Julius Caesar Annotations
"Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 207-208)
Antony
"If Brutus so unkindly knocked or no; For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel" (Act 3.Scene 2.Line 193-194)
Antony ; calling Brutus, basically, a backstabber
"Blood and destruction shall be so in use And dreadful objects so familiar That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 291-294)
Antony ; from his dogs of war speech ; vengeful and determined ; war will be so bad it will be better to be dead
"O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well! I know not, gentlemen, what you intend, Who else must be let blood, who else is rank; If I myself, there is no hour so fit As Caesar's death's hour, nor no instrument Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich With the most noble blood of all this world. I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard, Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke, Fulfill your pleasure. Live a thousand years, I shall not find myself so apt to die; No place will please me so, no mean of death, As here by Caesar, and by you cut off, The choice and master spirits of this age" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 164-179)
Antony ; if the conspirators are going to kill him, then do it now because he'd be honored to be dead next to Caesar
"I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts. I am no orator, as Brutus is..." (Act 3.Scene 2.Line 238-239)
Antony ; saying Brutus' is just smooth talking the people, he is not giving any logic as to why the conspirators killed Caesar
"But here I am to speak what I do know" (Act 3.Scene 2.Line 110)
Antony ; saying he know Caesar more than Brutus and that Brutus' ideas were based not off of knowledge
"Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous. He is a noble Roman, and well given" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 206-207)
Antony ; talking about Cassius
"This was the most unkindest cut of all" (Act 3.Scene 2.Line 195)
Antony ; uses incorrect grammar to emphasize what Brutus did and how big of an effect it will have
"A piece of work that will make sick men whole" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 354)
Brutus
"With this I depart; that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself when it shall please my country to need my death" (Act 3.Scene 2.Line 46-49)
Brutus
No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself But by reflection, by some other things." (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 58-59)
Brutus
"I would not, Cassius. Yet I love him well. But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye and death i' th' other, And I will look on both indifferently, For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honor more than I fear death" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 89-96)
Brutus ; Brutus loves Caesar because he's like a father, but he doesn't want him as a king ; honor is important to Brutus
"Was the crown offered him thrice?" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 238)
Brutus ; Mark Antony offered Caesar the crown three times and Caesar rejected every time causing people to cheer and love him even more ; the conspirators see it as something stupid to convince the people to like him
"Are then in council, and the state of man, Like to a kingdom, suffers then" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 70-71)
Brutus ; a simile comparing his head to a small town
"Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 68)
Brutus ; a simile comparing his thoughts against Caesar to after meeting Cassius
"That every like is not the same, O Caesar, The heart of Brutus earns to think upon" (Act 2.Scene 2.Line 136-137)
Brutus ; aside
"Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs— Like wrath in death and envy afterwards; For Antony is but a limb of Caesar. Let's be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius. We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar, And in the spirit of men there is no blood; O that we then could come by Caesar's spirit, And not dismember Caesar! But, alas, Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends, Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully; Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds; And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, Stir up their servants to an act of rage, And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make Our purpose necessary, and not envious; Which so appearing to the common eyes, We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers, And for Mark Antony, think not of him; For he can do no more than Caesar's arm When Caesar's head is off" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 175-196)
Brutus ; he thinks that Mark Antony is not powerful enough nor important enough to also kill
"'Brutus, thou sleep'st. Awake and see thyself! Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress! 'Brutus, thou sleep'st. Awake. Such instigation have been often dropped Where I have took them up. 'Shall Rome, etc.' Thus must I piece it out: Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, Rome? My ancestors did from the streets of Rome The tarquin drive when he was called a king. 'Speak, strike, redress!' Am I entreated To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee promise, if the redress will follow, thou receivest Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 48-61)
Brutus ; he's reading the forged letter by Cassius, thinking that it is the Roman people asking asking for help against Caesar
"It must be by his death; and for my part, I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crown'd: How that might change his nature, there's the question. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, And that craves wary walking. Crown him that, And then I grant we put a sting in him That at his will he may do danger with. Th' abuse of greatness is when it disjoins Remorse from power; and to speak truth of Caesar, I have not known when his affections sway'd More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. So Caesar may; Then lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel Will bear no color for the thing he is, Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented, Would run to these and these extremities; And therefore think him as a serpent's egg, Which, hatch'd, would as his kind grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 10-36)
Brutus ; his conflict with killing Caesar or not ; orchard speech ; he thinks if Caesar is crowned king it will go to his head, even though he has always seen Caesar use logic before
"Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe. Censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I lov'd Caesar less, but that I lov'd Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen? As Caesar lov'd 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. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak, for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak, for him have I offended. I pause for a reply" (Act 3.Scene 2.Line 14-36)
Brutus ; his speech to the people after killing Caesar
And what other oath Than honesty to honesty engaged That this shall be, or we will fall for it?(Act 2.Scene 1.Line 137-139)
Brutus ; if the conspirators really believe in what they are doing then they don't need and oath to justify it
"Stoop, Romans, stoop And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood Up to the elbows and besmear our swords" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 117-119)
Brutus ; retelling Calphurnia's dream
"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonder that I have yet heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear, Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come" (Act 2.Scene 2.Line 34-39)
Caesar
"I could be well mov'd, if I were as you; If I could pray to move, prayers would move me; But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with unnumb'red sparks, They are all fire, and every one doth shine; But there's but one in all doth hold his place. So in the world: 'tis furnish'd well with men, And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive; Yet in the number I do know but one That unassailable holds on his rank, Unshak'd of motion; and that I am he, Let me a little show it, even in this— That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd, And constant do remain to keep him so" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 64-79)
Caesar
"Know: Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause Will he be satisfied" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 52-53)
Caesar
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not. Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man i should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much, He is a great observer and he looks Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays, As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music; seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit That could be moved to smile at anything. Such men as he be never at heart's ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, And therefore are they very dangerous. I rather tell thee what is to be feared Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 209-222)
Caesar ; Caesar acknowledges that people are smart and cane over rule him, but he is not afraid
"She dreamt tonight she saw my statuë, Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it. And these does she apply for warnings and portents And evils imminent, and on her knee Hath begg'd that I will stay at home today" (Act 2.Scene 2.Line 81-87)
Caesar ; foreshadowing ; Calphurnia
"Danger knows full well That Caesar is more dangerous than he. We are two lions littered in one day, And I the elder and more terrible" (Act 2.Scene 2.Line 47-50)
Caesar ; personification and metaphor ; this is the ritual of finding the heart of an animal quickly
"Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 202-205)
Caesar ; wants people who are content and would not want to steal his power
"...what night is this!" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 45)
Casca
"...when all the sway of Earth Shakes like a thing unfirm?...the scolding winds Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen Th' ambitions ocean swell and rage and foam To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds; But never till tonight, never till now, Did I go through a tempest dropping fire...civil strife in heaven...too saucy with the gods, Incenses them to send destruction" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 3-4)
Casca
"...which did flame and burn Like twenty torches joined; and yet his hand, Not sensible to fire, remained unscorched. Besides (I ha' not since put up my sword), Against the Capitol I met a lion, Who glazed upon me and went surly by Without annoying me. And there were drawn Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women, Transforméd with their fear, who swore they saw Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. And yesterday the bird of night did sit Even at noonday upon the marketplace, Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies Do so conjointly meet, let not men say 'These are their reasons, they are natural,' For I believe they are portentous things Unto the climate that they point upon" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 16-32)
Casca
"A very pleasing night to honest men" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 46)
Casca
"O, he sits high in all the people's hearts; and that which would appear offense in us, his countenance, like richest alchemy, will change to virtue and to worthiness" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 162-165)
Casca
"Ay, he spoke Greek" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 290)
Casca ; Cicero is making no sense
"...but to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 251-252)
Casca ; He could tell Caesar did not want to let go of the crown
"He fell down in the marketplace, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 263-264)
Casca ; describing Caesar having seizures
"It was mere foolery; I did not mark it" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 246)
Casca ; he didn't believe Caesar's trick of refusing the crown in front of the people
"...it was Greek to me...Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarves off Caesar's images, are put to silence" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 295-297)
Casca ; these two were killed for taking down decorations ; this foreshadowed to Caesar being bad/controlling
"Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 87)
Cassius
"Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear: And since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of. And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus. Where I a common laughter, or did use To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know That I do fawn on men and hug them hard And after scandal them, or if you know That I profess myself in banqueting To all the rout, then hold me dangerous" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 72-84).
Cassius
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world/Like a colossus; and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 142-148)
Cassius
"And why should Caesar be a tyrant, then? Poor man, I know he would not be a wolf but that he sees the Romans are but sheep; He were no lion, were not Romans hinds" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 107-110))
Cassius ; Caesar compares himself to a wolf with the people as his sheep
"I was born free as Caesar, so were you; We have both fed as well, and we can both Endure the winter's cold as well as he"(Act 1.Scene 2.Line 104-106)
Cassius ; a pathos example to give people reasurance
"Well honor is the subject of my story" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 99)
Cassius ; and ethos part of Cassius' long speech to draw in Brutus and his love for honor of the Roman people
"But, O Grief, where hast thou led me?" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 115-116)
Cassius ; apostrophe
"You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life That should be in a Roman do you want, Or else you use not" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 60-62)
Cassius ; coward
"...but you and I, And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness" (act 1.Scene 2.Line 266-267)
Cassius ; explaining how everyone has fallen under Caesar's spell
"I fear our purpose is discoveréd" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 19)
Cassius ; he is worried people know the conspirators plans
"Your voice shall be as strong as any man's In the disposing of new dignities" (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 193-194)
Cassius ; he offers Antony a place in government to speak on their side
"I know where I will wear this dagger then; Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius" (Act 1.Scene 3.Line 92)
Cassius ; he will stab himself before going under Caesar
"I was born free as Caesar, so were you; We have both 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 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word, Accoutered as I was, I plungéd in And bade him a 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. And this man Is now become a god, and Cassius is A wretched creature and must bend his body If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. He had a fever when he was in Spain, And when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake—'tis true, this god did shake; His coward lips did from their color fly, And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world Did lose his lustre, I did hear him groan; Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, Alas, it cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius," As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world And bear the palm alone" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 104-138)
Cassius ; many ethos, pagos, and logos examples ; Cassius says Caesar is weak because he couldn't swim across the lake ; Cassius compares himself to the god who started Rome ; Cassius believes everyone will be a slave under Caesar ; he believes Caesar is weak because of his sickness
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 firm that cannot be seduced? Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus. If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius, He should not humor me. I will this night In several hands in at this windows throw, As if they came form several citizens, Writings, all tending to the great opinion That Rome hold that of his name, Wherein obscurely Caesar's ambition shall be glancéd at And after this, let Caesar seat him sure, for we will shake him, or worse days endure" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 320-334)
Cassius ; soliloquy ; thinks about Brutus and Caesar's relationship so he's going to forge letters to Brutus from the people for asking for help from Caesar
"O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brooked The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 167-170)
Cassius ; talking about how Brutus has had it as a mission to keep kings out of rule since his ancestors
This disturbéd sky is not to walk in" (Act 1.Scene 3,Line 39-40)
Cicero
"A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles." (Act 1.Scene 1.Line 13-15)
Cobbler ; pun
"Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl." (Act 1.Scene 1.Line 25-25)
Cobbler ; pun
"Never fear that. If he be so resolv'd, I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betray'd with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers; But when I tell him he hates flatterers He says he does, being then most flattered. Let me work; For I can give his humor the true bent, And I will bring him to the Capitol" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 219-228)
Decius Brutus ; unicorn speech
"These growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Who else would soar above the view of men And keep us all in servile fearfulness." (Act 1. Scene 1.Line 77-80)
Flavius ; Caesar's power needs to be taken from him to stop him
"But are not some whole that we must make sick?" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 355)
Ligarius
"Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 73)
Lucius ; to Brutus about Cassius meaning Cassius is Brutus' brother-in-law
"Mend me, thou saucy fellow?" (Act 1.Scene 1.Line 20-21)
Marullus ; insult
"You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!" (Act 1.Scene 1.Line 39-40)
Marullus ; insult
"And do you now put on your best attire? And do you now cull out a holiday? and do you now strew flowers in his way...?" (Act 1. Scene 1.Line 53-55)
Marullus ; people used to celebrate Pompey, now they celebrate his killer
"That Tiber trembled underneath her banks." (Act 1.Scene 1. Line 50)
Marullus ; personification
"O constancy, be strong upon my side" (Act 2.Scene 4.Line 8)
Portia ; apostrophe because you can't talk to constancy
"I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Is it excepted I should know no secrets That appertain to you? Am I yourself But, as it were, in sort or limitation. To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs Of your good pleasure? If it be no more, Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 301-310)
Portia ; is she even your wife if you don't tell her things?
"Giving myself a voluntary wound" (Act 2.Scene 1.Line 323)
Portia ; stabs herself to prove a point that she's not weak and she can handle anything Brutus has to say
"Beware the Ides of March" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 28)
Soothsayer ; foreshadows Caesar's death
"And so near will I be that your best friends shall wish I had been further" (Act 2.Scene 2.Line 132-133)
Trebonius ; aside ; about Caesar
"Peace, count the clock" (Act 1.Scene 2.Line 206)
anachranism
"And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell..." (Act 3.Scene 1.Line 296-297)
revenge god allusion