10. JULIUS CAESAR SUMMARY

Julius Caesar Summary

Jealous conspirators convince Caesar’s friend Brutus to join their assassination plot against Caesar. To stop Caesar from gaining too much power, Brutus and the conspirators kill him on the Ides of March. Mark Antony drives the conspirators out of Rome and fights them in a battle. Brutus and his friend Cassius lose and kill themselves, leaving Antony to rule in Rome.

Act I

The tribunes of Rome, Marullus and Flavius, break up a gathering of citizens who want to celebrate Julius Caesar’s triumphant return from war. The victory is marked by public games in which Caesar’s protégé, Mark Antony, takes part. On his way to the arena, Caesar is stopped by a stranger who warns him that he should ‘Beware the Ides [15th] of March.’

Fellow senators, Caius Cassius and Marcus Brutus, are suspicious of Caesar’s reactions to the power he holds in the Republic. They fear he will accept offers to become Emperor. He has been gaining a lot of power recently and people treat him like a god. Cassius, a successful general himself, is jealous of Caesar. Brutus has a more balanced view of the political position. The conspirator Casca enters and tells Brutus of a ceremony held by the plebeians. They offered Caesar a crown three times, and he refused it every time. But the conspirators are still wary of his aspirations.

Act II

Cassius, Casca, and their allies plant false documents to manipulate Brutus to join their cause to remove Caesar. After doing so, they visit Brutus at night in his home to persuade him of their views. There they plan Caesar’s death. Brutus is troubled but refuses to confide in his devoted wife, Portia. On 15 March, Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, urges him not to go to the Senate. She has had visionary dreams and fears the portents of the overnight storms.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

— JULIUS CAESAR, ACT 1 SCENE 2

Act III 

Caesar is nevertheless persuaded by flattery to go to the Capitol. At the Capitol, he is stabbed by each conspirator in turn. As Brutus gives the final blow, Caesar utters the famous phrase:

Et tu, Brute?

— JULIUS CAESAR, ACT 3 SCENE 1

ACT III

Against Cassius’s advice, Brutus allows Mark Antony to speak a funeral oration for Caesar in the market place. He is allowed under the condition that first Brutus must address the people to explain the conspirators’ reasons and their fears for Caesar’s ambition. After Brutus speaks, the crowd becomes calm and supports his cause. However, Antony, in his speech, questions the motives of the conspirators and reminds the crowd of Caesar’s benevolent actions and of his refusal to accept the crown. He also reads them Caesar’s will, in which Caesar leaves public land and money to each Roman citizen. Antony’s speech stirs the crowd into a murderous riot, and the conspirators are forced to flee from the city.

Act IV

Brutus and Cassius gather an army in Northern Greece and prepare to fight the forces led by Mark Antony. Antony has joined with Caesar’s great-nephew, Octavius, and with a man called Lepidus. Away from Rome, Brutus and Cassius are filled with doubts about the future and quarrel over funds for their soldiers’ pay. After making amends, they prepare to engage Antony’s army at Philippi, despite Cassius’ misgivings about the site. Brutus stoically receives news of his wife’s suicide in Rome. He then sees Caesar’s ghost as he tries to rest and is unable to sleep on the eve of the conflict.

Men at some time are masters of their fates.

— JULIUS CAESAR, ACT 1 SCENE 2

Act V

In the battle, the Republicans (led by Brutus) appear to be winning at first. But when Cassius’ messenger’s horse seems to be overtaken by the enemy, Cassius fears the worst and gets his servant to help him to a quick death. After finding Cassius’s body, Brutus commits suicide. He believes this to be the only honourable option left to him. Antony, triumphant on the battlefield, praises Brutus as ‘the noblest Roman of them all’ and orders a formal funeral before he and Octavius return to rule in Rome.

 

CHARACTERS

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.

Julius Caesar –  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.

Antony – A friend of Caesar. Antony claims allegiance to Brutus and the conspirators after Caesar’s death in order to save his own life. Later, however, when speaking a funeral oration over Caesar’s body, he spectacularly persuades the audience to withdraw its support of Brutus and instead condemn him as a traitor. With tears on his cheeks and Caesar’s will in his hand, Antony engages masterful rhetoric to stir the crowd to revolt against the conspirators. Antony’s desire to exclude Lepidus from the power that Antony and Octavius intend to share hints at his own ambitious nature.

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.

Octavius – Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor. Octavius, who had been traveling abroad, returns after Caesar’s death; he then joins with Antony and sets off to fight Cassius and Brutus. Antony tries to control Octavius’s movements, but Octavius follows his adopted father’s example and emerges as the authoritative figure, paving the way for his eventual seizure of the reins of Roman government.

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.

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.

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.

Flavius – A tribune (an official elected by the people to protect their rights). Flavius condemns the plebeians for their fickleness in cheering Caesar, when once they cheered for Caesar’s enemy Pompey. Flavius is punished along with Murellus for removing the decorations from Caesar’s statues during Caesar’s triumphal parade.

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.

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

Murellus – 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.

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.