“Murellus and Flavius, for pulling the scarves off Caesar’s image, are put to silence”
The guards tried to move Murellus and Flavius away from the statues. This is a sign that Caesar is a tyrant, and trying to control the population and what they do. If Caesar can control the population then he can manipulate them to agree with him, this will be extremely useful to Caesar as he tried to gain more and more power.
In Act 1 Scene 2 Caesar is finally introduced, this was set like this to build up the tension in Scene 1. Instead of introducing Caesar in Scene 1 Shakespeare builds up Caesar’s reputation to the audience. In the beginning of scene 2 Caesar blames Calpurnia for not being able to have children
“Forget not in your speed, Antonio,
To touch Calpurnia, for our elders say
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.”
Caesar has to appear as though it is not his fault. If Caesar appears to be a weak ruler then the population might rebel. They want a strong leader, not just strong in mind.
People of Rome at the time were very superstitious; even Caesar was although he tried to act like he was not. This shows on line 22 of scene 2. When the soothsayer tries to alert Caesar to beware the ides of march (the middle of march), he asks him to say it again, this shows that he is anxious.
“What say’st thou to me now” Speak once again.”
“Beware the Ides of March.”
“He is a dreamer, let us leave him. Pass.”
Because Caesar asked him to say it twice it shows that he too is suppositious, although he tries to pass it off and instead calls him ‘a dreamer’.
Both Brutus and Cassius do not want to be present at the crowning ceremony with which they both disagree in principle. Cassius uses this opportunity to express to Brutus how he feels about Caesar. Cassius criticizes Caesar for not being able to cross the River Tiber
“Caesar cried, ‘Help me, Cassius, or I stink!’ “
Cassius is trying to let Caesar be known as an unfit ruler
“How he did shake. ‘Tis true, this god did shake,
His coward lips did from their colour fly”.
Cassius is trying to manipulate Brutus to react against Caesar. He is doing so by touching on the male ego and reminding Brutus of his ancestors and how they saved Rome (line 112). He says Brutus as an honorable man should intervene and stop Caesar. Cassius tries to show Brutus that his qualities are equal to those of Caesar’s
“Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that ‘Caesar’?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together, yours is as far a name;
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with ‘em,
‘Brutus’ will start a spirit as soon as ‘Caesar’.”
Most of all Cassius tries to convince Brutus by merely saying Brutus should be able to trust Cassius as they are friends.
Caesar’s followers in this scene hang on Caesar’s every word, this shows a contrast with Brutus and Cassius who present a negative view of Caesar. Caesar is shown to be corrupted by power in this scene and throughout the play. He is superstitious and lacks determination.
By line 215 Shakespeare introduces another character into the play, Casca. Casca is a nobleman who didn’t have anything to do with the plot against Caesar up till now. Cassius and Brutus question Casca about what happened and why the crowd shouted three times
“Why, there was a crown offered him, and being offered him he put it by with the back of his hand thus, and then the people fell a-shouting.”
Caesar didn’t accept the crown, not because he didn’t want to become King, but he was manipulating the crowd. By doing so Caesar gains their trust, and he appears as though he cares more about the people than the power. The audience watching this would be shaken as they are used to a stable government, one where the crown is not passed around and the country is not ruled by politics and religion.
Caesar is again seen as a weak ruler on like 246
“He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at the mouth, and was speechless”
This again shows that Caesar is not fit to be King, and Cassius uses this against him and says
“No, Caesar hath it not, but you, and I,
And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.”
This is very dramatic. Cassius does not mean Caesar does not have the falling sickness, as he does. Instead he is using this to again persuade Brutus further by saying if we let Caesar, a weak king who lacks determination rule our country, then we are the ones who are ill enough to let that happen.
In scene 3, we see that Casca has joined the conspirators and he has now begun to speak like a nobleman, in blank verse. It is as though he feels he has gained power by joining Brutus and Cassius. This scene also shows how superstitious he was and he is scared that the storm is a sign that something bad is going to happen. Cassius tries to imply that someone has died on line 111
“But, O grief,
Where hast thou led me?”
In fact, no one is dying, something is dying, democracy!
During Cassius and Casca’s conversation they say several dramatically effective things, especially towards the end of the scene.
“O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts,
And that which would appear offence in us
His countenance, like richest alchemy,
Will change to virtue and to worthiness.”
This is effective because it shows what Cassius wants from Brutus, his help in getting the people to listen to them and turn their respect to Brutus and Cassius and rebel against Caesar. Alchemy is the turning of base metals such as lead into gold. This is effective because it is saying it is doing something quite magical, and saying that it will change the peoples view and the people will listen to them and agree.
“For it is after midnight”
We all know what this means, they are talking in the early hours of the morning and it is not as effective as one may think reading over it first. However, it does imply that they are trying to avoid the public eye, and it gives us a feeling that something evil is going on and that they are actually plotting something.
During the play we are introduced the two conspirators that started the plot against Caesar, mainly Cassius and Brutus. These two characters are both noble and want the best for Rome but they both come to the wrong solution for getting this.
Without Brutus and the respect the people of Rome have for him and Cassius’s manipulation of Brutus and his ideas about Caesar there would have been no plot.
By Jonathan Middleton, 4B
