Julius Caesar

anthony's speech

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, give me your attention. I have come here to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do is remembered after their deaths, but the good is often buried with them. It might as well be the same with Caesar. The noble Brutus told you that Caesar was ambitious. If that's true, it's a serious fault, and Caesar has paid seriously for it. With the permission of Brutus and the others—for Brutus is an honorable man; they are all honorable men—I have come here to speak at Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, he was faithful and just to me. But Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man. He brought many captives home to Rome whose ransoms brought wealth to the city." - Antony merely sets the table for dissent. He progressively hits upon the notes of ambition and honourable in a cadence that soon calls both terms into question. Antony's prime weapons at the beginning are his conspicuous ambiguity regarding Caesar ("If it were so, it was a grievous fault") and Brutus ("Yet Brutus says he was ambitious"), rhetorical questions ("Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?") and feigned intent ("I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke"). - Antony manages to stealthily bring it around to the opinion that Caesar has been killed wrongfully. He begins by insisting that Brutus and the other murderers are honorable, but then proceeds to slowly undermine that statement by pointing out how their chief gripe against Caesar, his ambition, could not be true. Antony gives examples of how Caesar loved his people, bringing in money to the country, weeping with the poor, and even refusing the crown three times. Clearly, he suggests, Caesar wasn't ambitious at all, but was devoted and loving to his citizens.

what conditions are put on anthony in terms of his speech?

- Brutus must speak first - he must swear not to say anything bad about the conspirators - he speaks with conspirator's permission

cicero

A Roman senator renowned for his oratorical skill. Cicero speaks at Caesar's triumphal parade. He later dies at the order of Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus. A senator and a famous orator of Rome. He is calm and philosophical when he meets the excited Casca during the night of portentous tumult proceeding the day of the assassination. The triumvirs have him put to death.

Ceasar

A great Roman general and senator, recently returned to Rome in triumph after a successful military campaign. While his good friend Brutus worries that Caesar may aspire to dictatorship over the Roman republic, Caesar seems to show no such inclination, declining the crown several times. Yet while Caesar may not be unduly power-hungry, he does possess his share of flaws. He is unable to separate his public life from his private life, and, seduced by the populace's increasing idealization and idolization of his image, he ignores ill omens and threats against his life, believing himself as eternal as the North Star. The conspirators charge Caesar with ambition, and his behavior substantiates this judgment: he does vie for absolute power over Rome, reveling in the homage he receives from others and in his conception of himself as a figure who will live on forever in men's minds. However, his faith in his own permanence—in the sense of both his loyalty to principles and his fixture as a public institution—eventually proves his undoing. At first, he stubbornly refuses to heed the nightmares of his wife, Calpurnia, and the supernatural omens pervading the atmosphere. Though he is eventually persuaded not to go to the Senate, Caesar ultimately lets his ambition get the better of him, as the prospect of being crowned king proves too glorious to resist. Caesar's conflation of his public image with his private self helps bring about his death, since he mistakenly believes that the immortal status granted to his public self somehow protects his mortal body. Caesar's aura seems to affect the general outcome of events in a mystic manner, while also inspiring Octavius and Antony and strengthening their determination. As Octavius ultimately assumes the title Caesar, Caesar's permanence is indeed established in some respect.

Decius

A member of the conspiracy. Decius convinces Caesar that Calpurnia misinterpreted her dire nightmares and that, in fact, no danger awaits him at the Senate. Decius leads Caesar right into the hands of the conspirators. Decius conspires with Brutus and others to assassinate Caesar, and he escorts Caesar to the Senate, where the conspirators wait.

CASCA

A public figure opposed to Caesar's rise to power. Casca relates to Cassius and Brutus how Antony offered the crown to Caesar three times and how each time Caesar declined it. He believes, however, that Caesar is the consummate actor, lulling the populace into believing that he has no personal ambition. Witness to Caesar's attempts to manipulate the people of Rome into offering him the crown, he reports the failure to Brutus and Cassius. He joins the conspiracy the night before the assassination and is the first conspirator to stab Caesar.

Brutus

A supporter of the republic who believes strongly in a government guided by the votes of senators. While Brutus loves Caesar as a friend, he opposes the ascension of any single man to the position of dictator, and he fears that Caesar aspires to such power. Brutus's inflexible sense of honor makes it easy for Caesar's enemies to manipulate him into believing that Caesar must die in order to preserve the republic. While the other conspirators act out of envy and rivalry, only Brutus truly believes that Caesar's death will benefit Rome. Unlike Caesar, Brutus is able to separate completely his public life from his private life; by giving priority to matters of state, he epitomizes Roman virtue. Torn between his loyalty to Caesar and his allegiance to the state, Brutus becomes the tragic hero of the play. He is a powerful public figure, but he appears also as a husband, a master to his servants, a dignified military leader, and a loving friend. Even after Brutus has committed the assassination with the other members of the conspiracy, questions remain as to whether, in light of his friendship with Caesar, the murder was a noble, decidedly selfless act or proof of a truly evil callousness, a gross indifference to the ties of friendship and a failure to be moved by the power of a truly great man. Brutus lives up to Antony's elegiac description of him as "the noblest of Romans." However, his commitment to principle repeatedly leads him to make miscalculations: wanting to curtail violence, he ignores Cassius's suggestion that the conspirators kill Antony as well as Caesar. In another moment of naïve idealism, he again ignores Cassius's advice and allows Antony to speak a funeral oration over Caesar's body. As a result, Brutus forfeits the authority of having the last word on the murder and thus allows Antony to incite the plebeians to riot against him and the other conspirators. Brutus acts out of a desire to limit the self-serving aspects of his actions; ironically, however, in each incident he dooms the very cause that he seeks to promote, thus serving no one at all.

cassius

A talented general and longtime acquaintance of Caesar. Cassius dislikes the fact that Caesar has become godlike in the eyes of the Romans. He slyly leads Brutus to believe that Caesar has become too powerful and must die, finally converting Brutus to his cause by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the death of Caesar. Impulsive and unscrupulous, Cassius harbors no illusions about the way the political world works. A shrewd opportunist, he proves successful but lacks integrity. Cassius believes that the nobility of Rome are responsible for the government of Rome. They have allowed a man to gain excessive power; therefore, they have the responsibility to stop him, and with a man of Caesar's well-known ambition, that can only mean assassination. brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.

superstitions (examples)

Animals Every time there are bad omens in the play, animals, especially birds, center prominently. When Casca talks about how fearsome the night that Cassius gathers the plotters is, there's thunder and lighting, but there's also the strange occurrence of a nocturnal bird showing up at the marketplace at high noon, shrieking doom. Calphurnia warns Caesar not to go to the Capitol because she's seen a war in the air, the domain of the birds. Finally, when Cassius accepts that he has to die in the battle against Antony and Octavius, he knows it because two great eagles that fed from the hands of soldiers were replaced the next day by ravens, crows, and kites - dark birds that filled the air with shrieking and spread a shadow of death over the army. Cassius knows the eagles feeding from soldier's hands symbolize him and Brutus, two noble men whose fates rest with their armies. After the eagles fall, the black army of Antony and Octavius will spread the shadow of tyranny over the land, like those scavenger birds. Other animals show up on occasion, such as the lions both Calphurnia and Casca see in visions. Calphurnia envisions a lioness giving birth in the streets, a strange location for this to take place. The lion that Casca saw walked by him sulkily without attacking. So the lion (king of the jungle) acts unnaturally in the play, perhaps symbolizing the fact that Caesar, who could become king (of men) will not reach this status. Just to beat us over the head with the symbolism, Cassius refers to Caesar as "the lion in the Capitol" when he talks about the need to overthrow him. And when Caesar claims he's more dangerous than danger itself, he says: "We are two lions litter'd in one day, And I the elder and more terrible." By identifying himself with such a powerful and fearsome animal, Caesar forces the "hinds" (deer) of Rome to gang up against him. Finally, as far as animals go, there's also the unknown beast that Caesar has sacrificed, whose lack of a heart is definitely a bad omen. Again, Shakespeare reminds us that omens can be interpreted in many ways. Caesar takes it to mean that if he doesn't go to the Capitol that day he is a coward. Caesar borrows here from the Latin word for "heart" ("cor"), from which we get the word "courage," since the heart was thought to be the source of that particular passion. Of course, we readers know that the omen might better be interpreted as a sign that the conspirators don't have hearts or mercy when they agree to take Caesar's life. Ghosts Ghosts appear a few times in the play and are obvious symbols for bad news. On the fateful night before the Ides of March, Casca meets terrified women who claim the streets are filled with men in flames - visions no one else can see. Brutus is visited twice by a ghost, which he believes to be the ghost of Caesar. Obviously, this can't be good - you don't come all the way out of the grave to deliver a casual "howdy Weather As in most of Shakespeare's tragedies, here's the rule: where there's lightning and thunder, bad stuff happens. (Just read Macbeth if you don't believe us.) On the night Cassius and the conspirators are plotting to murder Caesar, thunder and lightning shake the streets like no one has ever seen. Casca interprets the weather as an omen of bad things to come: "Either there is a civil strife in heaven, / or else the world, too saucy with the gods, / Incenses them to send destruction" (1.3.11-13). Hmm, that pretty much alerts us to the fact that the conspirators' plot against Caesar will cause a big old civil war, don't you think? But Cassius thinks the bad weather and other signs are a "warning" to the Romans about Caesar's "monstrous state" of tyranny in Rome (1.3.73; 74). The important thing here is that you can interpret omens in different ways depending on what you want them to mean.

Anthony

Antony proves strong in all of the ways that Brutus proves weak. His impulsive, improvisatory nature serves him perfectly, first to persuade the conspirators that he is on their side, thus gaining their leniency, and then to persuade the plebeians of the conspirators' injustice, thus gaining the masses' political support.

Lucius

Brutus' young servant; Brutus treats him with understanding, gentleness, and tolerance. his main function is to give brutus and later portia someone to talk to in scene in which otherwise they would be alone allowing the audience hear thier thoughts and feelings

Portia

Brutus's wife; the daughter of a noble Roman who took sides against Caesar. Portia, accustomed to being Brutus's confidante, is upset to find him so reluctant to speak his mind when she finds him troubled. Brutus later hears that Portia has killed herself out of grief that Antony and Octavius have become so powerful. The wife of Brutus and the daughter of Marcus Cato. She argues that those familial relationships make her strong enough to conceal Brutus' secrets, but on the morning of the assassination, she is extremely agitated by the fear that she will reveal what Brutus has told her. She commits suicide when she realizes that her husband's fortunes are doomed. Here Portia says she knows she's just a girl, but since she's the daughter and wife of two really awesome men, that makes her better than the average woman. To prove her point, she stabs herself in the thigh without flinching and demands that her husband treat her with more respect after getting annoyed for keeping secrets

Calpurnia

Caesar's wife. Calpurnia invests great authority in omens and portents. She warns Caesar against going to the Senate on the Ides of March, since she has had terrible nightmares and heard reports of many bad omens. Nevertheless, Caesar's ambition ultimately causes him to disregard her advice. she urges him to stay at home on the day of the assassination because of the unnatural events of the previous night as well her prophetic dream in which Caesar's body is a fountain of blood.

marullus & flavius

Like Flavius, a tribune who condemns the plebeians for their fickleness in cheering Caesar, when once they cheered for Caesar's enemy Pompey. Murellus and Flavius are punished for removing the decorations from Caesar's statues during Caesar's triumphal parade. Flavius and Marullus Tribunes who wish to protect the plebeians from Caesar's tyranny; they break up a crowd of commoners waiting to witness Caesar's triumph and are "put to silence" during the feast of Lupercal for removing ornaments from Caesar's statues.

Tiber River

River which Ceasar drowned and which cassius was forced to save him which proved the cassius he is no god-like figure nor worthy of his thrown "We both have fed as well, and we can both Endure the winter's cold as well as he. For once upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, Caesar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now 105Leap in with me into this angry flood And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plungèd in And bade him follow. So indeed he did. The torrent roared, and we did buffet it With lusty sinews, throwing it aside And stemming it with hearts of controversy. But ere we could arrive the point proposed, Caesar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink!" I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Caesar."

Cato

The son of Marcus Cato, the brother of Portia, the brother-in-law of Brutus, and a soldier in the army commanded by Brutus and Cassius. He dies during the second battle at Philippi while trying to inspire the army by loudly proclaiming that he is the son of Marcus Cato and that he is still fighting.

Artemidorus

Scene 3 in Act II, Artemidorus, a minor character, is shown reading a letter he has composed and intends to present to Caesar as he passes by on his way to the capitol. the letter contains a warning that there is an assassination plot against him an he is in grace danger. he names Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Cinna, Trebonius, Metellus Cimber, Decius Brutus and Caius Ligarius. "Caesar, beware of Brutus. Take heed of Cassius. Come not near Casca. Have an eye to Cinna. Trust not Trebonius. Mark well Metellus Cimber. Decius Brutus loves thee not. Thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you. Security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!"

Metellus Cimber

The conspirator who attracts Caesar's attention by requesting that his brother's banishment be repealed, allowing the assassins to surround Caesar and thereby giving Casca the opportunity to stab him from behind.

Strato

The loyal servant who holds Brutus' sword so that he may commit suicide. Later, he becomes a servant to Octavius.

arguments between cassius and brutus

The root of Cassius and Brutus' argument comes out: Brutus has condemned a man, Lucius Pella, for taking bribes from the Sardians. Cassius wrote a letter saying Pella shouldn't be punished, but Brutus ignored it. He accuses Cassius of being dishonorable for suggesting they let bribery slide. Cassius resents being called greedy, but Brutus gets to the heart of the matter: they all killed Caesar for justice's sake, but when they start getting involved in petty robbery, it compromises their honor and calls into question their noble motives for killing Caesar. Cassius and Brutus then argue, and Brutus is all "I don't even know who you are anymore." Brutus tells Cassius to get out of his sight, which doesn't go over well, and the two start threatening each other. Brutus brings up an old problem: he had asked Cassius to send gold to pay his soldiers, but Cassius denied him, which was not cool. Cassius claims he didn't deny Brutus; it must've been some bad messenger's fault. Still, Brutus should be a good friend, Cassius says, and ignore his faults. That's what friends do. Things come to a head when Cassius offers Brutus his blade and naked chest. Cassius points out that Brutus stabbed Caesar out of love, which is more than Cassius is getting from Brutus right now. With the offer of murder on the table, they both realize they're being a bit moody and melodramatic. They agree that Cassius is showing his mother's temper again. From now on they'll be friends and not get angry at each other. As they step out of the tent, they find a poet waiting to tell them they should be friends. It's really nice of the poet to be so concerned. They laugh at him and send him off, then they direct Lucilius and Titinius to get their armies ready to lodge for the night. Then the big news about what put Brutus in such a bad mood comes out. Portia, Brutus's loving wife, was driven to grief by his flight from Rome and by Antony and Octavius's growing strength. Long story short, she has killed herself by swallowing coals. (Ouch.) After he tells all this to Cassius, Brutus gets some wine and aims to drink the pain away, saying they should speak no more of his dead wife. Messala and Titinius come in, and though Cassius would like to dwell on Portia's death a bit, Brutus is all business. They've learned that Octavius and Antony have decreed that a hundred senators must die in Rome. Both men are now on their way to Philippi. Brutus says he's only heard the names of seventy senators, and that Cicero is one of them. Messala then pipes up that Cicero is dead, and tries to skirt around the issue of Portia's death with Brutus. Brutus is less hurt than anyone expected him to be. He says Portia had to die only once, and he can bear that death. The talk then turns to beating their enemies at Philippi. Cassius thinks it's better for them to sit tight until Antony and Octavius wear out their own armies with travel. That way Brutus and Cassius' army will still be fresh to fight. Brutus points out, though, that the enemy army might gather strength as it goes. Because more and more men between Rome and Philippi don't support Brutus and Cassius, they might be willing to join Antony and Octavius' forces. Brutus thinks his and Cassius' army is at its peak right now. They'll only get weaker, so it's better to act right away. They all agree to go to Philippi and meet Antony and Octavius' army. Everyone decides to get a little sleep. They all say their "goodnights" to one another, and Brutus has Lucius call in some soldiers to sleep in his tent just in case he needs them to take messages to Cassius in the night. Brutus is apparently pretty keyed up. He asks Lucius to play him a tune on his instrument, even though Lucius is sleepy. Lucius plays, but falls asleep mid-song. With everyone else asleep, Brutus picks up his book to read. Just then Caesar's ghost shows up, claiming he is "thy evil spirit, Brutus." Brutus is a bit shaken, and the ghost explains that he'll see him again at Philippi. Brutus is all "see you then, I guess." After the ghost disappears, Brutus wakes the men who've been sleeping in his tent. None of them saw the ghost. Brutus has one of the men tell Cassius to send his army off early in the morning; Brutus' army will follow. It seems Caesar's ghost has only cemented Brutus' willingness to meet his fate, whatever it be.

Lepidus

The third member of Antony and Octavius's coalition. Though Antony has a low opinion of Lepidus, Octavius trusts his loyalty.

Cinna the Poet

There are two characters named Cinna in Julius Caesar: Cinna the conspirator and Cinna the poet. The mix-up of their identities leads to the wrongful death of the poet Cinna. Unfortunately for the poet Cinna, he shares the same name as this key conspirator. He arrives late to the funeral of his friend Caesar, wishing to honour his passing. After the assassination has been carried out, Brutus delivers a speech explaining that the conspiracy was done for the betterment of the city and all those who dwell within it. However, Mark Antony raises the citizens of Rome against the assassins of their emperor Julius Caesar, naming one of them as Cinna. Cinna the poet attempts to explain that it is not he who was part of the conspiracy, that he is but a poet, but the populace ignore him - 'It is no matter, his name's Cinna.' (Act III, Scene 3) - killing him and laughing with dark tragedy typical of Shakespeare that his poetry was no good anyway: 'Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses' (Act III, Scene 3). The crowd do not care that this Cinna is not the one they have been searching for: the name is enough, he will do as a symbol to take out their rage and vengeance upon.

Capitol Forum

after killing caesar, brutus urges them to bend down and bathe their hands in Caesar's blood, then walk to the marketplace (the Roman Forum) with their bloodied swords to proclaim peace, freedom, and liberty. Cassius agrees, declaring that the scene they now enact will be repeated time and again in the ages to come as a commemorative ritual.

cobbler's pun

cobbler appears in the first scene in the play. he is called the sceond commonor and he annoyed Falvius and Marullus who are not pleased that Ceasar is returning to Rome. Marullus and Flavius try to get those celebrating in the street for Ceasar to leave . the Cobbler then uses puns (play on words which could mean 2 things): 1. when marullus asks him what his trade is, the cobbler says "a trae, sir, that i hope i may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles" - "soles" can be taken to mean the bottom of a shoe or a "soul" 2. when Marullus presses him for a more direct answer, he replies "nay, i beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet, if you be out, sir, i can mend you" - "mend" can mean fix shoes or fix whatever's bothering him 3. he also says "truly, sir, all that i live b is with the awl" - "all" and "awl" sound the same but arent - "awl" is a shoe repair tool.

describe the public's change of heart

easily sweayed from supporting onne character after the other. they began to love ceasar then after buruts's speech they hated and now after anthony loved him again which led to a civil war in order to revenge his death

Philippi

final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Antony and Octavius (of the Second Triumvirate) and the leaders of Julius Caesar's assassination, Brutus and Cassius place where Brutus and Cassius die: Cassius commits suicide because he believes his dear friend, Titinius, has been taken captive while carrying out a request of Cassius (to check whos troop coming thier way) which pindura witnesses. however it was brutu's troop surrounding him as joyful cheers of reunion Brutus commits suicide as well, choosing to die on his sword rather than be taken by the armies of Antony and Octavius. battle represents the final stage in the struggle for power that began with the murder of Caesar

Anthony's request

he request to be given a reasons to why ceasar was dangerous One request is to speak his mind to the citizens of Rome at the funeral and allow him to take ceasar's body to the market place. Brutus declares to the citizens of Rome that they should not side with Brutus's reasons for assassinating Caesar without first hearing Antony speak in Caesar's defense.

soothsayer

in Act 2 the soothsayer tells Portia (wife of one of the assassins) that the time is 'About the ninth hour'. This reference to time does not mean 9:00 o'clock but rather nine hours after sunrise. It is speculated that the time of Caesar's death in the play occurred around 3:30 in the afternoon even though the soothsayer even mentions he doesn't know the time of death. The soothsayer, or fortune teller, in Julius Caesar only has nine lines in the play, yet he has an important role. He warns Julius Caesar to 'Beware the Ides of March'. The Ides of March refers to March 15, the day Julius Caesar was assassinated. Shakespeare's audience would have been familiar with this date.The soothsayer is telling Caesar to avoid coming out to the Senate on March 15 or he will surely die. In the play, Julius Caesar ignores the soothsayer and calls him, 'a dreamer'.

Praetor's chair

judges chair which Brutus sits and through orders of cassius, situated the "letters" against caesar in attempt to convince him to fight against ceaser Cassius - "Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the praetor's chair Where Brutus may but find it."

Sardis

location which Ceasar's spirit appears to Brutus this is where Brutus and Cassius and their armies set up camp when they are forced to flee Rome. mesalla reports Portia's death to Brutus at Sardis.

Pompey's Porch

location which thee conspirators (Decius Brutus, Trebonius, and Metellus Cimber with Cinna, Cassius and Casca) met after taking steps to induce Brutus to join thier fight against caesar

75 drachmas

roman money - in ceasar "will" states he promises to give each person 75 drachmas

orchard

setting of Act 2 Scene 1 - where he calls impatiently for his servant, Lucius, and confesses rutus speaks one of the most important and controversial soliloquies in the play. He says that he has "no personal cause to spurn at" Caesar, except "for the general," meaning that there are general reasons for the public good. Thus far, Caesar has seemingly been as virtuous as any other man, but Brutus fears that after he is "augmented" (crowned), his character will change, for it is in the nature of things that power produces tyranny. He therefore decides to agree to Caesar's assassination: to "think him as a serpent's egg, / Which, hatched, would as his kind, grow mischievous, / And kill him in the shell."