Act I
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Act I
Scene i
Scene ii-iii Note: This scene focuses a great deal on physical bodies and in some cases, on their infirmities: Antony is young and strong enough to run during Lupercalia, (and it is no coincidence that he was played by shirtlessly young Marlon Brando here); however, Calphurnia is infertile -- which may be attributable either to her or to Caesar -- while Shakespeare goes out of his way to point out that Caesar has hearing loss on one side (I.ii.213) and that he has epilepsy (the "falling sickness" referred to in lines 249-251), Moreover, Cassius focuses extensively on Caesar's physical failings as a swimmer and condemns him for falling ill with a fever (100-133). Caesar, for his own part, implies that Cassius' thinness (I.i.94) makes him untrustworthy, and he would prefer to have around him "men ...that are fat," implying that more robust physiques suggest less "hung[er]" for other things.
Overall
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Act II
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Act II
Scene i As the scene begins, about a month has passed since the end of Act I, and Brutus has decided to kill Caesar. At the beginning of this scene, he gives a number of reasons justifying his actions.
Brutus' decision to leave Antony alive has been controversial. Some regard Brutus' decision here as a tactical blunder, while others respect Brutus' ethos in not wishing to appear "butchers."
Both Brutus and Portia consider themselves Stoics. Stoicism is a Greek philosophy that argues that people should lead lives of virtue and reason and display self-control and moderate emotion even in the face of pain, hardship, or misfortune. Stoics believe that both great sorrow and anger AND great joy should be avoided; they value self-control and a calm, controlled submission to one's own duty and fate. (To make some popular culture comparisons, Star Trek's Spock is a Stoic; Kirk is not. Game of Thrones' Stannis Baratheon is a Stoic; Cersei Lannister is not; Breaking Bad's Gustavo Fring is a stoic; Tuco is not.)
Scenes ii-iv Gender and Power: Both issues take a front seat here in this scene as Shakespeare Calphurnia against Decius.
Marriage: We've just seen two marriages placed side by side: Brutus and Portia, and Caesar and Calphurnia.
Fate and Destiny Obviously, fate and destiny are crucial motifs in this play. Characters mention fate and destiny several times. and our own knowledge of Roman history makes these events seem inevitable, although at the time, they were not necessarily so.
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Act III
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Act III
Ethos means not only the character or ethics of a speaker, i.e., her professional or public reputation and credibility, but also the rhetorical appeal to a set of shared moral values. An appeal to animal rights activists, for example, would obviously draw upon a shared love for animals and their welfare -- a tactic that would be useless if speaking before a (hypothetical) Animal Dislikers Society. Following Caesar's death, both Brutus and Antony must speak before a hostile crowd. If there is one constant rule about speaking before a hostile crowd, it is this: The speaker absolutely must appeal to ethos (shared values) first before anything. Unless that speaker can say, "You and I care about the same things," then the crowd will refuse to listen and the situation can turn ugly.
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Act IV
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Act IV
Often, revolutions begin in order to depose corrupt leaders, heads of state who have typically abused their power. One of the biggest abuses of power occurs when leaders get "sticky fingers" -- that is, when they exploit and rob the people for their own gain. (Think of the reports of gold toilets reputedly in the palace of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, for example.) One irony of revolutions, though, is that very often the very people who started the revolt to end corruption become corrupt themselves -- it's Animal Farm all over again.
Earlier, we looked at the relationship between gender and power, gender and credibility, and gender roles overall, particularly in the marriages of Caesar and Calphurnia and Brutus and Portia. In this act, we get the news Portia has died. 4. CHARACTERIZATION // IRONY. When Brutus receives the news of Portia's death in front of several other people, what is his reaction? What are his reasons for acting as he does? 5. CHARACTERIZATION // IRONY. Obviously, Shakespeare was not interested in writing a perfectly historically accurate play; therefore, the details he includes are included not (just) for historical accuracy, but for thematic reasons. What was Shakespeare's reason for including Portia's death? In what way does Portia's death serve a larger sense of justice here -- or does it? Does Brutus deserve to lose his wife? Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus before the final battle, describing himself as "thy evil spirit, Brutus." 6. ANALYSIS. What are some different possible interpretations of that line? 7. CHARACTERIZATION // IRONY. How are we to evaluate Brutus' credibility? |
Act V
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Act V
THEME. Antony's speech about Brutus reveals his true opinion of Brutus' honorable motives and desire to work for the greater good of the Roman people. Does Shakespeare agree that this murder was in the Roman people's best interests? Here are some issues to consider:
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