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JULIUS CAESAR
Identify who said the following dialogues to whom, when, and why.
1. Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Answer: Calpurnia says to Caesar that his 'wisdom is consumed in confidence' because Caesar decides
to go to the Senate ignoring all the signs which tell him about danger. Calpurnia felt that Caesar had
become overconfident and so he couldn't understand there was a threat to his life.
2. This dream is all amiss interpreted.
It was a vision fair and fortunate.
Answer: Decius says this to Caesar in order to manipulate him to go to Senate. He says that
Caliphurnia’s dream was wrongly interpreted and that it is a foretelling of a fair and fortunate future
and not a threatful one.
3. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him
Answer: Antony opens his speech by saying this to the plebians. He says that he has no other motive
than to bury Caesar. At this critical point, he cleverly delivers a speech that turns the crowd against the
conspirators.
4. When beggars die, there are no comets seen
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Answer: Caliphurnia said this to Caesar to convince him to stay home. She means that the death of
ordinary people is never announced by nature. They die unknown, but when important people are
about to die nature gives warnings and shows signs.
5. O world, thou wast the forest to this hart,
And this indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
Answer: Mark Antony says this to the conspirators. A hart is a male deer, and it is considered a noble
creature. Comparing the world to a forest, Antony calls Caesar a hart, meaning - a noble man. He also
calls Caesar the heart, the center of the world.
6. And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Answer: Antony makes this prediction sitting before his friend’s corpse. He implies that Caesar along
with Ate, the Greek goddess of rash actions, ruin, and reckless impulse, will come to take revenge on
the conspirators.
7. There is tears for his love,
joy for his fortune,
honor for his valor,
and death for his ambition.
Answer: Brutus said this to the audience trying to explain to them why killing Caesar was necessary.
Brutus explains that he loved and honors Caesar as much as the audience but Caesar’s ambition would
have turned the Romans into slaves, so he had to be killed.
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Adjectives
Brutus Mark Antony Plebeians
Eloquent A genius actor whimsical/ fickle-minded
Antithetical A powerful orator irrational
Idealist A practical politician disloyal
Self-righteous Sarcastic unreliable
Impulsive A loyal friend inconsistent
Impractical Clever impulsive
Detailed Question/ Answer
1. Describe Mark Antony’s speech.
Mark Antony’s ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar uses
irony and rhetoric to say one thing but mean something quite different. The purpose of Antony's
speech was to show tribute to his friend Caesar and to change the mind of the audience.
Antony aims to destroy Brutus’ honor by repeatedly calling him an honorable man until it
sounded quite hollow. Along the process, he also shows how Caesar was not the ambitious man that
Brutus painted him to be.
Mark Antony addresses the plebeians as friends giving them a feeling that the dead Caesar,
himself, and they all were in the same boat. Mark mentions that people often only remember the bad
deeds of the dead; the good deeds are easily forgotten. Immediately after, he skillfully reminds the
people of Caesar’s good deeds: Caesar never kept the ransom money, refused the crown thrice, and was
nice and kind to the poor people. By this, he proves that Caesar is not ambitious.
Mark Antony pretends to be unwilling to read Caesar’s will but then cleverly reveals to
everyone that Caesar left everything for the people, proving that Caesar was selfless.
Antony delivers the final blow by showing them Caesar’s mantle. He mentions how it wasn’t all
the stabs but Brutus’s treachery that must have killed Caesar, for Caesar always considered Brutus a true
friend. This makes the audience emotional and they realize how unjust the killers have been. Antony
then ends his speech with a call to action. He asks the crowd to avenge Caesar's death.
2. Describe Brutus’s speech.
Addressing a seething/angry crowd that demanded to know the reason behind Caesar’s death,
Brutus delivers a speech explaining that it was a need and not an impulse. Brutus’ speech is brief and
brusque. Brutus explains that he loved and honored Caesar as much as the audience but Caesar’s
ambition would have turned the Romans into slaves, so he had to be killed.
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He paints the picture of a true Roman, using words such as - honor, patriotism, and freedom.
Then, he poses rhetorical questions to the crowd - who is so wretched that he wants to be a slave; who
is so uncivilized that he does not want to be a Roman? He challenges the crowd, saying that anyone
who loves his freedom must stand with Brutus.
He doesn’t realize that he is behaving antithetically - where is the honor in killing a friend,
where is the patriotism in killing a leader, and where is the freedom in letting emotions overpower
one’s judgment?
Medium-Sized Question/ Answer
1. Why did Calpurnia beg Caesar not to go to the Capitol?/
Why didn’t Calphurnia want Caesar to go to the Senate?
Answer: Calphurnia had a nightmare about Caesar's death. Frightened by the meaning of this dream
and by other signs given by nature that night. Calphurnia begs Caesar not to leave the house as she
fears something bad will happen to him.
2. What was Calphurnia’s dream?
Answer: Calpurnia dreamed that Caesar's statue spouted blood from a hundred places and many Roman
people came and smilingly washed their hands in it.
3. How did Decius manipulate Caesar?/
What was Decius’s interpretation of Caliphurnia’s dream?
Answer: Decius gave a flattering interpretation of Calpurnia’s dream. He told them that her dream was
a good one and it meant luck; that Caesar’s blood would give new life to Rome. The Romans would
worship Caesar as a hero martyr and saint.
4. What did Mark Antony mean by saying, “My credit now lies on such slippery ground”?
Answer: Mark Antony says this to the conspirators because his shaking hands with the conspirators
makes him either a coward, who joins the enemy’s sides, or a flatterer, who only pretends to.
5. Why was Cassius reluctant to let Mark Antony give the funeral speech?
Answer: Cassius was reluctant to let Antony speak at Caesar's funeral as his speech may change the
mind of the audience.
6. Why didn’t Brutus listen to Cassius?/
Why did Brutus allow Antony to give a speech at Caesar’s funeral?
Answer: Brutus allows Antony to speak at Caesar’s funeral thinking that doing so will work to the
conspirators’ benefit. As Antony was a dear friend of Caesar, Antony taking the stage after Brutus will
help justify the action of the conspirators to the people of Rome.
7. Why didn’t Caesar fear death?
Answer: Caesar sees no reason to fear death because death comes to everyone in the end.
8. What did Decius tell Caesar about the Crown?
Answer: Decius reveals to Caesar that the Senate has decided to give Caesar the crown that day; if
Caesar were to stay at home, the senators might change their minds.
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9. Why did Cassius get alarmed when Popilius wished them well?
Answer: Popilius wished Cassius that their enterprise may thrive today, it alarmed Cassius as he thought
Popilius know about their conspiracy.
10. What did Mark Antony prophesy over the wounds of Caesar?
Answer: Antony prophesies that civil war will follow Caesar's death and lead to much destruction. He
predicts that as long as Caesar's death remains unavenged, Caesar's spirit will continue to seek revenge,
bringing chaos to Rome.
11. Explain: Security gives way to conspiracy, The mighty gods defend thee!
Answer: Artemidorus, a man who loved Caesar, thinks that Caesar's feeling of safety and trust towards
his fellow Romans gives the conspirators an easy way to plot against him.
12. Explain: My heart laments that virtue cannot live out of the teeth of emulation.
Answer: Artemidorus is a Roman who loves Caesar and sees the conspirators as traitors. His heart aches
to think that goodness cannot survive the jealousy of haters.
13. How was Caesar disparaging while talking to Metellus Cimber?
Answer: Metellus’ brother was banished from Rome by decree. Caesar was disparaging towards
Metellus because he did not want to hear any of Metellus’ requests to let his brother back in Rome.
14. What did Mark Antony mean by saying, “ Mothers shall behold when they see their son
slaughtered”?
Answer: Mark Antony predicts that soon a time will come when blood and destruction will become
common in Rome. Dreadful events will become so familiar that mothers will become numb to pain,
they will smile when they see their children getting killed.
15. Why did Mark Antony think Rome wasn’t safe for Octavius Caesar to enter?
Answer: Antony feared that Caesar’s killers or the Roman people themselves might kill Octavius if he
entered Rome, so he thought Rome wasn’t safe for Octavius yet.
16. Why did Portia wish for a mountain to be placed between her heart and tongue?
Answer: Portia doubted that Brutus and the ‘others’ were up to something, but she feared that if she
expressed her fears, it would cause a greater problem. Thus, she wished for a mountain to be set
between her tongue and her heart.
17. Cite two examples of sycophancy shown to Brutus by the plebeians.
Answer:
18. What did Mark Antony promise to Caesar’s dead body?
Answer:
19. Explain: The heart of Brutus earns to think upon.
Answer:
