Julius Caesar — Act III, Scene 1: Section by section

Section 1 — Before the Capitol: the Soothsayer and Artemidorus

• What happens: Caesar mocks the Soothsayer's warning; Artemidorus's letter is brushed aside.
• Key lines explained:
  • "The ides of March are come." — said lightly by Caesar, to show that the warning has come to nothing. "Ay, Caesar; but not gone." — the danger is still ahead.
  • "What touches us ourself shall be last served." — Caesar uses the royal "we/us" and pretends to put his people before himself. Ironically, the letter that "touches" him most could have saved his life.
• Exam focus: 2025 specimen Q2(ii), Q2(iv).

Section 2 — Popilius Lena and Trebonius

• What happens: Popilius wishes the plot success; Cassius fears discovery; Brutus calms him. Trebonius leads Antony away.
• Key lines: "I fear our purpose is discovered" (Cassius); "Cassius, be constant … he smiles, and Caesar doth not change" (Brutus).
• Character contrast: Cassius is nervous and impulsive; Brutus is steady and observant.
• Exam focus: 2025 specimen Q2(iii).

Section 3 — Metellus Cimber's suit and Caesar's pride

• What happens: Metellus pleads for his banished brother; Brutus and Cassius join; Caesar refuses.
• Key lines explained:
  • "Are we all ready? What is now amiss / That Caesar and his senate must redress?" — Caesar speaks as master of the Senate: "Caesar and his senate".
  • "Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar" — puissant = powerful; the triple praise is deliberately excessive.
  • "I spurn thee like a cur out of my way" — cur = worthless dog; Caesar's contempt for flattery.
  • "I am constant as the northern star" — a simile and an image of supreme pride; Caesar sees himself as unchanging and above other men.
  • "Wilt thou lift up Olympus?" — hyperbole; Caesar compares himself to the home of the gods.
• Exam focus: 2025 specimen Q2(i).

Section 4 — "Et tu, Brute!"

• What happens: Casca strikes first; Brutus strikes last; Caesar dies at the foot of Pompey's statue.
• Key lines: "Speak, hands, for me!" (Casca); "Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar!" (Caesar) — Caesar gives up the struggle when he sees his dearest friend among the killers.
• Exam focus: 2025 specimen Q1(i).

Section 5 — "Liberty! Freedom!": the conspirators' triumph

• What happens: the conspirators proclaim freedom; Brutus calms the senators; they bathe their hands in Caesar's blood.
• Key lines explained:
  • "Ambition's debt is paid" (Brutus) — Caesar's ambition has been paid for with his death. (2027 specimen Q1(ii))
  • "So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged / His time of fearing death" — a twisted logic: by killing him early they have spared him years of fearing death.
  • "How many ages hence / Shall this our lofty scene be acted over / In states unborn and accents yet unknown!" (Cassius) — dramatic irony; the scene is indeed acted over in theatres and classrooms today.

Section 6 — Antony's servant and Antony's arrival

• What happens: Antony's servant asks for safe-conduct; Antony mourns over Caesar, offers to die, shakes hands.
• Key lines explained:
  • "Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest; / Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving" — a balanced, diplomatic message.
  • "O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low?" — apostrophe (addressing the dead); contrast between Caesar's greatness and his present state.
  • "Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart … here thy hunters stand, / Sign'd in thy spoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe" — hunting imagery: Caesar is the noble deer (hart) hunted down; the conspirators are the hunters marked with his blood. A pun on hart / heart.
  • "Either a coward or a flatterer" — Antony admits how his friendship with Caesar's killers must look.

Section 7 — Permission to speak

• What happens: Antony asks to speak at the funeral; Brutus agrees; Cassius protests; Brutus sets conditions.
• Key lines: "You know not what you do" (Cassius); "You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, / But speak all good you can devise of Caesar …" (Brutus).
• Brutus's mistakes: he trusts Antony's words; he believes reason will beat emotion; he lets Antony speak after him, so Antony has the last word.
• Exam focus: 2025 specimen Q1(ii); 2027 specimen Q2(ii) (the conditions).

Section 8 — Antony's soliloquy and Octavius

• What happens: alone, Antony reveals his grief and anger and prophesies civil war; Octavius is near Rome.
• Key lines explained:
  • "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth" — Antony addresses Caesar's bloody body (not his robe, not the ground). (2027 specimen Q1(i))
  • "That I am meek and gentle with these butchers" — he admits his friendly behaviour was an act; he calls the "sacrificers" (Brutus's word) butchers.
  • "Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!" — a curse showing his rage. (2025 specimen Q1(iii))
  • "Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war" — Havoc was the order for an army to slaughter and plunder without mercy; let slip = release, as hounds from a leash. War is pictured as hunting dogs let loose.
  • "Ate" — the Greek goddess of discord and revenge.