JULIUS CAESAR

ACT - III (SCENE-2)

QUESTION 1

1. Brutus is at the marketplace. He is about to address the citizen of

Rome to give an explanation to them about why he and his associates
killed Julius Caesar. He asked the people assembled there to be patient so
that they can listen to him fully before making any judgement on the act
of killing Julius Caesar. This speech is made on after the killing of Julius
Caesar just before his funeral.
2. Honour was important for Brutus for he considered himself to be fair
and impartial. He also considered himself to act in the best interests of
the citizens of Rome. In order to be honourable, Brutus allowed Mark
Anthony to address the citizens of Rome at the funeral of Caesar. Had he
not been honourable he would not have allowed Mark Anthony this
privilege to addressing the citizens since he had been warned by Cassius
that Mark Anthony speech could cause trouble for the conspirators. His
commitment to honour leads Brutus to a crisis because after hearing the
speech of Mark Anthony, the citizens of Rome turned against Brutus and
his fellow conspirators.

3. “Hear me for my cause” His cause was the prevention of the

enslavement of the people of Rome in the hands of Julius Caesar. Brutus’s
motives were genuine. We can say this for the following reason:

 Brutus truly believed that Caesar would become a tyrant once he

was crowned as the Emperor of Rome.
 Brutus had no personal motive in the killing of Julius Caesar. That is
why he did not object when Mark Anthony spoke of Caesar in
glowing terms, after he was killed.
 Brutus was respectful of all people. We can note from his
interaction, with his wife Portia, that he had a lot of respect for
women, in a society which did not respect women too much.
 Brutus had no personal enemity with Caesar. In fact he had a lot of
respect for Caesar in many ways.

4. The reaction of the listeners at the beginning of the scene, when Brutus
address the audience, is one of agreement with the reasoning given by
Brutus for the killing of Julius Caesar. At the end of the scene the reaction
of the audience changes completely. From agreement to the killing of
Caesar it changes to hate for the conspirators. The change of attitude is a
result of the speech of Mark Anthony. He convinced the audience that
Caesar was neither greedy nor did he lust for power. So convincing was
his oratory that the citizens of Rome decided to finish off Brutus and his
fellow conspirators.
5. “Censure me in your wisdom”. Brutus tell this to the citizens of Rome.
He means that, after hearing his reasons for the killing of Caesar if the
citizens disagree with reasons they may punish Brutus for the killing. The
citizens of Rome passed censure on him. This censure changed the course
of action in the play since, Brutus instead of becoming hero for the killing
of Caesar, is treated like the villain who wrongly killed Julius Caesar.

QUESTION 2

1. Brutus intended to depart alone because he was convinced that the

citizens or Rome were in agreement with the reasons for the killing of
Julius Caesar. He did not see any need to stay back to hear Mark Anthony
as they did not anticipate any trouble after Mark Anthony speech.

2. This means the Brutus urged the people of Rome to stay back after his
speech in order to pay respect to Caesar’s death by spending a little more
time with his dead body as well as to stay back to listen to Mark Anthony
tribute to Caesar.

3. The explanation that Brutus gave in his speech for the murder of
Caesar is as under:

 He said Caesar would have made the citizens of Rome his slaves on
becoming the Emperor.
 He said that Caesar was greedy for power.

The reaction of the listeners to this was of complete agreement with the
reasoning of Brutus. They agreed with the reasons and the need for the
death to Caesar.

4. Anthony was given permission by Brutus, to speak. The conditions

under which Anthony was allowed to speak are as under:

 Anthony should not blame Brutus and his friends for the death of
Caesar.
 That Anthony should speak from the same pulpit from which Brutus
would speak.
 That Anthony should speak only after Brutus had finished speaking.

5. Caesars glories that Anthony would refer to in his speech later are:

 He was faithful and fair to his friends.

 He worked hard to fill the fill the government treasury.
 He was not greedy for power. He refused the crown thrice during
the feast of Lupercal.

His objective behind the speech is to generate sympathy for Caesar and to
turn public opinion against Brutus and his friends.
QUESTION 3

1. As Anthony ascends to the platform to speak the citizens were all praise
for Brutus and wanted to carry him to his home, make his statue and
make him Caesar. They felt that Caesar was ruthless, greedy and
ambitious and that he was rightly killed. They were neutral about Anthony
and did not know what to expect from Anthony. They expected Anthony to
be anti Brutus.

2. The citizens stayed behind to listed to Anthony only because Brutus had
asked them to do so. At the beginning of Anthony speech the citizens
were a little suspicious of the intentions of Anthony. However, by the end
of Anthony’s speech all the suspicions disappeared and they approved of
what Anthony spoke.

3. This means that the good deeds that a person does during his lifetime is
not recognized and the wrongs that they do is highlighted.

4. The evil that Caesar did that lives after him are:

 He was considered to be greedy.

 He was considered to be power hungry.
 It was said that he wanted enslave the people of Rome after
becoming Emperor.

The two examples of good done by Caesar are:

 He brought prisoners of war with him to Rome so that other nations

would pay money to Rome to have them freed.
 He, in his will, had given every citizen of Rome seventy-five
drachmas.

5. Antony says “the noble Brutus” because Brutus had completed this
speech before Antony has begun his speech. Brutus’s speech had
generated a lot of respect for him and public opinion was in favour of
Brutus. In order not to earn the wrath of the audience, Antony addressed
Brutus respectfully as noble Brutus. He uses the term “if it were so”
because he did not agree with the assessment of Brutus that Caesar was
ambitious. Anthony could not have been frank about his remark since in
the beginning of Antony’s speech the mood of the audience was
overwhelmingly in favour of Brutus and against Antony.

5. I admire Anthony at this juncture because against all odds and in the
presence of Brutus and other conspirators he had to generate sympathy
for Caesar. The acceptance of the reasoning given by Brutus of the killing
of Caesar had make Anthony’s job even more difficult. However, Anthony,
without antagonizing Brutus and his men got them to give him a change
to address the audience. When he got the chance to address the audience
– the gently reminded them of all that Caesar had done for them. He told
the audience about Caesar’s will – that Caesar had willed his fortune to
the people of Rome. This generated sympathy for Caesar and turns the
tide against Brutus and his men.

QUESTION 4

1. The testament refers to the “will” of Caesar. “Commons are the citizens
of Rome. The means that once the citizens of Rome realize what Caesar
had written in his will they would be ashamed that they did not mourn the
death of their leader. Anthony told the Citizens of Rome that if they knew
what Caesar had for them in his will they would kiss the dead Caesars
wounds dip their napkins in his blood as a mark of respect. They would
beg to get a strand of his hair and keep this strand of his hair like an
heirloom and pass it on to subsequent generations of their families.

2. Antony uses hyperbolic expressions like “sacred blood”, kiss dead

Caesars wounds” The effect that this language has on the commons is
that they are swayed by the oration of Anthony and their mood changes.
From support for the killing of Caesar, the mood of the audience changes
to sympathy for Caesar and contempt for the conspirators.

3. The two reasons why the commons would dip their napkins in Caesars
blood and beg a hair of his are as under:

 Because they now viewed Caesars death as a sacrifice and as a

result his blood and hair was viewed as holy.
 They would dip their napkin in Caesars blood and beg for his hair as
a mark of respect to Caesar and as a sign of atonement for having
earlier supported his killing.

Caesars blood was considered holy since they had sacrificed his life for
the people of Rome. Sacrificial blood was considered holy then.

4. Other than the “will” Anthony showed the audience the cloak that
Caesar wore for the first time when he conquered Nervii. He also showed
them the dagger that Cassius used to stab Caesar. He pointed out to the
Romans how mutilated the body of Caesar had become. This incited the
commons because they, upon seeing these things, now realized that
Caesar was killed unfairly.

5. Anthony cleverly played on the emotion of people to make them react

as he desired. He began by showing a lot of respect to Brutus and his men
as the mood among the audience was one of agreement to what Brutus
had done. Later, he cleverly gave examples to the audience of why Caesar
was neither greedy, ambitious or that he had any intention to enslave
people after becoming Emperor. He told his audience that, after a
person’s death, the evil he had done is remembered. Using this as the
pretext he reminded the audience of the good that Caesar had done for
the welfare of Romans. This influenced the audience in favour of Caesar.
He couched his praise for Caesar by saying that he was upset with the
death of Caesar therefore was very sentimental. He cleverly asked the
audience why they were not mourning for Caesar and if there was
something wrong with their sense of judgement. He brought out the issue
of Caesars will to show to the people that Caesar was generous and had
asked for his fortune to be divided among Romans. These issues
generated a lot of sympathy for Caesar and the opinion of the audience
shift from hatred for Caesar to sympathy for Caesar.

QUESTION 5

1. The wounds of Caesar are referred to as poor dumb mouths because

they are not able to tell the world the brutal manner of Caesars death
caused by people who Caesars loved and trusted.

Mark Anthony, in order to incite (anger) people told them if he had

been Brutus he would have ensure that every wound in Caesar’s body
would have been given a tongue to tell the world how Caesar was killed
through treachery. Anthony cleverly tell the people, using Brutus as the
shield, how they must react to the brutal killing of Caesar.

2. In order to say that there should be mutiny on Caesars death, Anthony

cleverly says that if he and Brutus had exchanged places, Brutus would
have talked about every wound in Caesar’s body to generate sympathy
for Caesar and would have incited the citizens of Rome to revolt against
the conspirators.

Anthony indirectly says that if he were Brutus, he would have

ensured that all wounds in Caesars body would have spoken about the
unjust and inhuman manner in which Caesar was killed. The irony of the
words in this extract is that he uses Brutus as a shield (saying “if he were
Brutus”) incites the people of Rome to mutiny.

3. The mob leaves the scene in a destructive mood. They leave with
sympathy for Caesar and contempt for the conspirators. They decided to
loot and burn everything in their path. They decided to burn the
conspirators. After the departure of the mob Anthony says the Goddess
fortunate is with him and that the Goddess would grant him anything
given the mood of the people. The then asks the servant to take him to
Octavius.

4. At the end of the scene, Anthony decides to go to Caesars place where

Octavius and Lepidus are waiting. Brutus and Cassius had to flee Rome in
order to escape the fury of the mob.

5. The tactics that Anthony used to make the common people slaves of
passion and resentment are:
 Continuously referring to the goodness and greatness of Caesar.
This make the Romans believe that Caesar was unfairly killed.
 Not directly criticizing Brutus and his team of conspirators. This
leads the Romans to believe that Mark Anthony had no ulterior
motives in praising Caesar.
 Constantly referring to the wound on the body of Caesar, thereby
creating sympathy for Caesar.
 Referring to the will of Caesar to prove that Caesar was not greedy
but wanted good things for the people of Rome and that is the
reason why he had willed seventy five drachmas for every citizen of
Rome.