You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
Marullus to the crowd (I. i. 35)
I love this line! Think of the many uses this line affords. And in the
end, you are simply quoting Shakespeare.
Beware the ides of March.
Soothsayer to Caesar (I. ii. 14)
There are lines that every educated person needs to know and if you
want to join the club of educated society, this just might be one of the
passwords. And, of course, you will pay homage to Caesar on March 15 of
every year.
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.
Brutus to Cassius (I. ii. 86-89)
These are strong words. Do you believe him? Who is he trying to convince?
There is no set answer to this question, but how you answer it will go
a long way to having a point of view towards this character.
Men at times are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Cassius to Brutus (I. ii. 139-142)
Don’t blame fate, he says. What is at work here? Will the events of
this play be determined by fate or by human acts of will? What do you make
of all the superstitious omens and portents? Which is stronger in this
play? Remember, it does not matter what you believe, but what forces are
in effect in the universe of the play?
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.
Caesar to Antony about Cassias (I. ii. 192-195)
This is definitely another possible password into the club of educated
men and women. Sure my choices are arbitrary, but if you trust me, I won’t
steer you wrong. Know and remember this one. And watch out those with the
lean and hungry look. By the way, I am not in agreement with Caesar on
the “he thinks too much” phrase. One can never think too much.
Fear him not, Caesar, he’s not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman, and well given.
Antony to Caesar about Cassius (I. ii. 196-197)
This is a play wherein there are many errors of judgment. This one is
bad, but it is not as bad as some of the awful ones made by Brutus.
Would he were fatter!
Caesar to Antony about Cassius (I. ii. 198)
This is Caesar keeping the conceit going. By the way, don’t be thrown
by the word order here. Enjoy its elocution even if it is worded in a way
that is out of style. It has a sort of melancholy ruefulness about it.
The speaker sadly regrets what she cannot change. “Would he were fatter.”
“Would I were richer.” “Would I were younger.” “Would she were mine.” Practice
these forms just a bit and the words don’t sound as strange. You might
even start to think that these forms are the absolute best way to express
thoughts like these. Would that you would.
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 mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be moved to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
Caesar to Antony about Cassius (I. ii. 201-210)
Have you ever met someone like Cassius? Or some one like the Cassius
that Caesar sees? Make sure you are a person who hears music and sees plays.
Make sure you find the joy and humor in the world. Laugh, sing and dance.
Poke fun at your self. When you smile, have a genuine smile that sees the
fun of the world.
. . .he plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his throat to cut.
Casca to Brutus and Cassius about Caesar (I. ii. 265)
This is an example of an anachronism
. Shakespeare did not know the style of dress Caesar would have had, so
he assumed that the Romans dressed the same as the Elizabethans. Thus there
is a doublet (a tight, short jacket) on Caesar and not a toga or robe.
Shakespeare would also have costumed his characters in those frilly collars
that were the fashion of the time.
. . . it was Greek to me.
Casca to Brutus and Cassius about Cicero’s speech (I.
ii. 284)
This is a famous phrase, but not to my students. Is it just people of
my generation who recognize this? Or do my students really live under rocks?
Trust me. This one is famous. It was Casca’s little joke about how little
he understood Cicero.
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.
Cassius in soliloquy about Brutus (I. ii. 308-315)
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 crowned.
How that might change his nature, there’s the question.
Brutus in soliloquy about Caesar (II. i. 10-13)
That’s it. He would be crowned. The adage says, “Absolute power corrupts
absolutely.” If a person believes the adage, is he justified in killing
someone just prior to gaining absolute power? But the next question is,
Is Brutus kidding himself? Is this really the reason? Brutus fears Caesar’s
ambition. What about his own?
O conspiracy,
Sham’st thou to show thy dan’rous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O, then by day
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability:
For if thou path, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough
To hide thee from prevention.
Brutus in soliloquy about the conspirators who come to
his house with hidden faces (II. i. 77-85)
This is an example of an apostrophe. This is a rhetorical device where
the speaker talks to or addresses someone or some personified idea that
isn’t there. Here Brutus talks to “conspiracy” as if it were an actual
and physical person who could hear and understand it. I do this often.
Here’s one I often use, “O, education, you are the pathway to the soul’s
enrichment.” Try it. We need to use apostrophe just a bit more often, but
be careful. A little goes a long way with apostrophe.
As for the lines, here Brutus speaks of this conspiracy and admits
that it is a shameful thing. He also gives it advice about how to be concealed,
“Hide it in smiles and affability” he says. What does this reveal about
Brutus’ nature?
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.
Brutus to Cassius about Antony (I. i.. 162-166)
Ah, where do you find such nobility in a murderer nowadays? Assassination
just isn't the same any more. Seriously, here is one of Brutus' great tactical
mistakes. Brutus does not see the danger in Antony and therefore
takes him lightly. Brutus will take Antony lightly each step of the way
until Brutus finds himself run out of Rome. The seeds of the tactical destruction
are shown here. The seeds of the moral destruction of Brutus happen earlier
when he allows Cassius to encourage his ideas of the overthrow of Caesar.
One of the keys to understanding Brutus is that if he truly is a
noble and moral man, he must know that what he is planning is wrong. If
he is in conflict with himself ("Vexed I am/Of late with passions of some
difference,/ . . . that poor Brutus, with himself at war,/Forgets the shows
of love to other men." (I. ii. 39-46), then perhaps this is why Brutus
can not sleep. It also may be that Brutus subconsciously wants to be defeated
because he knows his actions are wrong. Thus he would allow Antony to live
so there would be someone to stop him and punish him. Freud, thou livest
yet!
The clock hath stricken three.
Cassius to conspirators (II. i. 192)
Another anachronism. No clocks with chimes in ancient Rome. It was the
middle of the night so the sun dial would not have worked. They could have
checked the VCR, but I bet Brutus' would have just been blinking 12:00
. . . 12:00 . . . 12:00.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep,
And could it work so much upon your shape
As it hath much prevailed on your condition,
I should no know you Brutus.
Portia to Brutus about his attitude of late (II. i. 252-255)
This is called indirect characterization. We learn about Brutus from
what Portia has to say about him. He has not been eating, talking or sleeping.
How troubled is he about the conspiracy?
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you ? Am I your self
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? Swell I but in the suburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.
Portia to Brutus about the secrets he keeps (II. i. 279-287)
Strong words. They should indicate to you how marriage was viewed by
the Elizabethans. Yes , there has always been inequality, but here is a
woman asserting her rights in marriage. She demands the respect that is
due her. She is no harlot (whore, prostitute), but rather Brutus' wife.
She will be treated as such.
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here in the thigh; can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's secrets?
Portia to Brutus (II. i.299-302)
What kind of wound it is, how it is dressed, we do not know. It is severe
enough for Portia to believe that it is proof of her ability to withstand
pressure and for Brutus to be impressed. Brutus' next line is, "O ye gods,/Render
me worthy of this noble wife!" However, it is not a healthy act. She has
harmed herself and it foreshadows more to come.
When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Calphurnia to Caesar (II. ii. 30-31)
This is in response to Caesar's assertion that the storms and meteors
seen this night can be an omen to anybody.
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
Caesar to Calphurnia (II. ii. 32-37)
Brave words to his wife. Another quote that might be used as a password.
Shakespeare is full of them and this play has quite a few. Remember the
first two lines above at least. Cowards die every time they think of and
fear their own deaths. The brave only think of it the one time they die.
Why live in fear? Accept it and live.
I could be well moved, if I were as you;
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me;
But I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
Caesar to the senators who surround him. (III. i. 58-62)
Caesar appears arrogant at this point and the way the actor plays these
lines could well determine if at this point the audience is with or against
the conspirators.
Speak hands for me!
Casca as he attacks Caesar (III. i. 76)
Casca is the first to move against Caesar. What a mercurial
fellow is this Casca.
Stoop then, and wash. How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
Cassius to fellow conspirators (III. i 111-113)
Cassius says this and the dramatic
irony of the situation is that the audience knows this to be true.
This may have been Shakespeare's little wink at the audience. He knew it
to be true because here they were ages and ages hence in unknown accent
replaying the scene. Your dramatic irony is that you know what Shakespeare
did not. This play would be acted over and over for centuries after his
death in languages he never dreamed existed.
So often shall the knot of us be called
The men that gave their country liberty.
Cassius to the conspirators (III. i. 117-118)
Is that how they are known? Or are they better known as the conspirators?
I regularly call them the conspirators. What do you call them? Point of
view is important.
Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body.
You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,
But speak all good you can devise of Caesar,
And say you do't by our permission;
Else shall you not have any hand at all
About his funeral. And you shall speak
In the same pulpit whereto I am going,
After my speech is ended.
Brutus to Antony (III. i. 144-251)
Antony will agree and pretty much keep his word. He will say things
about Caesar and then beg the audience to contradict it based on what Brutus
will have said.
O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Antony to Caesar's body (III. i. 254-258)
After the assassins leave, Antony is allowed private time with the
body of Caesar. Here in this soliloquy, are Antony's true thoughts revealed.
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
(Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue),
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,
Than mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of war,
All pit choked with custom of fell deeds,
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from
hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch's
voice
Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs
of war,
That this foul deed shall smell
above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.
Antony over the body
of Caesar (III. i. 259-275)
What a sentence! This just follows
the line above, "Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!" Why does
Shakespeare put this mouthful into one sentence? How would an actor play
this set of lines? Does he start out by raging and bring it down to a whisper
or does he build to crescendo? Where is the high point for you?
This speech reminds me of the
part in Henry V when he is outside the gates of Harfleur and threatens
the town's people with what will happen if they do not open.
Star Trek fans might recognize
the words, "Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war." They were spoken
by General Chang (Christopher Plummer) just before his death in Star
Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. (The Undiscovered Country is itself
an allusion to Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy in Act III,
Scene i of Hamlet. "Death" is the "undiscovered country."
Why "let slip the dogs
of war"? What do dogs have to do with it? Ares (Greek) and Mars (Roman)
were the gods of war and their sacred animals were dogs. Think of what
would follow a bloody battle in the ancient times but animals, like dogs,
that would come to lick and eat the carrion. This is what the ancients
associated with war.
If then that friend demand why Brutus
rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but
that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all
salves, that that Caesar were dead, to live all free men? 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.
Brutus to the Roman
crowd (III. ii. 20-29)
Note that this is in prose. What
is Shakespeare saying about the quality of Brutus' speech?
These are clever words, but what
does Brutus fail to do in his speech that lets Antony step in and counter
later on?
I do entreat you, not a man depart,
Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.
[Exit.]
Brutus to the Roman crowd (III. ii. 62-63)
The dope.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend
me your ears; . . .
Antony's Speech to
the Romans (III. ii. 75-254)
Read all of it. Again. And again.
And yet again. It is a wonderful piece of literature. Antony does just
what he has promised. He only call them conspirators "honorable men" and
speaks well of Caesar. He notes that Brutus has never proven that Caesar
was ambitious and drives right through that reason with a truck.
The first line has had a million
bad jokes made about it, but this is only because it is such a great line.
"Hey, buddy, come here. Lend me your ear for a minute." The metaphor is
catchy and descriptive.
"So are they all, all honorable
men." As Antony continues on with his speech, this phrase becomes more
and more ironic. The bite the irony has continues until it is just sarcasm.
Try to judge when Antony will raise his voice and when he will lower it.
Try to guess where you would begin to start to sound ironic when calling
the conspirators "honorable men." When do you think Antony has the audience
on his side? These are the decisions that the great actors have to make
when playing the part.
Now let it work: Mischief, thou art
afoot,
Take thou what course thou wilt.
Antony after the mob
has left (III. ii. 263-264)
These lines let you into the heart
of Antony. He has set chaos to work and he does
not care what happens. The mob was only a tool achieve his ends. The
very next scene is about the death of Cinna the poet. Shakespeare is placing
the responsibility for the actions of the crowd with Antony. Everyone feared
Caesar's ambition, but everyone else had ambitions of his own. Here Antony
nakedly shows a callous disregard for the actions of a violent mob that
he has created. Not only does he watch, but he takes pleasure in watching.
Add this to the mix when judging the moral measure of your character.
These many then shall die: their
names are pricked.
Antony to Octavius
and Lepidus (IV. i. 1)
The new Triumvirate of Antony, Octavius
and Lepidus are a horror. They are corrupt and murderous. Rome is not better
for Caesar's death.
He shall not live; look, with a spot
I damn him.
Antony to Octavius
and Lepidus about his nephew (IV. i. 6)
Antony blithely marks off his nephew's
name for death. Such is the way of politics. There are the "ins" and the
"outs" and there always have been. Today the "outs" don't lose their heads
quite so often.
But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar's
house;
Fetch the will hither, and we shall
determine
How to cut off some charge in legacies.
Antony to Lepidus in
front of Octavius (IV. i. 7-9)
Here the shift of power takes place.
Antony gives Lepidus a command and Lepidus follows. Antony is in charge.
He even uses the word "fetch."
Secondly, remember the will that
Antony mentioned in his speech to the Romans? Here in these lines he is
talking of altering the will. He wants to change some of the legacies.
Who do you think will get cut out, the rich or the poor?
Remember March, the ides of March
remember.
Did not great Julius bleed for justice'
sake?
What villain touched his body, that
did stab,
And not for justice? What, shall
one of us,
That struck the foremost man of
all this world
But for supporting robbers, shall
we now
Contaminate our fingers with base
bribes,
And sell the mighty space of our
large honors
For so much trash as may be grasped
thus?
Brutus to Cassius (IV.
iii. 18-26)
The foremost man of the world, Brutus
says. Brutus does not sleep and he does not eat. Is his conscience bothering
him? Does he feel guilty at what he has done? Is this why he will be seeing
ghosts of his murdered victim? Is this why he wants to go see Philippi?
Is this the reason for all of his terrible decisions?
Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought
for so;
I put it in the pocket of my gown.
Brutus to Lucius (IV.
iii. 250-251)
Anachronism.
Antony:
Octavius, lead your battle softly
on
Upon the left hand of the even field.
Octavius:
Upon the right hand I; keep thou
the left.
Antony:
Why do you cross me in this exigent?
Octavius:
I do not cross you' but I will do
so.
Antony and Octavius
(V. i. 16-20)
This conversation indicates that
Octavius has learned his lesson from Act IV, Scene i well. When Lepidus
followed the orders of Antony, Octavius took the hint and here will not
follow the order of Antony for no other reason than he will not allow Antony
to take the lead.
O, that a man might know
The end of this day's business ere
it come!
But is sufficeth that the day will
end,
And then the end is known.
Brutus to Cassius (V.
i. 122-125)
I enjoy this quote. "I wish I knew
what going to happen today, but the fact is that in a few hours I
will know what will happen. The end of the day will happen no matter what."
This day I breathed first. Time is
come round,
And where I did begin, there shall
I end.
My life is sun his compass.
Cassius in soliloquy
(V. iii. 23-25)
Cassius remarks that today is his
birthday and sees the symmetry if he should die today.
This was the noblest Roman of them
all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great
Caesar;
He, only in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one
of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might
stand up
And say to all the world, "This was a man!"
Antony to all about
Brutus (V. v. 68-75)
These are the last memorable lines
of the play. Octavius says a few words after this and then the play is
over, but they are not interesting. Antony's lines are the closer. The
key is whether they are true or not. Was Brutus the noblest Roman of them
all? Did he do what he did in "general honest thought/And common good to
all"? Was Brutus noble at all or did he just fool himself into thinking
that he was noble and altruistic? Was Brutus as ambitious as the rest of
the people in the play?
