The Events in Brutus’s tent
Danni
The Events in Brutus's tent (act 4 scenes 2 and 3) have been considered to be the most exciting and engaging episode of the play Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare. This is because the scene is an emotional roller coaster, it starts with an argument between Brutus and Cassius which slowly builds to a climax where the two finally reconcile. Then the drama builds again through the announcement of portias death and the arrival and departure of Caesar's ghost. The variety of events keeps the audience on the edge of their seats one minute and crying with emotion for Brutus the next. However Despite the tension and high drama in this scene I think that Act 2 Scene 1 is more engaging because of the supernatural goings on and the spooky appearance of the conspirators.
The beginning of the scene is very dramatic, the scene has changed from Rome this will get the audiences attention. There are drumbeats in the background that build up tension. In the previous scene Anthony was preparing for war which was quite dramatic for the audience and then a quick change of scene with a dramatic start will have been very exciting for the audience. Brutus is the first character to speak, 'stand ho!' this is a direct order and immediately gets the audience to focus on what is about to happen with the characters, this is very engaging.
Brutus tells us that he is displeased with Cassius and that he shall find out what is going on.
"Your master...Hath given me some worthy cause to wish things
Done undone: but if he be at hand, I shall be satisfied"
This builds up tension again because the audience is not sure what is going on with Brutus and Cassius and is left in suspense, the audience hasn't seen Brutus and Cassius for a while and this provokes their interest, they want to know more. Cassius has sent Pindarus ahead of him this adds to the slow build up of tension before Cassius enters. Brutus asks Lucilius how Cassius had been acting towards him and Lucilius tells him that he has been respectful towards him. "With courtesy and respect enough," But Lucilius suspects that something is wrong with Cassius because he has not been as friendly as he is usually.
"But not with such familiar instance,
Nor with such free and friendly conference,
As he hath us'd of old"
This again re-enforces the idea that something is going to happen between Brutus and Cassius and all the slow building tension becomes more and more exciting and suspenseful.
When Cassius enters it is a very dramatic entry, "stand ho!" it is also very tense because the soldiers all repeat, "Stand!" This is the last build up of tension for the audience as Cassius then gets straight to the point this is very sudden and powerful, "most noble brother, you have done me wrong" he says this as if he resents him. Brutus stays calm while Cassius just gets more and more angry, this is typical of their characters and is engaging for the audience because the audience feel like they know the characters.
When Brutus thinks that Cassius is getting dangerously angry he is the voice of reason and ask Cassius to calm down, "speak you grief's softly" this is incase the armies hear and start to doubt their leaders, Brutus wants a united army and the soldiers shouldn't hear. Brutus asks Cassius to go and speak privately in his tent, "then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your grief's" The audience is kept interested because they know something big is about to happen. In Shakespeare's day this would be very exciting for the audience because the outer parts of the stage ...
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When Brutus thinks that Cassius is getting dangerously angry he is the voice of reason and ask Cassius to calm down, "speak you grief's softly" this is incase the armies hear and start to doubt their leaders, Brutus wants a united army and the soldiers shouldn't hear. Brutus asks Cassius to go and speak privately in his tent, "then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your grief's" The audience is kept interested because they know something big is about to happen. In Shakespeare's day this would be very exciting for the audience because the outer parts of the stage would have the armies on it but in the center of the stage there would be curtains to represent Brutus' tent so that the audience would see inside the tent but the tent would be blocked off from the rest of the stage and cast.
Once inside the tent Cassius keeps the Drama going by getting straight to the point again,
"That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this"
This also reminds the audience what the argument is about. Cassius is angry at Brutus for having accused him of corruption, Cassius says that Brutus ignored his letters about a man that had been accused of corruption,
"You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella
For taking bribes here of the sardinians;
Wherein my letters, praying on his side
Because you knew the man, was slighted off"
This is engaging for the audience giving them the information they had been waiting for because up until now they were unsure about why Brutus and Cassius were arguing. Brutus then angers Cassius further by accusing him of taking bribes,
"Cassius, you yourself
are much condemn'd to have an itching palm"
This is Dramatic because this makes the argument about Cassius instead of about Lucius and the audience know that Cassius will be very angry about this. At this point Cassius is very emotional and angry we know this because there is a lot of exclamation in what he says, "an itching palm!", "chastisement!" Brutus is calmer and mocks Cassius,
"go to! You are not, Cassius", "Away slight man!" This will be winding Cassius up even more and Brutus just laughs it off this is electrifying and quite comical for the audience. Then Cassius tells Brutus that Caesar would never have stood up to him like Brutus is but Brutus and the audience knows that Cassius never confronted Caesar while he was alive but plotted behind his back this is a reference back to Caesar reminding the audience what has happened in the play. Also Brutus says that Cassius would not have provoked Caeser when he was alive, "you durst not so have tempted him!" and then they start to squabble about whether Cassius would or wouldn't have provoked Caeser. Cassius brings the Drama to a climax by offering Brutus his dagger and telling him to cut out his heart out.
"There is my Dagger and here my naked breast;"
Brutus cannot keep up the disapproval of Cassius and laughs at Cassius.
"Sheathe your dagger
Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;
Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor."
This shows that Brutus cannot stay angry for too long and this is a big release of tension for the audience.
When Brutus and Cassius embrace they are very emotionally generous. Brutus even goes as far as to mention his heart. This will be very moving for the audience as well as a huge release of tension after all the arguing. The poet's meddling is a good comic relief and releases more tension. But this also shows that Brutus is quite impolite as he dismisses the poet for trying to help him.
Just as the audience is feeling relaxed and happy again, Brutus confides in Cassius about portias death making the atmosphere dramatic again, Brutus Confides in Cassius to explain to him why he was angry,
"Oh Cassius I am sick of many grief's"
When Titinius and Messala enter, giving news of Anthony and Octavius back in Rome this reminds the audience about what is going on and brings the audience back to the present. When Messala tells Brutus that Anthony and Octavius have killed 100 senators it is very Dramatic, and even more so when Brutus reveals that he has been told that a smaller number of senators have been killed than Messala has been told,
"Therein our letters do not well agree
Mine speak of seventy senators that died"
This also is Exciting because now the audience know how fast things are moving if the death count in rome has gone up from seventy to one hundred very quickly.
The next part of the play was intended to not be included in the play, Messala tells Brutus that Portia is dead but Brutus already knew this and pretends he didn't. Shakespeare intended to use portias death to show Brutus's courage and calmness. However Brutus comes across here as a bit cold and dismissive of portias death Shakespeare may have not wanted this passage in his final version of this play because we feel sympathy for Brutus when he confides in Cassius but when brutus says:
"Why farewell, Portia. We must die Messala
With meditating that she must die once,
I have the patience to endure it now"
It alienates us because there is hardly any emotion in him and therefore it is difficult for an audience to relate to Brutus or feel sympathy for him.
Brutus and Cassius have another difference of opinion about what to do about the battle. Brutus puts forward some very good points, yet Cassius is not convinced. Brutus has always had more power than Cassius even with the conspirators. Brutus joined them last and although Cassius only involved Brutus so that he could get closer to Caesar and so that other men would follow Brutus but Brutus ended up controlling the plans more than Cassius did. This difference between Brutus and Cassius will be engaging for the audience because it makes them feel like they know the characters if similar patterns in relationships between them are shown in various parts of the story.
When the ghost of Caeser enters it is highly dramatic. In Shakespeare's time people believed that spirits beyond human control governed the world. The ghost of Caesar is a force and it could represent Brutus's guilt. Brutus felt extremely bad about killing someone that he loved and respected but felt it was for the good of Rome. Now that Rome is worse after Caesar's death Brutus must be feeling terrible and he might be realizing that what he did was wrong, the spirit even tells Brutus that he is evil, ""thy evil spirit Brutus". This part of the play will be very important for the audience in Elizabethan times because of their beliefs in the spirit world.
Act 2 scene1 of the Shakespeare play "Julius Caesar" is very Dramatic and engaging especially the opening setting of the scene, the conspirators, the strange happenings during the scene and Portias suspicions about Brutus.
The scene begins at night in a storm, this is dramatic because night time is associated with scary things (things that go bump in the night) and the storm adds tension. These things being at the beginning of the scene makes the audience prepared for something exciting to happen. Brutus' soliloquy is effectively dramatic because it allows the audience to keep interested because they have a sense of what is going on because Brutus' is unsure and keeps changing his mind. "it must be by his death" meaning that they must kill Caesar but when Brutus says,
"I know no personal cause to spurn at him"
He is feeling guilty for what he thinks should be done and is therefore not certain it is the right thing.
Lots of strange things go on throughout the scene, which adds to the dramatic atmosphere. During the storm meteors are flying through the air,
"The exhalations whizzing in the air" Brutus says, by exhalations he means meteors. Also a letter appears in Brutus' closet and his servant did not see it there a while ago, "it did not lie there when I went to bed" this means that someone must have been up to deliver it secretly very late at night and was not noticed by Brutus or his servants and family.
When the conspirators arrive it is very dramatic because they are hidden,
"Their hats are plucked about their ears
And half their faces buried in their cloaks"
This is dramatic because people fear what they don't know or understand however Brutus suspects and is almost certain that the hidden people are the conspirators because he knows they want him to join and they have something to hide. We see Brutus being unsure of what he is doing again because he does not see him self as part of them,
"they are the faction" Everything about the conspirators is dramatic like the way they are out very late at night in a storm. Also Cassius is a sort of ringleader because he organized it but Brutus is respected more by the conspirators and compared to Cassius Brutus is the voice of reason and holds more power in the plan. For example when Cassius wants to kill mark Anthony Brutus persuades the conspirators not to,
"For Anthony is but a limb of Caesar"
When Portia enters it is dramatic because we know something that the character doesn't. Also we see another side of Brutus, while he is trying to hide the conspiracy, he doesn't like upsetting her he flatters her.
"Good Portia go to bed"
He acts worried about her,
"It is not for your health thus to commit
Your weak condition to the raw cold morning."
Eventually he agrees to tell her what is going on later. All this is different to the strong and valiant conspirator Brutus, here we see him as a loving husband.
In Conclusion, Both scenes are Very powerful and effectively dramatic but despite the emotional roller coaster in Act 4 scenes 2 and 3 in my opinion Act 2 scene 1 was more dramatic and engaging for the Audience.
