Julius Caesar Acts 2/3 Study Guide

Act 2

Important Quotes \n

Scene 1

• Ides of march-- Brutus has been up all night worried

  • Talks to his servant Lucius

• Brutus makes many things clear:

  • They will not stain the conspiracy with any type of oath, the strength of their cause will hold them together
  • They will not involve Cicero to their plan because he is too individualistic and may do his own thing
  • Does not want to kill Mark Antony-- Antony is just a pawn of Caesar’s (Antony will be powerless without Caesar)

• Portia enters, upset that Brutus hasn’t confided in her-- as his wife, she should know his secrets.

  • She cuts her thigh to prove her faithfulness and commitment
  • Brutus promises to tell her the details later

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Scene 2

• Caesar is determined to go to the senate

• Calpurnia cries out in the middle of the night-- “They murder Caesar!”

  • Dreams that his statue ran with blood, the romans bathing in it, finding no heart in the beast (the storm is also raging)

• Caesar decides to stay home

• Decius arrives to get Caesar-- Decius rereads the dream as a sign that Caesar’s blood is nourishing and changing rome

  • Also says that the senators will taunt him for listening to his wife and staying home instead of working-- using misogyny

• Caesar changes his mind and goes

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Scene 3

• This scene details Artimedorus’s letter
• Names each conspirator and warns Caesar of them

Scene 4

• Portia sends Lucius to senate to get info on how Brutus and Caesar are -- hates that she cannot do anything about it
  • “I have a man’s mind, but a woman’s might.”
  • She has resolve but has limitations as a woman
• Portia calls a soothsayer, who like Artimedorus, says he will wait on the side of the road and warn Caesar that it is the ides of march
  • She knows the conspiracy and supports it (or at least does not want to stop it)

Act 3

Important Quotes

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Scene 1

• Caesar enters capitol, prepares to commence with senate stuff

  • Artimedorus asks if his letter can be read first-- Caesar refuses

• He first hears Metullus cimber, who distracts Caesar by asking for his banished brother, Publius, to be returned

• Brutus and Cassius repeat the appeal, and kneel before Caesar-- Caesar refuses to reverse the banishment

  • Casca then stabs Caesar and everyone falls too

• Caesar’s final words -- et tu, brute? (you too, brutus)

• Antony pledges his loyalty to Brutus now

• Antony shakes everyone’s bloody hands at an ally, asks if he can take Caesar’s body and speak at the funeral

  • Brutus agrees, but Cassius does not want Antony speaking in fear that he will paint the conspirators in a bad light
  • Brutus makes his agreement conditional: you can speak only if you don’t badmouth the conspiracy

• Octavius is coming (adopted son of Caesar)

• Antony sends word that Octavius should wait until rome is safe

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Scene 2

• Romans want ANSWERS!

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BRUTUS’S SPEECH:

• This is not a matter of whether I like caesar or not- it’s a matter of what’s best for rome

• Would you rather be slaves? Do you love your country? 

• Slewed Caesar because of his ambition

• Uses logos, ethos, rhetorical questions, and parallel structure/repition a lot

• Gets the crowd engaged

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ANTONY’S SPEECH:

• Argues that Caesar was sympathetic, friendly, provided for Rome, and refused the crown 3 times -- is this ambition?
• Stops to cry- uses pathos to get the audience feeling like Caesar’s death was an injustice
• Uses the will, says he can’t read it because he wants to obey the “honorable” senators
• Crowd is on Antony’s side-- calls conspirators traitors
• Antony tells everyone to wait -- revealed that Caesar left his land to the people and left money for conspirators
• Uses pathos, ethos, parallel structure, and repetition

Scene 3

• Cinna the Poet dreams of eating with Caesar on his way to the funeral-- is it an omen?
• Runs into 4 plebeians -- asks for name, says Cinna, the plebeians yell to kill him because he’s a conspirator
• Cinna defends himself, saying he is Cinna the poet, not Cinna the conspirator
• Plebeians kill him anyway since the name Cinna is stained
  • “Tear him to pieces for his bad verses”
• Depicts the results of Antony’s speech