When Antony addresses the people, he claims that Caesar had no intention of taking Rome out of the hands of the people, and succeeds in turning the crowd against the conspirators. Brutus speaks to the bewildered Romans, explaining that Caesar’s death was necessary to keep Rome in the hands of the people, and the crowd is momentarily appeased. Left alone with Caesar’s body, Antony promises revenge. Brutus grants Antony’s wish against Cassius’s strong objections. Upon seeing Caesar dead in cold blood, Marc Antony pledges himself to the conspirators, asking only to be allowed to speak to the public at his friend’s funeral. Brutus orders them all to bathe their hands and swords in Caesar’s blood. At the Senate, Trebonius lures Caesar’s devoted friend Marc Antony away as the conspirators surround Caesar and stab him to death. Act 3Ĭaesar receives two more warnings on his way to the Senate-from the Soothsayer again as well as the letter from Artemidorus, which he never reads. Artemidorus, a teacher, plans to intercept Caesar with a letter warning him not to trust the conspirators. He tells Caesar that the senators are planning to offer him the crown that day, and that not showing up may force them to reconsider their decision. However, when Decius arrives at Caesar’s home to ensure his presence in the Senate that day, he deceptively interprets Calphurnia’s nightmares favorably. Caesar doesn’t listen, but when she implores him to stay as a favor to her rather than as a bow to caution, he consents. Calphurnia, Caesar’s wife, warns her husband of her premonition in her dreams of his violent death, and begs him to stay home from the Senate. Brutus’s wife Portia asks him why he has been acting so strange and distant from her, and he promises to tell her later. Decius volunteers to make sure that Caesar shows up. They decide the assassination will happen the next day at the Senate. Brutus agrees that Caesar must die, but convinces the others that to kill Antony would prove them nothing more than bloodthirsty savages. The conspirators come in the middle of the night to convince Brutus that Caesar must be killed, and that only Brutus can save Rome from tyranny. Lucius announces the arrival of a group of men requesting to speak with Brutus. The letter asks Brutus to take leadership for the people of Rome. Sleepless, Brutus is contemplating joining the conspirators in their plot when his servant, Lucius, brings him one of the forged letters he found. Cassius instructs Cinna, a fellow conspirator, to leave the forged letters for Brutus. Cassius convinces Casca to join the conspirators, and they plan to meet later in secret to discuss the plot. Left by himself, Cassius reveals that he believes Brutus to be easy to manipulate, and plans to convince him to rise up against Caesar by sending Brutus forged letters, supposedly from angry citizens urging him to take action against Caesar. Casca, another Roman senator, joins them and reports that Caesar was indeed offered a crown three times, but declined it each time. Brutus admits to having a similar plan in mind. Cassius reminds Brutus of the revolt that founded the Republic-led by Brutus’s own ancestor-in hopes of coaxing Brutus to join the conspirators’ cause against Caesar’s rule. They hear cheers, and fear the populace is cheering in support of Caesar as their king. Cassius tells Brutus that the people are looking to him for leadership. Two senators, Cassius and Brutus, stay behind, discussing how they fear that Caesar wants to rule Rome single-handedly. Caesar ignores him and continues on to the festival. (Roman tradition held that a woman’s pregnancy was assured by the touch of a runner in the race– and Caesar had no heir.) A Soothsayer approaches Caesar and warns him to “beware the Ides of March”-the fifteenth day of March. Attending a race in celebration of the Roman Holiday Lupercalia, Caesar asks his friend Marc Antony to touch his wife Calphurnia as he runs by in the race. The two officials shame the people for celebrating the defeat of one Roman by another, and tear down the decorations honoring Caesar. Flavius and Marullus break up a crowd of commoners celebrating the victory of Julius Caesar, who has returned to Rome from a civil war fought against his co-ruler, Pompey.
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