In the second act, several strange occurrences convince Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, that something is indeed wrong. For example,- a lioness gives birth to her young in a crowded street, and the dead rise from their graves…. Calpurnia feels sure that these astonishing but bizarre events are all warnings or omens of some kind. She fears that her husband is in great danger and begs him to stay home that day,- but Caesar pays no heed to her pleas. He feels that these warnings are not directed at him specifically.
A servant informs them that a calf, which had been cut open for a sacrifice, was found to have no heart. This worries Calpurnia even more, but Caesar, so foolish in his arrogance, claims to be unafraid. He says that he is not afraid because he is not a coward,- he feels that if he were to stay at home in fear of these things, he would be ‘a beast without a heart’. He says that he is not afraid of danger because he is brave and courageous, and claims to be more terrible and powerful than danger itself. In this way, Caesar lets his common sense be consumed by his arrogance and overconfidence.
Calpurnia has a strange vision or nightmare in which she sees the statue of Caesar spout blood like a fountain, around which many smiling ‘lusty Romans’ crowded to bathe their hands in his blood. This convinced Calpurnia further of the danger Caesar was in and she pleaded with him to stay at home. At first Caesar agrees,- but then Decius Brutus arrives and interprets the dream to show that the statue of Caesar spurting blood indicated that from Caesar, Rome would strike reviving blood, and that the men bathing their hands in his blood implied that many Romans would press for charms and relics etc. At this, Caesar, who loves being flattered in this way, feels that Calpurnia’s fears were foolish and baseless, and decides to not stay at home after all. This was another mistake on Caesar’s part because Decius Brutus was in fact part of a conspiracy against him and had only told him these flattering things to ensure that he be present at the Capitol, as his murder was to take place a little later that very same day. If Caesar had read the signs and stayed at home that fateful day, he might have been saved. If he had been a little less arrogant and over-confident,- if he had believed the omens to be true,- if he had not listened to Decius Brutus, he might have escaped a gruesome death.
Artemidorus, a roman noble, somehow discovers the conspiracy to kill Caesar and tries to warn him about it, he writes a letter to Caesar, bidding him beware of the various conspirators, and plans to present it as a suit to Caesar on his way to the Capitol. Artemidorus asks Caesar to read his suit first, as it concerns him,- but Caesar declares that, that which concerns him will be dealt with last. If Caesar had read Artemidorus’s suit, he would have known what had been planned for him and thus might have had a chance to take the necessary actions to help himself, and save his own life.
William Shakespeare has contributed to literature, some of the world’s greatest plays. Shakespeare has written various kinds of pieces,- some of them comedies, tragedies, or even historical pieces. However, his tragedies are considered by critics to be his most profound works. In them he used his poetic idiom as an extremely supple dramatic instrument, capable of recording human thought and the many dimensions of given dramatic situations.
Julius Caesar is an intense and serious tragedy of the murder of a great man and its aftermath. It is a drama based on political rivalries etc. All of Shakespeare’s tragedies deal with the death of a person who is otherwise noble, good, and heroic, but has one flaw, one fault, which is eventually the cause of his downfall. This person has many virtues, but one great vice- and ultimately, he is put in a position in which, this one small fault of his is exposed, leaving him vulnerable and susceptible to attack. And so, it is finally this one small flaw in him, which leads to his ruin. In Caesar’s case,- his arrogance and overconfidence, his greed for flattery, his ignorance, and most of all,- his ambitiousness, were the cause of his downfall.
When discussing the death of Julius Caesar and the various ways in which it might have been avoided, one comes across many ‘if’s’,- If Caesar had done this, or if Caesar had done that… he might have been saved. But fate, it seems had deemed a different course for Caesar. Despite the many warnings, omens, and chances of escape,- death, like a cold shadow, did indeed sweep its cold fingers over him, in the end. Everything went as planned, and Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Capitol, that fateful day, by the very men he trusted the most. And so fell the mighty Caesar ….
