the civil war
between Caesar and Pompey).  Says Portia:

Think you I am no stronger than my sex,

Being so fathered and so husbanded?

Act II, Scene i, lines 296-297

Brutus takes her at her word, confides his secret to her, and
what happens?  Portia goes mad with grief, and eventually takes
her own life.

Portia's mistake is to confuse her private self with her public
image as Cato's daughter.  Like Brutus and Caesar, she tries to
live up to her name and be someone she is not--with disastrous
results.  In her death--as in Brutus' and Caesar's--we see the
danger of wearing a public mask, and forgetting whom we are
underneath.

Note that Portia wants to be Brutus' equal only so that she can
be more a part of his life; nowhere does she suggest that she
expects him to be part of hers.  The very fact of losing him
drives her mad.  Portia thus sums herself up best:

Ay me, how weak a thing

The heart of woman is!

Act II, Scene iv, lines 39-40

Is this Shakespeare's unhappy view of women, and the final word
on Portia?  Or are the other critics right--the ones who see her
as the ideal, modern woman, who dies for love?

Either interpretation can be correct--depending on how you
choose to view her.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  CALPURNIA

Caesar's wife speaks only 26 lines, so we never get to know her
very well.

There are at least two ways to view her--one of them more
flattering than the other.

On one hand, she is undignified, nervous, and weak.  She is also
superstitious and haunted by unreasonable fears, and Caesar
cannot be blamed for treating her like a child.

On the other hand, Calpurnia is a devoted wife--as concerned
about Caesar's well-being as Portia is about Brutus'.  True, she
has strange dreams, but all of them come true.  Perhaps in her
intuitive, female way she is closer to the truth than Caesar.

Whichever way you view Calpurnia, you will have to admit that
her relationship with Caesar is less than ideal.

Calpurnia's talk with Caesar follows closely on Portia's meeting
with Brutus, as if Shakespeare were drawing attention to the
differences between the two relationships.

Portia greets her husband with respect as "my lord" (Act II,
Scene i, line 234).  She may be flattering him to get what she
wants, but she at least follows the forms of courtesy.  Brutus
is as concerned about her health as she is about his.

How does Calpurnia greet Caesar?  With an order:

Think you to walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house today.

Act II, Scene i, lines 8-9

And Caesar replies:

Caesar shall forth.

Calpurnia is foolish enough to turn her request into a battle of
wills.  She makes the mistake of treating her husband in public
as the mortal he is; and Caesar, to preserve his public image,
has to take a stand against her.

Caesar, of course, has been equally tactless or
unfeeling--announcing to all the world (Act I, Scene ii, lines
6-9) that his wife is sterile.

Can you blame a wife for treating her husband as a mortal and
not as a god?  The fact that she can see the man behind the mask
points up her strength--or her weakness.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  SETTING

All scenes through Act IV, Scene i are set in Rome.  Act IV,
Scenes ii and iii, take place near Sardis in Asia Minor.  All of
Act V is set near the plains of Philippi in Greece.  The play
begins on February 15, 44 B.C., on the Feast of Lupercal;
continues through the assassination of Caesar a month later; and
concludes with the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C., when Brutus
and Cassius commit suicide and Caesar's heir, Octavius, assumes
power.  Shakespeare, of course, was a dramatist, not a
playwright, and in order to preserve the dramatic unity of the
action he telescoped a period of three years into six days.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  THEMES

Here is a list of the major themes of Julius Caesar.  They will
be studied in depth in the scene-by-scene discussion of the
play.  Notice that some themes contradict each other--since
critics disagree, it's up to you to decide which ones are true.
This book will help you find evidence to support your
position.

1.  A PORTRAIT OF CAESAR OR OF BRUTUS

Caesar

The play is a portrait of Caesar--why else would Shakespeare
name the play after him?  Though Caesar is killed in the third
act, his spirit--what he stands for--dominates the action of the
play until Brutus' death, and then is reborn in the person of
Octavius.

Brutus

The play is a portrait of Brutus--why else would Shakespeare end
the play with Brutus' death, and with the opposition's tributes
to him?  Brutus is studied in greater depth than any other
character, and the action of the play revolves around his role
in the assassination.  Shakespeare called his play Julius Caesar
only because he was writing about the period in Roman history
when Caesar reigned.

2.  FRIENDSHIP

Friendship is at the center of Shakespeare's vision of an
ordered, harmonious world.  Disloyalty and distrust cause this
world to crumble.  Relationships suffer when people put their
principles ahead of their affections, and when they let their
roles as public officials interfere with their private lives.
As death approaches, characters forget their worldly ambitions,
and speak about the loyalty of friends.

3.  LANGUAGE

We think of language as a way of sharing our thoughts and
feelings, and of communicating the truth; but in Julius Caesar
people use language to disguise their thoughts and feelings, and
to distort the truth.  Language is used to humiliate and
flatter.  Words are powerful weapons that turn evil into good
and throw an entire country into civil war.

4.  A STUDY OF HISTORY

Shakespeare is dramatizing an important period in Roman history,
when Rome developed from a republic (with a representative form
of government) to a monarchy (with a single ruler).  He is not
blaming or praising anyone, but objectively portraying the major
factors that contributed to this development:  Caesar's
ambition; the frustrations of a weakened and divided Senate; and
the needs and wishes of the Roman people.

5.  THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PUBLIC FIGURES

We like to think that our political heroes are free from
ordinary human weaknesses.  Shakespeare reminds us that behind
their masks of fame are mortals like the rest of us--with the
same prejudices, physical handicaps, hopes, and fears.  When
these public figures try to live up to their own self-images,
they bring destruction on themselves, and on the world.

6.  FATE AND THE SUPERNATURAL

A sense of fate hangs over the events in Julius Caesar--a sense
that the assassination is inevitable and that the fortunes of
the characters have been determined in advance.  The characters
are foolish to ignore prophecies and omens, which invariably
come true; yet they are free to act as though the future were
unknown.  They are the playthings of powers they can neither
understand nor control, yet they are held accountable for
everything they do.

7.  PRAGMATISTS AND MEN OF PRINCIPLE

Shakespeare is comparing two types of people:  the man of fixed
moral standards, who expects others to be as honorable as
himself; and the pragmatist, who accepts the world for what it
is and does everything necessary to achieve his goals.  The
pragmatist is less admirable, but more effective.  Shakespeare
is either (a) pointing out the uselessness of morals and
principles in a corrupt world, or (b) dramatizing the tragedy of
a noble man destroyed by a world less perfect than he is.

8.  THE ASSASSINATION

The Murder Is Just

A ruler forfeits his right to rule when he oversteps the
heaven-appointed limits to his power.  Caesar deserves to die on
two counts:  first, he considers himself an equal to the gods;
and second, he threatens to underline hundreds of years of
republican (representative) rule.  Brutus sacrifices his life to
preserve the freedom of the people, and to save his country from
the clutches of a tyrant.

The Murder Is Unjust

Shakespeare's contemporaries respected strong rulers, who could
check the dangerous impulses of the masses and protect their
country from civil war.  They believed that order and stability
were worth preserving at any price.  Shakespeare's play may
therefore be a warning against the use of violence to overthrow
authority.  The assassination destroys nothing but the
conspirators themselves, since Caesar's spirit lives on in the
hearts of the people.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  STYLE

There's not much poetry in Julius Caesar.  Perhaps because the
action takes place in Rome, the characters all seem to speak
like orators.  On the battlefield, or even with friends, they're
always making speeches!  Read some of the longer ones aloud;
you'll see how alike everyone sounds, how everyone speaks
clearly and simply and says exactly what he thinks.  The men in
Shakespeare's play are politicians who avoid flowery language
and metaphor; they express themselves often in one-syllable
words strung together in simple, declarative sentences.  This is
the language of people who are--or who try to be--in control of
their emotions, and who use words not to create beauty, but to
manipulate each other and to get things done.  Shakespeare may
be using language to mirror the restrained and formal mood of
classical Rome.  Perhaps, too, he wants to show how people use
language to mask their feelings from themselves and from others.
As readers, we have to look beneath these masks and ask
ourselves:  who are these people?  what do they really think,
and what are they really saying?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  SOURCES

Shakespeare found his basic material for Julius Caesar in The
Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, written by a Greek named
Plutarch in the first century after Christ.  Plutarch, like
Shakespeare, wrote history as a guide for his contemporaries.
It's not surprising that Shakespeare was attracted to Plutarch,
for Plutarch was more a biographer than an historian, and his
tales are full of wonderful dramatic touches.

Shakespeare did not read Plutarch in Greek.  The Lives was
translated into French by Jacques Amyet in 1559 and then from
French into English by Sir Thomas North in 1579.  That was 20
years before the first production of Julius Caesar.

Plutarch wrote separate biographies of Julius Caesar, Brutus,
and Antony, and often gives three different accounts of the same
events.  It's fun to read these biographies today to see which
accounts Shakespeare followed, which he ignored, and which he
transformed for his own dramatic purposes.  At times Shakespeare
lifted material directly from Plutarch.  Shakespeare's Caesar,
for example, says:

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,

He thinks too much:  such men are dangerous.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 194-195

Notice how close that is to Plutarch's version:

Caesar also had Cassius in great jealousy and suspected him
much, whereupon he said on a time to his friends:  "What will
Cassius do, think ye?  I like not his pale looks."

Plutarch's Brutus can do nothing wrong.  Some of you will want
to argue that Shakespeare thought less of Brutus; others will
want to quote Plutarch to prove that Shakespeare's Brutus was
indeed a noble man.

As for Caesar, Plutarch's portrait is close to Shakespeare's:  a
ruler guilty of great pride and ambition, but also a benefactor
of the people.

Shakespeare's portrait of Caesar may also have been influenced
by Elizabethan attitudes toward him.  Some saw Caesar as a hero;
others, as a tyrant and a traitor.  Shakespeare may have enjoyed
exploiting these differences, playing them against each other
without ever resolving them.  Shakespeare may also have drawn
Caesar's portrait from the vain and boastful heroes (such as
Tamburlaine) brought to life on stage during his lifetime.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  AN HISTORICAL NOTE

When you think of Senators, you naturally think of elected
representatives of the people.  But in ancient Rome the Senate
was made up of wealthy aristocrats and conservatives who sought
to defend their ancient privileges.  Caesar was a reformer who
wanted to reduce the power of the Senate, and to share their
lands and privileges with the common people.

Both Senators and reformers looked to the generals for support.
Pompey represented the interests of the Senators,--Caesar
defended the reformers.  In 47 B.C.  Caesar crossed the Rubican
and defeated Pompey; two years later he defeated Pompey's sons
in Egypt.  No wonder the Roman officers Flavius and Marullus
(Act I, Scene i) are upset by Caesar's triumphant return from
battle!  And no wonder the common people are overjoyed!  Caesar
may have wanted to be king or dictator, but it was he, not the
Senators, who had the interests of the people at heart.  Perhaps
that's why in Shakespeare's play we never see Caesar depriving
the Romans of their civil liberties, or the Senators discussing
what they'll do for the people of Rome once Caesar is
destroyed.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH

All languages change.  Differences in pronunciation and word
choice are apparent even between parents and their children.  If
language differences can appear in one generation, it is only to
be expected that the English used by Shakespeare four hundred
years ago will diverge markedly from the English used today.
The following information on Shakespeare's language will help a
modern reader to a fuller understanding of Julius Caesar.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  MOBILITY OF WORD CLASSES

Adjectives, nouns and verbs were less rigidly confined to
particular classes in Shakespeare's day.  Verbs were often used
as nouns.  In Act II, Scene ii, line 16 'watch' is used to mean
'watchmen':

There is one within...

Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.

Nouns could be used as adjectives as when cross is used to mean
crossed or forked:

And when the cross blue lightning seemed to open

The breast of heaven...  (I, iii, 50)

and as verbs as when 'joy' is used to mean 'rejoice':

My heart doth joy (V, v, 34).

Adjectives could be used as adverbs:

hou couldst not die more honourable (V, i, 60),

as nouns:

I'll about

And drive away the vulgar from the streets (I, i, 72)

'Vulgar' is the equivalent of 'common people'.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  CHANGES IN WORD MEANING

The meanings of words undergo changes, a process that can be
illustrated by the fact that 'chip' extended its meaning from a
small piece of wood to a small piece of silicon.  Many of the
words in Shakespeare still exist today but their meanings have
changed.  The change may be small, as in the case of 'modestly'
meaning 'without exaggeration' in:

I your glass

Will modestly discover to yourself...  (I, ii, 68-69)

or more fundamental, so that 'naughty' meant 'worthless' (I, i,
15), 'tributaries' meant 'conquered rulers who paid tribute' (I,
i, 35), 'shadow' meant 'reflection' (I, ii, 58), 'speed' meant
'prosper' (I, ii, 88), 'temper' meant 'constitution' (I, ii,
129) and 'sad' meant 'serious':

asca, tell us what hath chanced today

That Caesar looks so sad.  (I, ii, 217)

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  VOCABULARY LOSS

Words not only change their meanings, but are frequently
discarded from the language.  In the past, 'leman' meant
'sweetheart', 'regiment' meant 'government', and 'fond' meant
'foolish'.  The following words used in Julius Caesar are no
longer current in English but their meanings can usually be
gauged from the contexts in which they occur.

FAIN (I, ii, 239):  willingly, gladly

AN (I, ii, 262):  if

RIVED (I, iii, 6):  split

THUNDERSTONE (I, iii, 49):  thunderbolt

ORDINANCE (I, iii, 66):  natural order

FACTIOUS (I, iii, 118):  active

SPURN (II, i, 11):  strike, hit

EXHALATIONS (II, i, 44):  meteors

PHANTASMA (II, i, 65):  nightmare

MOE (II, i, 72):  more

PALTER (II, i, 126):  deceive

CHARACTERY (II, i, 308):  the things that are written

MORTIFIED (II, i, 324):  dead

AGUE (II, ii, 113):  severe fever

SCHEDULE (III, i, 3):  scroll

BAYED (III, i, 204):  hunted until caught

MARRED (III, ii, 194):  mutilated

BELIKE (III, ii, 268):  perhaps, it seems like

MART (IV, iii, 11):  market, bargain

VAUNTING (IV, iii, 52):  boasting

INDIRECTION (IV, iii, 75):  crooked deals

BETIMES (IV, iii, 308):  from time to time

PROPER (V, iii, 96):  own

IS CHANCED (V, iv, 32):  turns out, happens

SMATCH (V, v, 46):  touch, small amount

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  VERBS

Shakespearean verb forms differ from modern usage in three main
ways:

1.  Questions and negatives could be formed without using
'do/did' as when Brutus asks:

What mean you?  (II, i, 234)

where today we would say:  'What do you mean?' or when Portia
instructs Lucius:

Stay not to answer me (II, iii, 2)
where modern usage demands:  'Do not stay to answer me'.
Shakespeare had the option of using forms a.  and b.  whereas
contemporary usage permits only the a.  forms:

a.  b.

Do you know?  Know you?

Did you know?  Knew you?

I do not know I know not.

I did not know I knew not.

2.  A number of past participles and past tense forms are used
which would be ungrammatical today.  Among these are:

'took' for 'take':

Where I have took them up (II, i, 50);

'untrod' for 'untrodden':

Through the hazards of this untrod state (III, i, 136);

'strucken' for 'struck':

How like a deer, strucken by many princes

Dost thou lie here (III, i, 209-210);

'forgot' for 'forgotten':

You have forgot the will I told you of (III, ii, 236);

and 'are rid' for 'have ridden':

Brutus and Cassius

Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome (III, ii,

265-266).

3.  Archaic verb forms sometimes occur with 'thou' and with
'he/she/it':

Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brows by night (II, i, 78);

Thou hast some suit to Caesar (II, iv, 27);

When the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept (III, ii, 88).

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  PRONOUNS

Shakespeare and his contemporaries had one extra pronoun 'thou'
that could be used in addressing a person who was one's equal or
social inferior.  'You' was obligatory when more than one person
was addressed, as when Caesar told the conspirators:

I could be well moved, if I were as you;

If I could pray to move, prayers would move me (III, i, 58-59)

but it could also be used to indicate respect, as when Antony
recognizes the power of Octavius but reminds him:

Octavius, I have seen more days than you (IV, i, 18).

Frequently, a person in power used 'thou' to a child or a
subordinate but was addressed 'you' in return, as when Portia
speaks to Lucius:

Portia:  I prithee boy, run to the Senate House;

Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone.

Lucius:  Madam, what should I do?

Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?

And so return to you...  (II, iv, 1ff)

but if 'thou' was used inappropriately it could cause grave
offence as when, just before the assassination, Brutus addresses
Caesar:

I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery Caesar (III, i, 52).

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions were less standardized in Elizabethan English than
they are today and so we find several uses in Julius Caesar that
would have to be modified in contemporary speech.  Among these
are:  'on' for 'of' in:

And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus (I, ii, 71);

'on' for 'at' in:

If Caesar carelessly but nod on him (I, ii, 118);

'in' for 'from' in:

There is no fear in fear in him (i.e., There is nothing to

fear from him) (II, i, 190);

'off' for 'down' in:

How to cut off some charges some charges in legacies (IV, i,

9);

and 'of' where today we should not require a preposition:

And then I swore thee, saving of they life (V, iii, 38).

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  MULTIPLE NEGATION

Contemporary English requires only one negative per statement
and regards such utterances as "I haven't none" as nonstandard.
Shakespeare often used two or more negatives for emphasis as
when Brutus insisted:

There is no harm intended to your person,

Nor to no Roman else (III, i, 90-91).

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  POINT OF VIEW

Shakespeare's characters are too true-to-life to be pinned down
in a phrase.  They behave differently with different people,
showing sides of themselves to friends that they hide from
enemies.  They have public selves and private selves.  They are
neither good nor evil, but a mixture of qualities.  They are
often inconsistent and unpredictable--gentle and considerate one
moment, harsh and thoughtless the next.  Don't ask Shakespeare
to tell you what to think about them--he breathes life into his
characters and lets them go.  The rest is up to you.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  FORM AND STRUCTURE

The play tells a single story that moves chronologically forward
from (a) the plot against Caesar, to (b) the assassination, to
(c) the results of the assassination (the retribution).  The
assassination takes place in Act III--the middle of the play;
everything leads up to that moment, and away from it.

As in most Shakespeare plays, the action begins with the
breakdown of order.  Caesar has defeated the sons of Pompey, and
the Senators are plotting against their ruler.  The natural laws
that bind a leader to his people have broken down.  The divine
plan has been shattered.  The result is much like a sickness
that infects everyone and everything--the conspirators, the
people of Rome, the heavens themselves.  At the end of the play,
the Roman state is exhausted by war but on its way to recovery.
The sickness has been controlled, and order reestablished.

Some say that Julius Caesar is a poorly structured play because
the main character (Caesar) dies halfway through the play.
Others argue that even though Caesar dies, his spirit dominates
the entire play:  it is Caesar's spirit that takes revenge on
the conspirators; it is Caesar's spirit that lives on in the
hearts of the people, and in the person of Octavius.

Caesar is well structured, even if you consider Brutus the main
character, since the action begins with his involvement in the
plot, and ends with his death and the eulogy over his body.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT I, SCENE I

The opening scene (1) sets up the central conflict of the play,
(2) introduces Caesar, and (3) introduces the citizens of
Rome.

(1) THE CENTRAL CONFLICT

Something is amiss.  The common people, who should be working,
are in their holiday clothes and honoring the man who
slaughtered the sons of Pompey.  Two Roman officers, Flavius and
Marullus, are rebelling against their ruler.  Their reasons may
or may not be just, but one thing is certain:  the natural laws
that bind a leader to his people have broken down.  The order of
the Roman state has been shattered.

The problem is not just political.  In Shakespeare's world, life
moves according to a divine plan; everyone has a set role to
play, and a set relationship to each other.  When someone or
something disrupts this order it brings the whole structure
down.  Friend turns against friend.  The very heavens are
offended, and show their displeasure.

Marullus tells the Commoners to pray to the gods not to send a
plague on them:

Pray to the gods to intermit the plague

That needs must light on this ingratitude.

Act I, Scene i, lines 57-58

Behind Marullus' words is the belief that supernatural forces
watch over us and pass judgment on our behavior.  Throughout the
play we'll see these forces at work, and learn what happens to
people who deny their power.

(2) CAESAR

Caesar must be judged not only by what he says and does but by
what others think of him.  To the common people, he is a hero;
to the two officers, he is a traitor to Rome.

Can we trust the judgment of the people?  They seem neither to
know nor to care about the man, and will accept anyone as their
ruler, so long as he wins battles and gives them a day off from
work.

Marullus and Flavius accuse Caesar of seeking unlimited power,
but it is the power itself that seems to offend them rather than
anything specific Caesar has done with it.  No mention is made
of Caesar depriving citizens of their civil liberties.

(3) THE CITIZENS OF ROME

Is Rome better off with a representative form of government or
with a king?  Is the assassination just or unjust?  These are
questions that cannot be answered without studying the needs and
wishes of the common people of Rome.  Collectively they are as
important a "character" as Cassius, Brutus or Caesar.

If we can judge from the Cobbler (shoemaker), the Commoners like
to pun and play.  They are happy to have a holiday--whether to
celebrate Caesar's return or Pompey's doesn't seem to matter
much to them.  They seem wrapped up in their own lives, less
concerned with political issues than with having a day off from
work.  What interests the Cobbler, for instance, is the fact
that people will be wearing out their shoes and bringing him
business.

The people are easily manipulated.  One moment they are gaily
anticipating the festivities; the next, they are slinking away
with shame.  Says Marullus:

See, whe'r their basest mettle be not moved;

They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.

Act I, Scene i, lines 64-65

This is the first of many times during the play when people are
manipulated by the power of language--the power of words.

Do these people want or deserve a representative form of
government?  It doesn't seem so, for they lack the intelligence
or interest to select rulers to represent them.  What concerns
them are the trappings of greatness--the pageantry and the
glory.  They will have their Caesar--whoever he may be.  Julius
Caesar will be murdered to give these people freedom; but from
what we see of them in Scene i, it's questionable whether
freedom is what they want or need.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-24

In the first scene we saw Caesar through the eyes of others.
Now we see the man himself, and can judge him by his own words
and actions.

Caesar orders his wife about, as a king orders his subjects:

Caesar.  Calpurnia!

Calpurnia.  Here, my lord.

Caesar.  Stand you directly in Antonius' way.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 1-3

Is Caesar wearing a public mask, or does he always greet his
wife in such a cold and formal way?

Caesar tells Antony to touch his wife during the race, so that
she can "shake off" the "curse" of sterility.  The public Caesar
may consider himself a god, but the private man is
superstitious.  And how tactless, announcing before the world
that your wife is sterile!  Calpurnia doesn't respond--but one
wonders what she's thinking.

What is Antony's response to Caesar's request?

When Caesar says "Do this," it is performed.

Act I, Scene ii, line 10

Anthony is either a flatterer, telling Caesar what he wants to
hear, or he is genuinely devoted to Caesar, as a dog is to his
master.  In either case, Caesar clearly likes to give orders,
and to be obeyed.

The Soothsayer now appears and warns Caesar to "Beware the ides
of March." Caesar the private individual is obviously concerned,
for he asks to see the man's face and have him repeat his
message.  But Caesar the public figure--in full view of his
audience--refuses to acknowledge his fear, and dismisses the
Soothsayer as a dreamer.  There are thus two sides to
Caesar--the private self and the legendary self he would like to
become.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 25-47

Brutus tells his friends that he will not go to the races.  A
man of conscience, he cannot play games while the Roman state is
in turmoil.  A man of principle, he values people for their
inner worth, not for their physical strength.  Life to him is
not a competition with prizes to the swiftest.

Cassius complains like a child that Brutus doesn't love him
anymore.  Brutus reassures him.  I neglect you, he says, only
because I'm at war with myself.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 48-89

Cassius now asks:

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

And Brutus replies:

No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself

But by reflection, by some other things.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 51-53

Because Brutus does not know himself, he must see himself
reflected in others.  His blindness to his own feelings is a
tragic flaw that will eventually prove fatal.  Like Caesar, he
lets himself be mirrored in the eyes of others, and thus brings
about his own destruction.

Cassius now goes to work on Brutus the way the serpent played on
Eve.  He calls Brutus good, noble, and gentle.  He does not
appeal to Brutus' ambition (Brutus has none), but points out
that the most respected Romans are "groaning underneath this
age's yoke."

Brutus now asks:

Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,

That you would have me seek into myself

For that which is not in me?

Act I, Scene ii, lines 63-65

Is Brutus deceiving himself to keep his hands clean?  Does he
really not know what Cassius has in mind?  Is it true that
conspiracy is not in his nature, or is he only trying to
convince himself?

The crowds shout and Brutus admits his fear that "the people /
Choose Caesar for their king." He is impatient with Cassius for
keeping him so long, and for avoiding the issue.  If what you
have in mind is for the good of the people, he says, I will face
death, if necessary, for

X I love

The name of honor more than I fear death.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 88-89

Brutus obviously means what he says, but isn't there something a
bit suspect about someone who tells the world how virtuous he
is?

Brutus is about to join a conspiracy and may simply want to
reassure himself about the purity of his motives.  Someone who
knew himself, of course, would act from conviction, and not
depend on the strength of his own words.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 90-177

Cassius says that "Honor is the subject of my story," and then
appeals to everything but honor.  Carried away by jealousy and
spite, he forgets that he is talking to Brutus, and uses
arguments that would work only on himself.  We were born free as
Caesar, he says; "We both have fed as well, and we can both /
Endure the winter's cold as well as he." Such distinctions can
mean nothing to a man as principled as Brutus.

Cassius discusses how he saved Caesar from drowning, and how
Caesar once groaned and shook with fever.  Brutus would never
rate a person by his physical strength, but Cassius is too
wrapped up in his private sense of injustice to notice or
care.

Cassius' efforts to belittle Caesar say more about his own
jealousy than about Caesar's right to rule.  Cassius speaks of
Caesar's "coward lips," but it is Caesar, not Cassius, who dared
his friend to plunge into the Tiber on "a raw and gusty day."
All Caesar can be accused of is a lack of physical
stamina--which really has nothing to do with his strength as a
ruler.

Like a child, Cassius cannot bear the injustice of a world in
which he loses to his rival:

And this man

Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body

If Caesar carelessly but nod at him.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 115-118

NOTE:  ON WOMANLY BEHAVIOR Cassius accuses Caesar of behaving
like "a sick girl," as if womanly behavior were an unpardonable
sin.  Yet in Shakespeare's world, men who deny their own
feminine qualities--gentleness, mercy, and so on--are out of
harmony with themselves and with the world.

Cassius blames himself for bowing to Caesar's will:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 140-141

This is the sin of pride.  Even Caesar knows at times that he is
not the measure of all things, and bows to fate.

Just when we think we understand Cassius, he turns from spite to
principle:

Age, thou are shamed!

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!

When went there by an age, since the great flood,

But it was famed with more than one man?

Act I, Scene ii, lines 150-153

It is a noble argument, but Cassius may just be trying to
manipulate Brutus--playing on his friend's sense of family pride
as the descendant of Lucius Julius Brutus, one of the founders
of the Republic more than 400 years before.

There is no way of knowing what effect this appeal to family
pride has on Brutus.  True to his nature, he refuses to act
impulsively, and keeps his feelings to himself.  What we do know
is family pride should not influence him--not if he is true to
his principles.

As his talk with Brutus ends, Cassius says how glad he is to
"have struck but thus much show / Of fire from Brutus" (lines
176-177).

NOTE:  ON FIRE IMAGERY "Fire" is an image you should follow
closely throughout the play, for it represents the destructive
powers of the universe, unleashed by the actions of Caesar, the
common people, or the conspirators.  Jump ahead for a moment to
Casca's description of the storm in the opening lines of Act I,
Scene iii:

But never till tonight, never till now,

Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.

Either there is a civil strife in heaven,

Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,

Incenses them to send destruction.

Act I, Scene iii, 9-13

Keep in mind this image of fire when you learn of Portia's
unhappy fate, later in the play.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 178-214

Caesar returns and describes Cassius as a dangerous man with "a
lean and hungry look." This is such a delicious description that
we're tempted to take it as the final word on Cassius.  But
Cassius has other, more admirable traits, which will become more
evident after the assassination.

When Caesar speaks about Cassius (lines 198-214), notice the
funny, almost pathetic way he switches roles from a private
individual to a public figure:

The private Caesar is suspicious and fearful of Cassius.  "Yond
Cassius has a lean and hungry look," he says.

The public Caesar, of course, has to be above such human
emotions as fear, and therefore announces for all the world to
hear:  "But I fear him not."

"Yet," says the private Caesar, "if my name were liable to fear,
/ I do not know the man I should avoid / So soon as that spare
Cassius."

It is unthinkable for the great Caesar to be afraid, and so he
puts his political mask back on and assures his audience:  "I
rather tell thee what is to be feared / Than what I fear; for
always I am Caesar."

If only he could be this legendary figure!  But once again the
mask slips, revealing an ordinary human being who is physically
handicapped ("Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf") and
in need of reassurance ("And tell me truly what thou think'st of
him.).  Is Caesar aware of the difference between the man and
the mask?  Does he deliberately fool his public to gain power
(as any clever politician would do), or does he fool himself,
too?  There are no easy answers to these questions, but you will
need to consider them before you can decide on Caesar's right to
rule.

Antony tries to allay Caesar's fears about Cassius, and says:

Fear him not, Caesar, he's not dangerous;

Act I, Scene ii, line 196

Could he be more wrong?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 215-294

Caesar leaves with his followers, and Casca describes the events
of the day--how Caesar three times refused the crown.

Was this a cynical gesture to manipulate the feelings of the
public?  It was Caesar's loyal follower Antony who offered the
crown--perhaps the two politicians worked out their "act"
beforehand.  Casca thinks so, but Casca is one of the
conspirators and would interpret events in a way that was
unflattering to Caesar.

Casca is as cynical about the crowds as he is about Caesar, and
describes how

the rabblement hooted, and clapped their chopt

hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps, and

uttered such a deal of stinking breath...  that it

had, almost, choked Caesar.

Act I, Scene ii, lines 243-247

If Caesar "had stabbed their mothers," says Casca, they still
would have loved him (lines 274-275).

NOTE:  ON THE COMMON PEOPLE If we can believe Casca, the common
people behaved collectively like a blind beast, incapable of
ruling itself or of knowing what is in its own best interests.

Power in a republic comes ultimately from the people, who are
supposed to have the wisdom to select responsible leaders.  The
people of Rome seem to lack this wisdom.  Are they the true
villains in Julius Caesar?  Is Shakespeare pointing out what
happens to a country when the people ignore their
responsibilities?  Perhaps he is not passing judgment, but
merely exploring the historical reasons why Rome was transformed
from a republic into a monarchy.

Though Shakespeare may lack a democratic faith in the common
man, and be skeptical of the rabble's right to self-rule, he is
not necessarily as uncharitable as Casca.  Casca's harsh words
remind us that most of the conspirators are really fighting to
retain their privileges, not to defend the rights of the people.
On several occasions Caesar acts and speaks on behalf of his
public--something that cannot be said of his assassins.

Observe (line 233) that Brutus calls Casca "gentle." Throughout
the play characters greet each other with similar terms of
endearment which are either inappropriate or unfelt.

Observe, too, (lines 284-286) that Marullus and Flavius have
been exiled or put to death.  This is the only time in the play
that Caesar deprives anyone of his civil liberties.  Is this the
act of a tyrant?  Or is it the just verdict of a strong leader
who refuses to tolerate treason?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 295-322

Brutus calls Casca a dull-witted fellow.  Cassius explains that
Casca only pretends to be coarse and stupid so that people will
listen to him.  Cassius, the "great observer," understands such
men, who use words to manipulate feelings, and pretend to be
what they are not.  Brutus, on the other hand, sees language as
a way of expressing and communicating the truth, and is
therefore easily fooled by people who use words as political
weapons.  How can he recognize irony when he is incapable of it
himself?  How can he recognize and deal with evil when he
himself (some say) is such a noble man?

Cassius recognizes Brutus' dilemma:

Well, Brutus, thou are noble; yet I see

Thy honorable mettle may be wrought

From that it is disposed; therefore it is meet

That noble minds keep ever with their likes;

For who so firm that cannot be seduced?

Act I, Scene ii, lines 308-312

It is difficult to tell whether Cassius is delighted or saddened
by his ability to "seduce" his noble friend--read the lines
aloud and decide which interpretation seems more natural to you.
In either case, Cassius comes across as a serpent seducing
Innocence.  If lie succeeds, Innocence will be cursed for
succumbing to an evil it does not understand.  That may very
well be the tragedy of Shakespeare's play.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-40

Casca describes some of the dreadful omens he has seen:  the
stormy seas; a lion (symbol of Caesar?) walking the streets; men
on fire.  The earth itself "Shakes like a thing unfirm" (line
4).

Who is responsible for these strange happenings?  Caesar--for
overstepping the limits of his power?  The conspirators--for
plotting against him?  The people--for allowing themselves to be
manipulated against the best interests of the state?

All we know for certain is that evil has been set loose, and
that it is affecting not just Rome but the entire universe.  The
disorder is like a sickness that started with a few individuals
and now begins to spread until it infects everyone.  Caesar,
Brutus, and the other characters are not isolated human beings,
acting in a vacuum; what each one does affects everyone else.

Cicero does not deny the importance of the omens, but points out
that each person interprets them in his own way:

Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:

But men may construe things after their fashion,

Clean from the purpose of the things themselves.

Act I, Scene iii, lines 33-35

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 41-88

Other men are frightened by these supernatural happenings, but
not Cassius.  It has been "A very pleasing night to honest men,"
he says.  Not only was he not afraid, he walked with his jacket
unbuttoned, daring the heavens to strike him.  Cassius shares
Cicero's belief that the heavens are sending fearful warnings,
but presumes to know that they are meant for Caesar, not for
him.  His cause, he feels, is noble--why should the gods punish
him?

As arrogant as Caesar, Cassius forgets there may be forces in
the world he can neither understand nor control.  By opposing
Caesar, whom he compares to the storm, Cassius feels he is
opposing history, fate, the gods themselves.  They, of course,
will humble him in time.

Cassius, speaking to Casca, calls Caesar "A man no mightier than
thyself, or me / In personal action" (lines 76-77).  Cassius
thus weighs his worth against another man's--unlike Brutus, who
weighs each person alone against absolute standards of right and
wrong.  Physical strength is what Cassius respects--unlike
Brutus, who values people for their principles.

Cassius mourns the times he's living in, when Romans behave like
women and meekly accept Caesar's rule:

But woe the while!  Our fathers' minds are dead

And we are governed with our mothers' spirits;

Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.

Act I, Scene iii, lines 82-84

Soft, feminine qualities frighten Cassius; he likes to see
himself as the masculine ideal, who wins races and depends on
nothing but his own courage and strength.  Beneath this mask,
however, lies the heart of a lost boy craving affection.

NOTE:  ON CASSIUS' MOTHER Cassius' mother, we discover later
(Act IV, Scene iii, lines 118-122), lacked the same feminine
qualities that Cassius fears to discover in himself.  Did he
have to prove his worth even to her?  If so, that might explain
his competitive nature, and his basic lack of confidence in his
own powers of judgment.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 89-102

Cassius tells Casca he would rather kill himself than live to
see Caesar crowned.  The human spirit can never be willingly
enslaved, he says, because people are always free to take our
own lives.  Cassius shows a certain spirit of his own here,
which makes it difficult for us to dismiss him as a mere
villain.  Clearly, he believes in the rightness of his cause,
and is willing to die for it.  He may be foolish to ignore the
gods, but who is to say such foolishness is not the most noble
act of all?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 103-164

Cassius believes the common people are as much to blame as
Caesar for turning him into a god:

Poor man, I know he would not be a wolf

But that he sees the Romans are but sheep;

Act I, Scene iii, lines 104-105

Cassius may simply wish to deny Caesar the credit for his rise
to power.  But he is also pointing out what we noted before,
that the common people may be the real villains for ignoring
their responsibilities to the Republic, and allowing it to
fall.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-34

The world admires Brutus as a man firm in his beliefs--a man who
knows exactly who he is and what he wants.  But the private man
revealed here is so torn by doubts that he can hardly sleep.

Brutus has made up his mind:  Caesar must die.  "It must be by
his death," he says--and then he searches for reasons to support
his decision.  How very human to choose a course of action, and
then find reasons to support it!

Brutus' argument is based not on anything Caesar has done, but
on what he might do.  Is that sufficient grounds for murder?
Cassius, at least, has real grievances against Caesar:  The most
respected men of Rome, he says, are "groaning underneath this
age's yoke" (Act I, Scene ii, line 61).  Brutus, on the other
hand, can speak only of what Caesar might become.

Further weakening Brutus' argument are these controversial
lines:

and to speak the truth of Caesar,

I have not known when his affections swayed

More than his reason.

Act II, Scene i, lines 19-21

Is Brutus so shortsighted or so blind to human nature that he
can't remember a single time when Caesar was swayed by his
emotions?

NOTE:  THE HISTORIC CAESAR Shakespeare was familiar with
historical records that portrayed Caesar's rule as a mixed
blessing; why does Brutus ignore all of Caesar's faults in his
speech?  Is Shakespeare trying to emphasize how flimsy Brutus'
argument is, and how groundless his fears?  Perhaps he also
wants to show how dangerous logic is, when cut off from
feeling.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 35-60

Brutus is motivated not just by his principles but by a sense of
family pride.  His ancestor, Lucius Julius Brutus, helped drive
the Tarquins from Rome and establish the Roman Republic.  Brutus
believes that for him to sit by and watch Caesar destroy the
Republic would dishonor his family name.

It would be unfair to Brutus to say that he is motivated solely
by a sense of pride.  He is obviously deeply concerned about
Caesar's threat to Roman institutions--just as we would be upset
by a President, no matter how capable, who tried to undermine
the power of the Senate.  But pride plays a part in his
decision--and thus his motives are less pure than he himself
would like to believe.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 61-68

Brutus blames Cassius for stirring him up against Caesar:

Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,

I have not slept.

Act II, Scene i, lines 61-62

Is this true?  Go back over the text--doesn't Brutus admit his
fears of Caesar before he discusses them with Cassius?  Brutus
may be deluding himself to keep his conscience clean--blaming
Cassius for what is essentially his own decision.

NOTE:  ON THE STATE OF HARMONY IN THE WORLD Brutus compares the
state of man to a "little kingdom." In Shakespeare's world
nothing exists in isolation.  The insurrection affects
everything and everyone:  the minds of the conspirators, Rome,
the heavens themselves.  The harmony of the individual mirrors
the harmony of the state--which in turn mirrors the harmony of
the universe.  All are interrelated.  When something happens to
disturb this harmony, the whole structure comes tumbling down.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 70-85

The conspirators enter, their faces buried in their cloaks, and
Brutus is upset and embarrassed to associate with them.  His
conflict is one we all face at one time or another when we are
forced to compromise ourselves (lie, cheat, etc.) for what we
consider a greater good.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 86-111

Cassius who considers Brutus his good friend--immediately begins
to play on Brutus' vanity:

and no man here

But honors you; and every one doth wish

You had but that opinion of yourself

Which every noble Roman bears of you.

Act II, Scene i, lines 90-93

Brutus wants to know what cares are keeping his friends from
sleep.  Does he really not know?  Can there by any question what
these men are plotting?  He may just be asking for details, or
he may be trying once again to lay the blame for the plot on
others in order to keep his own hands clean.  While Cassius
confers with Brutus, the other conspirators--Casca, Cinna and
Decius--debate where the sun will rise.  Dawn represents a new
day, literally and symbolically.  Evil deeds, bad dreams,
heavenly disorders--these are associated with the night.  Note
that the three conspirators can't agree on where the sun will
rise, and that Casca points toward the rising sun with a
sword.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 112-140

In his speech to the conspirators, Brutus tries to portray the
assassination as a virtuous act.  Taking an oath, he argues,
will put a stain on a noble enterprise.  To Brutus it is not a
conspiracy, not a murder, but an "enterprise." Like many public
figures, he uses words to cloak the horror of his deed.

Unlike Brutus, Cassius admits that the work at hand is bloody,
fiery, and terrible (Act I, Scene iii, line 130).  He too
believes his goal is noble, but he is honest with himself about
the means he must use to accomplish his goal.

Is there such a thing as a virtuous murder?  Can good come from
evil?  Brutus hides from these questions, but his behavior
forces us to ask them of ourselves.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 141-161

Once Brutus joins the conspirators, he quickly takes over.  The
others defer to his judgment.  Metellus recommends that Cicero
join them--his age will lend an air of respectability to the
plot.  Brutus says no, "For he will never follow anything / that
other men begin." This is Brutus' first decision as one of the
conspirators; is it a wise one?  Cicero was Rome's greatest
orator, who might have swayed the crowds at Caesar's funeral,
and changed the course of Roman history.  Does Brutus fear that
Cicero will question his authority?

Notice how quickly Cassius accepts Brutus' judgment.  Is the
issue not important enough to risk a break with Brutus?  Or does
Cassius simply lack the confidence to stand up to his
high-minded friend?

Brutus' second decision is to spare Antony's life.  It is a
decision that is morally correct, but politically disastrous.
Trying to remain pure and faithful to his principles, he
unleashes death and destruction on Rome, and dooms himself.

If Brutus had listened to Cassius and killed Antony, the
conspirators might have restored power to the people and their
elected representatives.

NOTE:  POLITICS AND IDEALS Does the world belong, then, to
opportunists like Cassius--men or women with no consciences?  Is
Shakespeare suggesting that politics and ideals never mix?  That
a person with principles is doomed to failure in an imperfect
world?  These are chilling thoughts.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 162-192.

Brutus tries to elevate the murder into a religious sacrifice.
"Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers," he says.  "We shall be
called purgers [healers], not murderers." He wants to carve
Caesar

as a dish fit for the gods,

Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.

Act II, Scene i, lines 173-174

Brutus is trying so hard not to compromise his principles!  But
is it possible?  Isn't murder murder, whatever you call it?
When a person lies dead, does it matter how the deed was done?

Of course, if the conspiracy is just and Caesar deserves to die,
then the assassination is in fact a sacrifice of an individual
for the sake of Rome.  Brutus is to be admired for limiting the
bloodshed, and for putting aside his own feelings for Caesar in
order to do what he thinks is best for his country.

Brutus wishes he could kill the spirit of Caesar, but not the
man.  This is impossible, not just because the two are
inseparable, but because the spirit, as we shall see, cannot be
destroyed.  The man can be killed, but what he represents is
destined to live on.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 193-233

Cassius and Decius portray Caesar as a man who is superstitious
and easy to flatter.  They see the man behind the mask, and
question his ability to rule.  What we must decide for ourselves
is whether human frailty--which the general public never
sees--is sufficient cause for insurrection.

The conspirators leave Brutus alone with the sleeping boy
Lucius.  Lucius seems to represent a world of childhood
innocence to which Brutus wishes he could return.

The noble Brutus is by nature unfit for a political world of
duplicity and intrigue.  He would like to regain the inner
harmony he has lost, but, for better or for worse, he has
committed himself to political action, and there is no going
back for him.

Brutus may be noble or foolish, but he has courageously decided
to descend from his safe and privileged world of ideas and take
a stand in a world of practical affairs.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 233-325

Portia enters and we hear from her what we already know about
Brutus:  that he is introspective and torn by doubts; that he is
a man of conscience who is struggling to do what is right.  How
different he is from those about him, who spend their time
manipulating each other for private ends.

Brutus does not want to discuss the conspiracy with Portia; in
fact, he lies to her, blaming his moodiness on ill health.  Does
he want to protect her from the ugly truth?  Or is he simply too
ashamed to own up to what he has done?  In either case, he is
less than honest, and we may condemn him for falling short of
his standards, or praise him for giving in to the promptings of
his heart.

Portia, with an intuitive wisdom, sees right through Brutus, and
insists on the truth so that she can share his burden with him.
He agrees to trust her with his secret, and she departs.

NOTE:  PORTIA AS A MODERN WOMAN Some people like to see Portia
as a modern woman, hundreds of years ahead of her time.  But is
she really?  She does refer to Brutus as her other half, and
asks to be treated as his equal.  Genuine respect and affection
exist between them.  She insists that she is stronger than other
women--she is Cato's daughter, isn't she?--and should not be
shielded from a world of men.

This image of herself, not as the woman "Portia," but as "Cato's
daughter," is her public image of herself--the person she would
like to become.  (Brutus wears a mask, too, when he pictures
himself as a descendant of a founder of the Roman Republic.)

Can Portia escape her private self and live up to her reputation
as Cato's daughter?  All we know to this point is that Brutus
addresses her as "Portia," and that she greets him as "my lord."
It is his world she seeks to enter--there is no question of
Brutus entering hers.  Equality seems to exist in terms of
mutual respect within the framework of a traditional marriage,
with pre-defined rights and obligations.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 326-334

Brutus' dilemma--and one of the major issues of the play--is
summed up in this brief dialogue:

Caius.  What's to do?

Brutus.  A piece of work that will make sick men whole.

Caius.  But are not some whole that we must make sick?

Brutus.  That must we also.

Act II, Scene i, lines 326-329

Brutus would rather focus on his noble end, and forget the
means.  Caius reminds him that people must suffer first.  One
can imagine the pain and resignation in Brutus' voice when he is
forced to acknowledge that, yes, some must suffer before we can
make the country healthy again.

Caius does not wish to debate the issue--it is enough that
Brutus leads him.  Like Cassius and others, he defers to Brutus'
judgment.  It speaks well of Brutus that so many friends and
associates are willing to follow him; and yet, are they any
better than the common people who blindly follow Caesar?  It
seems in Shakespeare's play that whenever people give up
responsibility for their lives and let themselves be led by
others, the sickness of the state spreads and the world sinks
further into a state of disorder.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-25

The scene opens in Caesar's home the morning of March 15th--the
ides of March.

NOTE:  ON OMENS The thunder and lightning are stage effects
which make the moment more dramatic.  They also remind us that
the order of the universe has been disturbed.  The gods are
unhappy with men and apparently will not rest until harmony has
been restored.

Three times Calpurnia cried out in her sleep, "They murder
Caesar!" Her dreams will soon come true--another indication that
there are forces at work beyond our rational understanding or
control.  Some readers view Caesar's wife as a weak and
frightened child, yet no one could be closer to the truth.

Shakespeare must have taken special delight in catching Caesar
at his most private moment--in his dressing gown at home.  If he
ever intended to show the private man behind the public mask,
now was the time.

He doesn't disappoint us.  Caesar first appears as a frightened,
superstitious man, asking for sacrifices to the gods.  Calpurnia
humiliates him by announcing, "You shall not stir out of your
house today"; and Caesar immediately puts on his public mask,
and says for all the world to hear:

The things that threaten me

Ne'er looked but on my back; when they shall see

The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

Act II, Scene ii, lines 9-11

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 26-54

Caesar would love to rise above normal human emotions, both to
satisfy his own image of himself, and to satisfy his public.
But the next moment he is his old superstitious self again,
asking his servant what the augurers advise him to do.  The
fortune tellers caution him to stay home, but he is Caesar,
isn't he?--more dangerous than danger itself.

Back and forth Caesar goes, from the private individual to the
public figure:  one moment succumbing to his private fears, the
next, drawing back behind his mask, becoming the god he would
like to be.

Is Caesar aware of the inconsistencies in his behavior?
Possibly.  But like many politicians, he may have worn his mask
so often that, even in the privacy of his home, he can no longer
tell when it is on or off.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 55-68

Caesar finally gives in to his wife's wishes and agrees to stay
home.  Perhaps he is being a considerate and loving husband; it
is more likely, however, that he is using her as an excuse to
hide his own fears from himself and from the public.

Worried that his concession to her may be taken for weakness, he
tries to act like the mighty emperor again, and announces to
Decius, "I will not come today."

That Caesar's concerned about his public image is obvious.  What
is less certain is whether he is blindly obsessed with it, or
simply shrewd enough to recognize the need to project a strong
public image.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 69-106

Shakespeare's characters, from a simple cobbler to a noble
senator, are continuously being manipulated by others--and
Caesar is no exception.  To convince him to visit the Senate,
Decius first plays upon his vanity--interpreting Calpurnia's
dream as "a vision fair and fortunate" of Romans bathing in
Caesar's blood to restore their health.  Next, he plays upon
Caesar's ambition, telling him the Senate plans this very day to
offer him the crown.  Will the great Caesar have the Senators
whispering that he is afraid?

Caesar is an actor who comes alive in the eyes of his audience,
and nothing could upset him more than the loss of his public's
esteem.  To be afraid is to be merely mortal, and Caesar wants
to cast himself in the role of a god.  And so he laughs at
Calpurnia's fears--fears he shared only a moment ago--and goes
to the Senate, and to his death.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 107-129

Caesar is strikingly polite to his would-be assassins--thanking
them for their "pains and courtesy," blaming himself for keeping
others waiting, and inviting them to share some wine with him.

This is a side of Caesar's nature that we have not seen before.
Is Shakespeare painting him in a favorable light to emphasize
the horror of the assassination?  Perhaps he is merely showing
how double-faced politicians can be in public.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT II, SCENE III

Artemidorus' note gives Caesar another chance to save his
life--will he read it?  The possibility of a reprieve stretches
out the time before Caesar meets his fate, and therefore adds to
the suspense.

Artemidorus considers Caesar a friend, and is willing to risk
his life for him.  How sad it is, he says, that virtuous men
like Caesar cannot live beyond the reach of jealous rivals:

My heart laments that virtue cannot live

Out of the teeth of emulation.

Act II, Scene iii, lines 12-13

How different a view of Caesar from that of the conspirators!
Could both be right?  Shakespeare makes us realize that there is
no final verdict on a human being--that a friend to one person
may be an enemy to another, and that our opinions say as much
about ourselves as they say about others.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT II, SCENE IV

Shakespeare again delays the assassination attempt, and thereby
adds to the suspense.

Brutus, true to his word, has shared his secret with Portia, and
she is having trouble keeping it to herself.

The elements in Portia, as in Brutus, are at war:  "I have a
man's mind," she says, "but a woman's might." In this disordered
world there is no harmony anywhere:  neither in the heavens, nor
in the heart and mind of a noble woman.

Portia is almost mad with fear.  She would like to be "Cato's
daughter," but she is only "Portia," and must admit:

Ay me, how weak a thing

The heart of woman is!

Act II, Scene iv, lines 39-40

Like Brutus and Caesar, Portia tries to live up to her name and
brings about her own destruction.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT III, SCENE I

It's March 15th, the ides of March.  Will the soothsayer's
prophecy come true?  The play has been building towards this
dramatic moment when Caesar confronts his fate.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-12

The scene begins before the Capitol, where Caesar refuses to
accept a note warning him about the plot.  "What touches us
ourself shall be last served," he says.

What do you think:  are these the words of a shrewd and
deceitful politician who puts on airs of false humility to
impress the crowds?  Or does Caesar see himself as the servant
of the people?  The question is the same you already asked about
Caesar's motives when he refused three times to accept the crown
(Act I, Scene ii, lines 234-250).  Whatever your interpretation,
it's ironic that, had Caesar acted more selfishly, he might have
saved his life.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 13-75

The conspirators now have Caesar alone, and petition him to
grant a reprieve to Metellus' banished brother, Publius Cimber.
Why they choose this moment is open to interpretation.  It may
be merely an excuse to get Caesar alone.  Perhaps they know that
Caesar's almost certain refusal will harden their hearts, and
sharpen their resolve to kill him.  Perhaps, too, they are
offering Caesar a final chance to redeem himself through an act
of mercy.  It's fun to speculate what the conspirators would
have done if Caesar had relented.

Caesar now makes two speeches that give important clues to his
character.  Read these passages carefully, for they give you a
rare opportunity to decide just how fit he is to rule.

In his first speech (lines 35-48), Caesar lashes out at Metellus
for trying to sway him (Caesar) with flattery.  Caesar has a
point:  it's not very flattering--it's downright insulting--to
be told how great you are by someone who is obviously trying to
manipulate your feelings.  Perhaps it's the implication that
Caesar can't see through someone as unsubtle as Metellus that
annoys Caesar most.

NOTE:  TWO VIEWS OF CAESAR Some readers argue that Caesar's
refusal to submit to flattery or to the pleadings of friends
shows that he is a strong ruler with the courage of his
convictions.  Without such a strong captain at the helm, these
readers argue, the Roman ship would flounder.

Other readers disagree.  Caesar's inflexibility shows that he is
callous and arrogant, they argue--a tyrant afraid to change his
mind for fear of appearing weak before his friends.

In his second speech, Caesar compares himself to the Northern
Star,

Of whose true-fixed and resting quality

There is no a fellow in the firmament.

Act III, Scene i, lines 61-62

To call himself the only Roman who remains constant in his
beliefs seems outrageous enough--but Caesar goes beyond this.  I
make my own destiny, he seems to be saying; I am stronger than
fate.  Like a god, I am free from the ravages of old age,
sickness, and death.

Some readers see this speech as the sad ravings of an aging man
who has lost all grasp of reality.  Others view it as a
carefully developed political speech meant to reinforce his
public image as a monarch.  In either case, Caesar is guilty of
arrogance and blasphemy against the gods.

However you interpret Caesar's words, they do give the
conspirators the excuse they need to murder him; and so, in some
sense, Caesar's pride is responsible for his own downfall.
Whether this pride is in itself sufficient justification for
murdering him is something you'll have to decide for yourself.
Your verdict will depend in part on whether you judge Caesar
(and people in general) by what he is or by what he does.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 76-77

It does speak well for Caesar that at the moment of death he
seems most upset by the betrayal of Brutus.  If you, my closest
friend, could betray me--Caesar seems to be saying--then let me
die.

As death approaches, the mask slips, and the man beneath reveals
himself.  What upsets Caesar most is not the loss of glory, or
even death itself--but the disloyalty of a friend.  Perhaps at
this final moment Caesar realizes the truth about himself.  If
that's the case, then we have to pity him for learning the truth
too late.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 78-97

The conspirators reveal themselves in the different ways they
react to Caesar's death.  Cassius and his followers are
political men who recognize the need to deal with the crowds.
While Brutus, the idealist, stands about philosophizing about
fate, the others rush about, trying to cope with the public
outcry.  Brutus seems to believe that he lives in a moral
universe in which good must triumph over evil.  He believes that
people are as rational as he is, and will understand the justice
of his cause.  Cassius, the realist, recognizes the need to
manipulate the emotions of the people.  Rather than wait for
virtue to triumph, he takes matters into his own hands.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 98-118

Casca observes that people live in fear of death.  Then we are
Caesar's friends, says Brutus, for we have shortened the time he
had to live in fear:

So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged

His time of fearing death.

Act III, Scene i, lines 104-105

Having murdered Caesar, Brutus now convinces himself that he has
done the man a favor!  So strong is the power of words, and so
dangerous is logic when cut off from genuine feeling, that they
can transform butchery into a noble act.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 119-121

As the conspirators prepare to depart, Cassius remarks:

Brutus shall lead, and we will grace his heels

Act III, Scene i, line 120

Now that Cassius has enlisted Brutus' support, he seems ready to
let Brutus take charge.  Does he lack confidence in his own
judgment?  Or is he simply not motivated by personal ambition?
In either case, it's interesting to note that Cassius, who
refused to stoop to Caesar's will, seems happy to give in to
Brutus'.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 122-163

Antony would like to meet with Brutus to learn why Caesar was
killed.  If Brutus can justify his actions, Antony agrees to
follow him as once he followed Caesar.  Brutus, always willing
to explain the justice of his cause, happily consents.

Antony's devotion to Caesar blinds him to Caesar's faults--as
Cassius' hatred of Caesar blinds him to Caesar's virtues.  Yet,
when Antony addresses the conspirators, he shows himself to be
an independent thinker with a deep understanding of human
nature.  If he had simply announced that he was switching sides,
the conspirators would probably not have believed him--they
would have questioned his motives.  His outpouring of grief over
Caesar's death offends them, but it makes them trust him,
because he seems honest and sincere.

NOTE:  ANTONY, A SINCERE OPPORTUNIST A cynical
opportunist--that's how most people describe Antony.  Yet he
always speaks with deep conviction.  His motives are always
suspect, and yet--unlike any of the other men--he seems to
remain faithful to his feelings.  Is it possible to be an
opportunist, then, and also a person who speaks from the
heart?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 164-223

You can see the basic difference between Brutus and Cassius in
the way they respond to Antony.

Brutus appeals to Antony's intellect with the argument that
"pity to the general wrong of / Rome...  Hath done this deed on
Caesar" (lines 170, 172).  Is this any way to win the heart of
Caesar's most devoted friend?  Brutus' problem is not so much
that he ignores human nature, as that he assumes others have
natures like his own.  Whether his words to Antony reveal a man
who is cold and unfeeling, or simply too pure and noble for this
world, is something you'll have to decide for yourself.  Either
way, he's the direct opposite of Antony.

As Brutus appeals to Antony's "higher" instincts, so Cassius
appeals to his "lower"--offering him a share of political power.
This is the sort of appeal that would work on Cassius himself.

When Brutus promises to justify the assassination, Antony
responds, "I doubt not of your wisdom" (line 184).  What he is
saying to himself is, yes, you are wise and have your reasons,
but none of them can make the deed less terrible.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 225-226

Brutus believes his reasons are so strong

That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar,

You should be satisfied.

Act III, Scene i, lines 225-226

Could reason or logic ever be strong enough to make a person
applaud the murder of his father?  Brutus thinks so, and in that
belief lies his weakness--and his strength.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 227-253

Brutus decides over Cassius' objections to let Antony speak at
Caesar's funeral.  The decision is admirable, but politically
disastrous.

Brutus plans to speak first, "And show the reason of our
Caesar's death" (line 237).  What he fails to understand is that
most people are not convinced by reasons.  What motivates them
are appeals to their emotions.  (Brutus would never admit it,
but he himself was led by his feelings when he joined the
conspiracy to live up to his family name.)

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 254-275

Left alone, Antony reveals his true intentions.  What we
discover is a man of genuine passion, overcome by feelings he
can neither completely understand nor control.  As Brutus
responds with his head, so Antony reacts with his heart.  He has
no concern about the future or about the best interests of Rome.
Values, ideals, principles--these mean nothing to him.  He
cannot see beyond the murder of a friend and his desire for
revenge.

Antony becomes the servant of Caesar's vengeful spirit--serving
him in death as he served him in life.  His devotion is total
and blinds him to everything else--even the "blood and
destruction" he is about to unleash on guilty and innocent
alike.  Whether he is an instrument of good or evil depends, of
course, on how you view the man he serves.

One thing that can't be doubted is the sincerity of Antony's
feelings.  In a world of men too circumspect to speak their
minds, it comes as a relief to find one who can express himself
with tears.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 276-297

The scene ends with the convenient arrival of Octavius' servant,
who announces that Octavius and his men are camped about 21
miles from Rome.  Caesar, apparently sensing danger, had written
Octavius for his support.  Let him stay there, says Antony,
until I have made my speech and determined whether the time is
ripe for his return.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT III, SCENE II

The two funeral orations should be studied for what they say
about (1) Brutus, (2) Antony, (3) Caesar, and (4) the crowds.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  BRUTUS AND ANTONY

You can argue--though not many people do--that Brutus' speech is
as powerful and convincing as Antony's, and that it fails only
because Antony has the final word.  Defenders of Brutus' speech
point out that:

-He flatters the common people by treating them as equals and
appealing to their powers of reason.

-He involves the people by asking them questions.

-His questions are rhetorical; their answers are self-evident.
(The answer to the question, "Who is here so base, that would be
a bondman [slave]?" is, of course, "No one.") The rhetorical
question is used by public speakers to make audiences think they
are reaching their own decisions, when in fact their minds are
being made up for them.

-He plays upon the sympathy of his audience--offering to
sacrifice himself for his country.

-His speech is brief and to the point.

-He does convince his audience.  When he finishes speaking, the
citizens exclaim, "This Caesar was a tyrant," and "We are blest
that Rome is rid of him."

Other readers argue that Brutus' speech is weaker than Antony's.
They point out that:

-Brutus appeals to the minds of the people; Antony sways them by
tugging at their emotions.

-Brutus appeals to an abstract sense of duty to the state;
Antony appeals to greed.

-Brutus asks the people to appreciate degrees of good and evil;
Antony plays upon their need to love and hate.

-Brutus begins his speech by addressing the people collectively
as Romans; Antony addresses them individually as friends.
Antony knows instinctively that personal relationships mean more
to people than their identification with the state.

-Brutus speaks in prose, which appeals to the intellect; Antony
speaks in verse, which appeals to the emotions.  Brutus' speech
is not strong or important enough to be dignified with verse.

-Brutus makes the politically disastrous mistake of expecting
too much from the people.  He reasons with them as though they
were his intellectual equals.  He uses language, not to
manipulate feelings, but to communicate ideas.  He throws out
concepts with balance, precision and speed.

As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was

fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor

him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him.  There is

tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune; honor, for

his valor; and death, for his ambition.

Act III, Scene ii, Lines 24-29

This verbal juggling act may impress Brutus' educated friends,
but who can believe that it moves the hearts of the people?
Heroes and villains are what they want--black-and-white
distinctions, not shades of gray.

Antony's speech may not be as concise or intellectually clever,
but it appeals to people on a level that they can understand.
Avoiding fine distinctions, he portrays Caesar as a hero who was
betrayed by friends:

rutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel.

Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him!

That was the most unkindest cut of all;

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab,

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,

Quite vanquished him.

Act III, Scene ii, lines 183-188

This is language the people can relate to, for who has not been
stung by the ingratitude of a friend?

-Brutus speaks as though his words were memorized--he could be
addressing anyone.  Antony seems to form his words as he goes
along, in response to the shifting moods of his audience.  His
speech, therefore, seems more spontaneous, and more deeply
felt.

-Brutus projects an image of complete self-control when he
speaks; Antony pretends to break down and cry.  The people
listen to Brutus with respect, but he is an intellectual, and
they do not identify with him.  Antony is as passionate as the
people, and they consider him one of their own.

-Brutus reaches the people only through their minds; Antony
touches them through their senses as well, showing them Caesar's
body and Caesar's bloody cloak--the same one he wore in one of
his most decisive military victories.  Antony wins their
admiration by repeating that the assassins are all honorable
men, and pretending that he is just an ordinary fellow who has
no grudge to bear.

-The failure of Brutus' speech is summed up in the words of the
Third Plebeian:  "Let him [Brutus] be Caesar." No intellectual
argument is going to reduce the needs of the people for Caesar,
and for what he represents.  If Caesar the man is dead, they
will find someone to take his place.

-Antony may be a cynical opportunist, stopping at nothing to get
what he wants.  And yet he also seems to believe what he says,
and to speak from the heart.  He does appeal to the so-called
baser instincts of his audience, but only to accomplish what he
considers a noble end.  Ambition is apparently not his motive:
revenge is what he seeks--revenge for the death of a dear
friend.  Is revenge a motive less honorable than jealousy
(Cassius) or the wish to right wrongs that have not yet been
committed (Brutus)?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  CAESAR

Caesar manages to surprise us even after his death.  According
to Antony, Caesar leaves the people his parks, his gardens, and
a sum of money.  Would a tyrant be so generous?  Caesar may
simply have tried to buy himself immortality--to win in death
the universal respect and admiration he was unable to attain in
life.  But whatever his motives he was interested in the
well-being of his public.  Would Brutus and the other
conspirators have been as generous?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  THE CROWDS

The crowd's reaction to the two speeches suggests that the
common people are incapable of ruling themselves.  What they
seem to need is a strong, benevolent authority figure--someone
to give order and direction to their blind impulses.  If Caesar
is killed, they will keep his spirit alive in Brutus, Antony, or
someone else.

Brutus assumes that all Romans are noble, but Rome is not just
an ideal, it is also a community of people.  Like Brutus
himself, Rome has both a public and a private face.  The Rome
which Brutus appeals to is peopled with wise and virtuous
citizens who zealously guard their freedom.  The actual people,
however, are greedy, fun-loving and thoughtless--happy to sign
over their freedom to anyone who struts about like a hero and
promises them a day off from work.  They can also be vicious, as
we shall see in the following scene.

Shakespeare's portrait of the common people is not very
flattering.  The reason may simply be that Shakespeare lived in
a pre-democratic age.  Yet ask yourself:  are people today more
capable of self-government than they were in Roman times?

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT III, SCENE III

The poet Cinna is murdered by an angry mob because he has the
same name as one of the conspirators.  Why is a poet the crowd's
first victim?  Perhaps because the murder of someone so
obviously innocent and apolitical emphasizes the horror of the
deed.  Perhaps Shakespeare is suggesting--though he does not
actually say so--that artists have no place in a world torn by
civil strife, since it is the artist's job to create order from
disorder, and to insist upon the truth.

The murder reminds us how dangerous the masses are when their
emotions are unchecked.  It also foreshadows months of death and
destruction, to innocent and guilty alike.

NOTE:  ON THE POWER OF NAMES Cinna the poet is murdered because
he has the same name as one of the conspirators.  How powerful
names are, and how often people mistake them for the person
beneath!  Portia, Brutus, Caesar--all try to live up to their
names and bring about their own destruction.  The crowds are
happy to call Brutus "Caesar," because it is the name that
matters to them, not the man.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT IV, SCENE I

The "dogs of war" have been set loose.  The sickness that began
with Caesar's death has spread and infected the entire state of
Rome.  In a world without order, brother kills brother and
friend kills friend.

Antony checks off the names of men to die as casually as someone
checking off items on a shopping list.  This is clearly not the
"freedom" Brutus envisioned for the people of Rome after the
death of Caesar.

Antony is ruthless.  He is a man without conscience, who will
let nothing--not honor, not friendship--stand in his way.  Yet
he remains a devoted friend to Caesar.  He is also honest with
himself and does not try to be something he is not.  He is
brutally effective.  He is a realist who is willing to dirty his
hands to achieve what he considers noble ends.

Antony plans to deprive the people of the money promised them in
Caesar's will.  A contemptible act, yes, yet necessary perhaps
to raise an army to fight the conspirators.

Antony makes use of Lepidus, then scoffs at him behind his
back--refusing to share power with such a "barren-spirited
fellow" who feeds on the fashions of the moment.

Antony reveals himself both in his willingness to manipulate and
kill and in his readiness to defy even Caesar's wishes for the
people.  He is wonderfully clearsighted and self-controlled, and
yet obsessed by the desire for revenge.  His mission defines
him; it gives him a purpose in life without which, it seems, he
cannot exist.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT IV, SCENE II

The betrayal of a friend disturbs the harmony of the universe
and brings death and destruction to Rome.  In this disordered
world, relationships are poisoned by distrust.  People know as
little about each other as they know about themselves.

The disintegration of the Republic continues.  Rome is split
into two warring factions, and the members of the factions are
quarreling among themselves.

Brutus is angry at Cassius, but rather than give in to his
emotions, he makes a speech about the nature of love.  When love
begins to cool we put on a formal show of affection, he says;
true love needs no such formalities to support it.  How like
Brutus to turn his own emotions into a general theory of human
nature.

His feelings under control as usual, Brutus points out the need
for him and Cassius to put on a show of affection before their
troops, and to air their grievances in private.  Is this a new
Brutus--advocating deceit?  It is strange to see Brutus acting
more pragmatically than Cassius.  Brutus may be a man of ideas,
but he is also a man with a practical knowledge of the world.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT IV, SCENE III

Your reaction to the quarrel between Cassius and Brutus will say
as much about you as it says about them.  If you are the sort of
person who compromises his values to get what he wants, you will
probably sympathize with Cassius.  If you are a person who
sticks to his principles at all costs, you will probably
sympathize with Brutus.  Many readers find their sympathies
shifting at this point in the play to Cassius, since Brutus
treats him coldly, and Cassius tries so hard to remain
friends.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-27

Cassius feels wronged because Brutus has ignored his letter
seeking pardon for his friend Lucius Pella.  Brutus has
disregarded Cassius' plea and publicly disgraced Pella for
taking bribes.  In times like these, says Cassius, we can't
afford to pay attention to such minor crimes.

Brutus, in turn, scolds Cassius for being no better than
Pella--selling positions to men who don't deserve them.  Let's
not debase ourselves by taking bribes, says Brutus; we killed
Caesar because he abused his power--his death was pointless if
we stoop to the same crimes.

Brutus thus refuses to compromise his principles.  Should we
admire him for being so steadfast?  Or criticize him for being
inflexible and not consulting with Cassius before disgracing
Pella?  Accepting bribes in times of war seems trivial--not
important enough to risk dissension between the two top
generals.  Brutus may be high-minded, but at times like this he
also seems smug and self-righteous.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 28-68

What begins as a discussion between two grown men soon becomes a
kids' squabble:

Brutus.  You are not, Cassius.

Cassius.  I am.

Brutus.  I say you are not.

Act IV, Scene iii, lines 33-34

Brutus.  Peace, peace, you durst not so have tempted him
[Caesar].

Cassius.  I durst not?

Brutus.  No.

Cassius.  What?  Durst not tempt him?

Brutus.  For your life your durst not.

Act IV, Scene iii, lines 59-62

By this point, there are no principles at stake--only pride.
Brutus, the man of high moral standards, steps out from behind
his mask of stoic resignation, and what does he do?  He baits,
threatens, and insults his friend.  Is this the "real" Brutus,
at last?

Brutus now retreats again behind high-minded phrases.  Wearing
his words like armor he says:

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats;

For I am armed so strong in honesty

That they pass me by as the idle wind

Act IV, Scene iii, lines 66-68

Brutus is honest, yet there is something offensive about his
boasting about it.  Would he need to, if he believed it himself?
He seems as sure of himself as Caesar, when Caesar compared
himself to the Northern Star, moments before his death.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 69-121

Brutus is also angry with Cassius for failing to send money to
pay for his troops.  "I did send to you / For certain sums of
gold, which you denied me," he complains; "For I can raise no
money by vile means." (lines 69-71).

Brutus can be admired for his principles.  He can also be
condemned as a hypocrite, who is perfectly happy to take money
from the peasants, so long as Cassius does the dirty work and
lets him (Brutus) keep his own hands clean.

Cassius insists that he did not deny Brutus funds; that his
messenger "was but a fool / That brought my answer back." Is he
telling the truth?  Whether he is or not, Brutus might have
checked with Cassius before accusing him of withholding funds.

Brutus seems to care more about his lofty principles than about
friendship.  Cassius cares passionately about friendship, and
says, convincingly:

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities;

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.

Act IV, Scene iii, lines 85-86

What has gotten into Brutus--what has made him lose his
perspective and his self-control?  Behind the mask apparently is
a man no different from the rest of us:  a collection of drives
and passions, painted over with a thin layer of thought.

Note (lines 118-122) that Cassius blames his mother for giving
him a quick temper ("rash humor").  Was his mother unloving?
That might explain Cassius' craving for affection.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 122-141

A Poet now enters and speaks perhaps for Shakespeare when he
says, "Love, and be friends" (line 130).  It is the absence of
love and friendship that has plunged Rome into civil war, and
inflamed the heavens.  The Poet appears like a Biblical prophet,
bearing the truth--"Love, and be friends"--and no one hears or
cares to listen.  The Poet, unlike Cinna, escapes with his life,
but neither can be heard above the sounds of war.  As Brutus
himself says,

What should the wars do with these jigging [rhyming] fools?

Act IV, Scene iii, line 136

NOTE:  THE VOICE OF SHAKESPEARE HIMSELF The poet may indeed be a
fool, with no sense of time and place; but he may also speak for
Shakespeare, reminding us that artists have a responsibility to
share their vision with us, just as we have a responsibility to
listen.

The foolishness perhaps is not in the Poet's simple rhymes, but
in Brutus' rude and hasty response:

Get you hence, sirrah!  saucy fellow, hence!

Act IV, Scene iii, line 133

Even Cassius is more charitable, and says:

Bear with him, Brutus, 'tis his fashion.

Act IV, Scene iii, 134

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 142-160

The Poet leaves, and Brutus announces that his wife, Portia, has
killed herself.  Throughout his quarrel with Cassius, he kept
the news to himself.  He reveals the truth in such a cold,
abrupt manner that we are left wondering if this is a man
incapable of love.  And yet the fact that Brutus can control his
emotions may indicate a strong self-will rather than an absence
of feeling.  To accept calmly whatever fate brings is a basic
principle of his Stoic philosophy.  To refuse to burden others
with his grief is in keeping with his noble nature.  Perhaps he
realizes that a sorrow as great as his cannot be shared, and
that any effort to reduce it to words can only cheapen it.  If
there is genuine grief behind Brutus' silence, then his
childlike behavior with Cassius suddenly becomes clear.  What we
have witnessed is the anger and frustration of a man nursing a
hidden sorrow.

Note that Portia (lines 151-155) kills herself by swallowing
fire [hot coals].  It is an appropriate way for her to die,
since fire is a symbol of the destructive powers of the gods,
unleashed (some say) by the actions of her husband Brutus.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 161-194

Messala arrives with letters reporting that Octavius and Antony
have put to death from seventy to one hundred senators,
including Cicero.  The common people, then, are not the only
ones who need their emotions held in check!

NOTE:  TWO VERSIONS OF THE PLAY Brutus tells Messala that he has
not heard of Portia's death, although just a moment ago Brutus
was announcing her death to Cassius.  It's possible that Brutus
is putting on an act for Messala, using the opportunity to
reinforce his public image as a Stoic.  Cassius, realizing this,
may have played along.  Most critics believe, however, that
Shakespeare later revised the scene, and that either he, his
editor, or his printer forgot to delete one of the two passages
relating the news of Portia's death.

The second passage--the one in which Brutus learns the news from
Messala--is much less flattering to Brutus, because of the
almost inhuman speed with which he dismisses his wife's death
and moves on to the subject of war.  "Why, farewell, Portia," he
says; and then after a few high-minded words on the
inevitability of death, he adds, "Well, to our work alive.  What
do you think / Of marching to Philippi presently?" (lines
189-196).  It is generally believed that Shakespeare wrote this
version first, which emphasizes Brutus' stoicism; and that he
deleted it and added the earlier passage (lines 141-158), which
emphasizes Brutus' humanity.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 195-228

Brutus and Cassius now discuss strategy:  whether to keep their
position on the heights and wait for the enemy to attack, or to
take the offensive and try to catch the enemy off guard.

Although Brutus asks Cassius what he thinks, his mind is already
made up.  In his military strategy, as in his philosophy, he is
convinced that he is right and has no patience for compromise or
debate.  What could be more tactless than his response to
Cassius:

Good reasons must of force give place to better.

Act IV, Scene iii, line 202

When Cassius politely asks to be heard--"Hear me, good brother,"
he says--Brutus ignores him and makes one of his high-minded
speeches about the need to act when the time is ripe (lines
215-223).  Cassius realizes that it is useless to argue with
someone so obstinate, and bows to Brutus' stronger will.

Brutus does not hesitate to make difficult military decisions,
so it is unfair to call him a man of ideas, incapable of action.
And yet it is perhaps the newness of his job, and his desire to
prove himself worthy of it, that make him seek a single,
decisive victory.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 229-307

Brutus, having broken his silence about Portia, seems able to
relax again, if only for a moment.  He asks Lucius--symbol of
youth and innocence--to play music, perhaps so that he can hear
the harmonies of a simpler, more carefree time.  He puts his own
concerns aside and considers the comforts of his men.  When
Lucius falls asleep, he is too considerate to wake him up.

Lucius has no guilty conscience to interrupt his sleep.  Brutus,
however, is kept awake by Caesar's ghost, who promises to
reappear at the decisive battle at Philippi.

NOTE:  THE GHOST OF CAESAR The ghost is a reminder that there
are powers in the world that control our fate--powers that
cannot be grasped by logic and reason.  The ghost is also a
dramatic way of portraying an image in a nightmare--an image
that embodies the guilt and self-doubt beneath Brutus' firm
exterior.

The ghost vanishes and Brutus wakens his men.  Lucius, not
realizing that he has fallen asleep, worries that his instrument
is out of tune.  "The strings, my lord, are false" (line 290),
he says.

And so they are.  The harmonies of life have been drowned out by
the cries of men in their sleep and by the baying of "the dogs
of war." Musicians, like poets, won't be heard again until order
is restored, and the Roman state is back on its heaven-appointed
course.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT V, SCENE I

Shakespeare has structured his play around the assassination and
the consequences of the assassination.  By the final act the
issues have all been spelled out; events now take their course,
and fate has its way.  As Brutus says, "This same day / Must end
that work the ides of March begun" (lines 112-113).

NOTE:  A STRUGGLE FOR POWER Brutus joined the conspiracy because
of his love for Rome, yet he never speaks of what the senators
might do with their newly-restored powers, nor does he envision
a better world without Caesar.  The silence of both factions on
all issues beyond the current battle suggests that they are
engaged primarily in a power struggle over two forms of
government--a monarchy and a republic.  Both factions say they
care about the people, but both manipulate the people for
private ends.

Brutus and Cassius seem gripped by a sense of doom.  They go
through the motions of fighting, but seem to understand
intuitively that fate has already decided against them.  All
that is left for them is to play their parts as nobly as they
can.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-20

Brutus' decision to abandon the heights was not wise; even
Antony did not believe Brutus would be foolish enough to give up
his strategic advantage.  Antony orders Octavius to lead his
troops along the left side of the battlefield.  Octavius
refuses, not for any military reasons, it seems, but because "I
will do so." Octavius behaves as willfully as a young Caesar who
needs to remind others of his power.  Antony bows to Octavius,
perhaps because he knows the issue is not important enough to
fight about, or because he recognizes Octavius' right to rule.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 21-68

The four generals meet on the plains of Philippi and battle each
other with words.  Antony, Cassius and Brutus take turns trying
to deflate each other's egos.  Brutus takes particular delight
in this verbal sword-play.  Only Octavius keeps his perspective,
urging them to get to the business at hand.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 69-125

Cassius, sensing that he is about to die, wants the world to
know that he is following Brutus' battle plan against his will.
Two sides of Cassius are apparent here.  His need to prove
himself a man shows in his concern for his reputation as a
soldier; and his craving for affection shows in his willingness
to die rather than oppose the wishes of his good friend
Brutus.

NOTE:  THE IMPORTANCE OF OMENS Cassius now believes in omens--in
forces beyond his rational understanding and control.  He used
to think the gods were indifferent to men, but now acknowledges
the existence of supernatural forces that shape his destiny.
What he has learned is that people can't control their fate, yet
are held accountable for their actions, and are ultimately
rewarded or punished for everything they do.

How different Brutus and Cassius behave when they are alone
together, and can put aside their threats and boasts, and be
themselves.  Because danger and doom press down upon them, they
are more honest than ever before.  Cassius asks the gods for
victory, not so that he can gain riches and power, but so that
he and Brutus can grow old together--friends in times of peace
as in times of war.  Though the battle has not even begun,
Cassius says farewell to Brutus as though defeat were
inevitable.  He speaks with gentle resignation--almost as if he
welcomes death.

Brutus, also convinced the end is near, says that suicide is
against his philosophy, but that he would never suffer the
indignity of being led, a prisoner, through the streets of Rome.
Thus Brutus consciously denies his philosophy, and listens to
his heart.

The two men part with a touching show of gentleness.  Names and
labels, roles and reputations--all fade in the face of death.
The masks slip, and what we see is the simple humanity of two
good friends.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT V, SCENE II

This brief scene indicates the passage of time, and lets us know
that the battle has begun.  Brutus seems confident and in
control--a man of action as well as words.  A moment ago his
cause seemed lost; now fate is on his side as he takes the
offense and orders Cassius to attack.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-50

The outcome of the battle remains uncertain:  Brutus has beaten
Octavius, but Cassius' troops are surrounded by Antony's.
Cassius learns that Antony has set fire to his tents and sends
his trusted friend Titinius to find out whether the approaching
troops are friends or enemies.  Cassius--the man who faulted
Caesar for his physical imperfections--admits a handicap of his
own:  nearsightedness.  He is shortsighted mentally as well as
physically for he cannot see beyond the moment and assumes his
death is near.  "My life is run his compass," he says.  His
pessimism has no basis in fact, but he seems to want to believe
the worst.

Pindarus reports that Titinius has been surrounded by the enemy
and taken prisoner.  Cassius calls himself a coward "to live so
long, / To see my best friend ta'en before my face!" (lines
34-35).  Shouting, "Caesar, thou art revenged," he stabs himself
with the same sword that killed Caesar, and dies.

Cassius gains, at the moment of his death, a certain dignity.
Today we consider suicide a form of murder, but the Romans saw
it as a noble act, particularly when it was done to avoid
dishonor.  Cassius' final thoughts are not for himself--for
power or for glory--but for a friend whom he believes he has
sent to his death.  Caesar, too, in his final moments, revealed
himself as a person who valued friendship above all.  Both
Cassius and Caesar, facing death, focus upon the importance of
personal, private relationships, rather than public reputation.
This wins our affection; it also wins our pity--for it comes too
late to matter.

 NOTE:  THE STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY Some readers complain that
 Julius Caesar is a poorly constructed play because one of the
 two main characters (Caesar) dies before the end of the third
 act.  Yet though Caesar the man dies, his spirit continues to
 live in the hearts of the people, and to dominate the action of
 the play.  His spirit revenges itself on Cassius--Brutus will
 be next.  What neither Cassius nor Brutus realizes is that
 Caesarism cannot be destroyed so long as the people need a
 powerful leader to give order and splendor to their lives.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 51-110

Titinius returns too late for Cassius to learn that Brutus
defeated Octavius, and that Titinius was not taken prisoner but
greeted by Brutus' triumphant troops.  How shortsighted of
Cassius not to have confirmed his intelligence reports before
taking his life!  On one hand, forces beyond his
control--whether coincidence or fate--have determined his
destiny and, therefore, the final outcome of the battle.  On the
other hand, Cassius seems to have lost the will to fight and
thus brings about his own, and Brutus', destruction.  Titinius
compares Cassius' death to the setting sun, which brings
darkness to Rome:

O setting sun,

As in thy red rays thou dost sink to night,

So in his red blood Cassius' day is set.

The sun of Rome is set.  Our day is gone:

Act V, Scene iii, lines 60-63

The tribute is sincere, we know, because Titinius now takes his
life to prove "how (he) regarded Caius Cassius." But how do we
reconcile this picture of Cassius with Caesar's portrait of him
as a dangerous man with a "lean and hungry look"?  Perhaps the
most we can say is that Cassius--like the rest of us--was a
different man to different people--as much a friend to Titinius
as an enemy to Caesar.  It was Shakespeare's genius that he
could portray two sides (or more) of a single person, without
passing final judgment on him.  Can any of us claim such
tolerance, understanding, or dramatic skill?

Brutus discovers the body of his fallen friend and exclaims, "O
Julius Caesar, thou are mighty yet!" Caesar the man has been
slain, but his spirit continues to rule.

Brutus calls Cassius "The last of all the Romans," adding,

It is impossible that ever Rome

Should breed thy fellow [equal].

Act V, scene iii, lines 100-101

Does his sorrow blind him to Cassius' faults?  Is he simply
saying what is expected at the death of a friend?  Or does the
finality of death restore his perspective on Cassius' good
qualities?  In any case, his words imply that he believes as
firmly as ever in the rightness of his cause.

Note how Brutus feels he ought to cry, but, true to his nature,
is either so disciplined or so unfeeling that he saves his tears
for a more convenient moment.  He repeats himself--"I shall find
time, Cassius; I shall find time" (line 103)--either because he
is overcome with emotion, or because he doesn't mean what he's
saying.  Brutus wants the funeral to be held away from camp,
"Lest it discomfort us" (line 106).  Either he really wants to
protect the morale of his troops, or he is using them to hide
his own discomfort.  True to his nature he puts aside whatever
sorrow he feels and acts for the general welfare.  "Let us to
the field," he says, where "We shall try fortune in a second
fight" (line 110).

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ACT V, SCENE IV

In this fallen world, people are still assuming other names and
titles, and trying to be something they are not.  Cato tries to
live up to his father's reputation--"I am the son of Marcus
Cato," he says--and is killed.  (So his sister, Portia, insisted
that she was Cato's daughter, too, and was rewarded with death.)
Lucilius pretends to be Brutus, and Antony's soldiers take his
word for it.  Antony, however, is not fooled, and says:

Keep this man safe;

Give him all kindness.  I had rather have

Such men my friends than enemies.

Act V, Scene iv, lines 27-29

Not long ago Antony was busy checking off the names of people
who must die, so it's difficult to believe that he has suddenly
developed a taste for mercy or a concern for the sanctity of
human life.  What he probably recognizes is his need to end the
bloodshed if he is going to reestablish order and unite the
people behind him.  He may still be an opportunist, but he does
seek reconciliation rather than revenge, which bodes well for
the future of Rome.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 1-59

The tide has turned against Brutus.  His scout, Statilius,reached the enemy lines but was killed or captured on his
return.  Brutus, sensing defeat, asks Dardanius, and then
Volumnius, to slay him.  The man of reason--who all his life has
refused to succumb to his emotions--now breaks down and cries:

Now is that noble vessel full of grief,

That it runs over even at his eves.

Act V, scene v, lines 13-14

Brutus' final moments seem almost joyful, without anger or
regrets.  He is still convinced of the justice of his cause, but
welcomes death as a release from the trials of life.  Like
Cassius and Caesar, his final thoughts are not of Rome or of his
own nobility, but of friendship:

My heart doth joy that yet in all my life

I found no man but he was true to me.

Act V, Scene v, lines 34-35

Cassius, of course, was not true to Brutus when he sent him
forged letters.  And Antony was not true to Brutus when he
promised not to blame the conspirators in his funeral oration.
To the last, Brutus continues to see the best in people, and to
make them seem better than they are; he also remains blind to
human nature, and unable to see the world for what it is.

Brutus predicts (lines 36-38) that he will have more glory "by
this losing day" than Octavius and Antony, but he is wrong
again:  Antony will soon become the first, and one of the
greatest, emperors of Rome.

In his final words--"Caesar, now be still; / killed not thee
with half so good a will" (lines 50-51)--Brutus reveals that he
has always been troubled by the assassination; that in his heart
he is happier taking his own life than Caesar's.  This is not
necessarily an admission of wrongdoing, but it is an
acknowledgment that he could not reconcile his love for Caesar
with his public duty to assassinate him.  Brutus, the man of
reason, killed Caesar for the best interests of Rome; but
Brutus, the man, has never forgiven himself for murdering a
friend.  Whether Brutus is to be praised or blamed for putting
principles ahead of feelings is something every reader will have
to decide for himself.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  LINES 60-81

Octavius agrees to accept all of Brutus' men into his
service--another indication of his willingness to heal wounds in
order to reestablish order.

Antony's speech praising Brutus may be nothing more than a
formal tribute to the dead.  His words ring true only if he is
saying that Brutus is the most noble of all the
conspirators--not the most noble of all Romans.

Antony calls Brutus a person in whom the elements were so mixed
"that nature might stand up / And say to all the world, 'This
was a man!'" (lines 74-75).  Antony must be speaking of the
public Brutus, and the mask he presented to the world; for the
private man was haunted by ghosts, and "with himself at war"
(Act I, Scene ii, line 46).

Octavius makes the final tribute, since with him the circle
closes, and order is restored.

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON SHAKESPEARE

In approaching Shakespeare, we must remember that he wrote, not
for a small group of intellectuals, but for every man, from
courtier to apprentice, for the man in the street, for anyone
who could be lured to pay a penny or a tuppence to get into the
theatre to see a play.  Shakespeare wrote with one or both eyes
on the box office.  He wanted to be popular and he tried to
write in such a manner and on such themes that Everyman would
welcome his efforts--and pay for them.

-Louis B.  Wright, Shakespeare for Everyman 1964

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON OMENS

"He is a dreamer, let us leave him:  pass," says Caesar,
dismissing the Soothsayer who called out to him "Beware the ides
of March." The event showed that he dismissed him at his peril.
Shakespeare was growing more convinced that we neglect dreams
and dreamers at our peril.  He was a humanist, to be sure, and
remained one to the end of his days.  But from Julius Caesar on,
his greater characters and greater plays are touched with the
dream-light and dream-darkness of something that...  transcends
the merely human....  The secret of human life, [Shakespeare]
seems to say, lies beyond...  life as well as within it.

Harold C.  Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, 1960

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON CAESAR

Caesar, unlike other Shakespearean characters who suffer from
ambition, never says he wants the crown.  But even if he did,
would it seem so wicked to an Englishman, living under the rule
of Elizabeth, that a man already at the helm of state should
seek to be King?  We know from the historical plays that
Shakespeare thought it wrong to usurp a crown, but Caesar would
not have been usurping one.  What the Senate planned to offer
him was only the outward and visible form of a power he already
enjoyed.

It has also been argued that Caesar is shown in the play as an
arrogant and unyielding man who has the soul of a despot and who
could reasonably be expected to trample any remaining liberties
of the Romans under his feet.  Of course, the pomposity of
Caesar's speeches offers some support for this, but I doubt that
Shakespeare intended Caesar to be as pompous as his part reads
to a twentieth-century eye.  It is true that he sometimes speaks
of himself in the third person, which has a grandiloquent ring
in a nonmonarch, but he is the undoubted ruler of a great
empire, and Shakespeare may have considered this form of
expression perfectly fitting.  He allows many rulers in his
plays to take themselves very seriously indeed without seeming
to denigrate them.  What seems pompous to us, accustomed as we
are to the compulsive humility of our own political candidates,
may have appeared to Elizabethans as the gravity and majesty
expected of a chief of state.

Caesar's statements about Cassius and his distrust of thin men
are frequently read as the mutterings of a dictator who cannot
abide the least independence of thought.  But Caesar has every
justification for distrusting Cassius, who is already plotting
his murder, and he puts his finger on Cassius' primary motive,
which is simple envy.

-Louis Auchincloss, Motiveless Malignity, 1969

The essential greatness of Caesar being thus assumed,
Shakespeare is free to exhibit in him human weaknesses
apparently inconsistent with it.  There are many advantages in
this method of presentation.  It gives reality to Caesar, the
man; it suggests that Caesar's spirit is mightier than his
person, a suggestion which is essential to the unity of the
play; it enables the dramatist to present him in flesh and blood
without reducing in stature the men who murder him; finally, it
permits the audience to sympathise with Brutus just sufficiently
to give poignancy to the disaster which overtakes him.

This last point is of major dramatic importance.  The play could
not easily have risen to the level of tragedy if Caesar had been
portrayed consistently in full majesty.  The conspiracy must
then have inevitably impressed the audience as no more than a
stupid plot contrived by a group of self-seeking politicians
under the leadership of a misguided political crank.  Such, in
effect, it was, but the skillful dramatist, if he is to retain
the sympathetic attention of his audience, will not obtrude the
fact, but allow it to become fully apparent only at the close.

The infirmities of Caesar are not inventions of the dramatist.
They are in part historical and in part derived from Plutarch's
delight in the foibles of great men and his tendency to find
such foibles more pronounced in his Roman heroes than in the
heroes of his native Greece.

-John Palmer, "The Character of Caesar,"

from Political Characters of Shakespeare,

reprinted in Shakespeare:  Julius Caesar, 1969

Perhaps more than any other figure in history, Julius Caesar has
evoked a divided response in the minds of those who have written
about him.  Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that
such a response, made up of attraction and repulsion, admiration
and hostility, was the prevailing one among informed and
educated men throughout Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the
Renaissance, so that we can speak of it as forming a tradition
extending from Caesar's own day down to that of Shakespeare.

In Plutarch's attitude towards Caesar dislike and admiration
mingle....  However divided in his attitude toward Caesar,
Plutarch's prevailing opinion seems to have been that his
offences were committed under the influence of bad friends and
against his better nature and that, although his motives were
unworthy, his influence upon the state of Rome was largely
beneficial.

In a sense, all that Shakespeare does is to dramatize the views
of Caesar and the conspirators which he found in his 'sources',
and especially Plutarch, distributing what are the divided and
contradictory responses of a single writer among several
characters who take different sides...

-Ernest Schanzer, The Problem Plays of Shakespeare, 1963

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON BRUTUS

Brutus is humorlessly good.  If his duty is to know himself, his
performance fails.  Nobility has numbed him until he cannot see
himself for his principles.  When his principles are expressing
themselves they are beautiful in their clarity; but when he
speaks to himself he knows not who is there; he addresses a
strange audience, and fumbles....  Shakespeare has done all that
could be done with such a man, but what could be done was
limited....  He is not mad, or haunted, or inspired, or
perplexed in the extreme.  He is simply confused.

-Mark Van Doren, Shakespeare, 1953

Shakespeare's sympathy with Brutus does not imply approval of
the murder of Caesar; it only means that he ultimately finds the
spiritual problem of the virtuous murderer the most interesting
thing in the story.  Brutus best interprets the play's theme:
Do evil that good may come, and see what does come!

-Harley Granville-Barker,

Prefaces to Shakespeare, Vol.  11, 1946

In Brutus, then, Shakespeare discovered the noble hero with a
tragic flaw.  By that discovery he made it possible for English
tragedy to reach a greatness hitherto attained only by Greek
tragedy.  All his tragedies written after Julius Caesar
benefited by the discovery.

Julius Caesar is a landmark not merely in the history of
Shakespearean tragedy but in the history of English tragedy.
Before Brutus there had been no tragic hero on the English stage
whose character had combined noble grandeur with fatal
imperfection.

-William Farnham,

"'High-minded Heroes' from Shakespeare's Tragic Frontier,"

reprinted in Shakespeare:  Julius Caesar, 1969

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON CASSIUS

Cassius, the man of passion, is set in strong contrast to
Brutus, the philosopher.

An egoist certainly; yet not ignobly so, seeking only his own
advantage.  Convinced in a cause--as we find him convinced; that
Caesar's rule in Rome must be free Rome's perdition--he will
fling himself into it and make no further question, argue its
incidental rights and wrongs no more, as Brutus may to
weariness.

Egoist he is, yet not intellectually arrogant.  He sees in
Brutus the nobler nature and a finer mind, and yields to his
judgment even when he strongly feels that it is leading them
astray.

-Harley Granville-Barker,

Prefaces to Shakespeare, Vol.  11, 1946

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON THE TWO FUNERAL ORATIONS

Editor after editor has condemned Brutus' speech as poor and
ineffective, and most of them have then proceeded to justify
Shakespeare for making it so.  It is certainly not meant to be
ineffective, for it attains its end in convincing the crowd.
Whether it is poor oratory must be to some extent a matter of
taste.  Personally, accepting its form as one accepts the
musical convention of a fugue, I find that it stirs me deeply.
I prefer it to Antony's.  It wears better.  It is very noble
prose.

One may so analyze [Antony's] speech throughout and find it a
triumph of effective cleverness.  The cheapening of the truth,
the appeals to passion, the perfect carillon of flattery,
cajolery, mockery and pathos, singing to a magnificent tune, all
serve to make it a model of what popular oratory should be.  In
a school for demagogues its critical analysis might well be an
item in every examination paper.  That is one view of it.  By
another, there is nothing in it calculated or false.  Antonyfeels like this; and, on these occasions, he never lets his
thoughts belie his feelings, that is all.  And he knows, without
stopping to think, what the common thought and feeling will be,
where reason and sentiment will touch bottom--and it if be a
muddy bottom, what matter!--because he is himself, as we said,
the common man raised to the highest power.  So, once in touch
with his audience, he can hardly go wrong.

-Harley Granville-Barker,

Prefaces to Shakespeare, Vol.  11, 1946

[Brutus' speech] is one of the worst speeches ever made by an
able and intelligent man.  Its symmetrical structure, its
balanced sentences, its ordered procedure, its rhetorical
questions, its painfully conscious and ornamental style, its
hopelessly abstract subject matter, all stamp it as the
utterance of a man whose heart is not in his words.  It is a
dishonest speech.

The cry of the Third Citizen, "Let him be Caesar," measures its
practical effectiveness.  Those four words have often been
pointed out as one of the most crushing ironies in the play.
They are, and with the other comments of the populace show how
hopeless the cause of the conspirators was.  These people did
not deserve liberty.  They were ready for slavery.

Antony's speech, on the other hand, for all its playing on the
passions of the people, and for all its lies, is at bottom an
honest speech, because Antony loved Caesar.  Because to that
extent he has the truth on his side, he is as concrete as Brutus
was abstract.  A sincere harangue by a demagogue is better than
the most "classic" oration from a man who speaks only with his
lips.

-Harold C.  Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare, 1960

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON THE ASSASSINATION

We shall notice throughout it a strong distrust of subversion
and conspiracy.  These were, in the knowledge and experience of
all Elizabethans, the greatest disruptions of the state.  The
Homilies:  appointed to be read in churches throughout the
realm, have already been mentioned.  Shakespeare not only knew
these; he apparently accepted their instruction.  In them he
would have found the lesson driven home that conspiracy is
dangerous, that it is never to be trusted, and that directed
against the king or ruler it is both against God's commandment
and doomed to create confusion involving both conspirators and
the country.  It could be nothing but evil....  It is probably
with a mind made up on these points that Shakespeare read
Plutarch and wrote his play.

-E.  F.  C.  Ludowyk, Understanding Shakespeare, 1962

Caesar's death is followed by a civil war in which Shakespeare
must have seen a parallel to the Wars of the Roses that had so
obsessed his earlier years.  Certainly we know that Shakespeare
stood for civil order above everything, and Caesar's death was
followed by the destruction of the existing order.

-Louis Auchincloss, Motiveless Malignity, 1969

^^^^^^^^^^
JULIUS CAESAR:  ON CASCA

I am going to risk a generalisation about Shakespeare.  He was
an Elizabethan dramatist, and I do not think the Elizabethans
were conscientious over their characters; they would often alter
them in the middle in order to get on with the play.  Beaumont
and Fletcher contain glaring examples of this.  Good men become
bad and then good again; traitors turn into heroes and vice
versa without any internal justification.  And Shakespeare
sometimes does it too.  There is an example--not a glaring
one--in this play, in the character of Casca.  Casca first
appears as extremely polite and indeed servile to Caesar, 'Peace
ho!  Caesar speaks,' he cries.  Then he shows himself to Brutus
and Cassius as a sour blunt contradictious fellow, who snaps
them up when they speak and is grumpy when they invite him to
supper.  You may say this is subtlety on Shakespeare's part, and
that he is indicating that Casca is a dark horse.  I don't think
so.  I don't think Shakespeare was bothering about Casca--he is
merely concerned to make the action interesting and he alters
the character at need.  Later on, during the thunderstorm, Casca
becomes different again; he walks about with a drawn sword, is
deeply moved by the apparitions, and utters exalted poetry.  At
the murder-scene he wounds Caesar in the neck, and then we hear
of him no more.  His usefulness is over.

-E.  M.  Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy,

reprinted in Shakespeare:  Julius Caesar, 1969.

                               THE END