Scenes at a glance
- Citizens: "We will be satisfied"; Cassius takes some away.
- Brutus (prose): "Romans, countrymen, and lovers!"; "believe me for mine honour"; "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more"; slaves or free men; "as he was ambitious, I slew him"; base/rude/vile; "I pause for a reply" — "None, Brutus, none."
- Antony brings the body; Brutus: "the same dagger for myself"; crowd: "Let him be Caesar"; Brutus leaves alone.
- Antony (verse): "Friends, Romans, countrymen"; "bury Caesar, not to praise him"; "The evil that men do lives after them"; "Brutus is an honourable man".
- Arguments: ransoms → general coffers; wept with the poor ("sterner stuff"); crown refused thrice at the Lupercal.
- "My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar" — pause; crowd shifts.
- Will shown, not read; "you are his heirs"; "They were traitors: honourable men!"
- Descends; ring round the corpse; mantle — Nervii; Cassius, envious Casca, well-beloved Brutus; "most unkindest cut"; Pompey's statue ran blood.
- Body shown: "Revenge! … Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay!"; "I am no orator"; "a tongue / In every wound".
- Will read: 75 drachmas; walks, arbours, orchards; "Here was a Caesar!"; mob burns the body and houses.
- "Mischief, thou art afoot"; Octavius and Lepidus at Caesar's house; Brutus and Cassius "rid like madmen".
- Scene 3: Cinna the poet killed for his name.
Common traps
| Trap | Correct idea |
|---|---|
| Brutus spoke in verse | Brutus spoke in prose; Antony in blank verse. |
| Antony read the will at once | He read it only near the end, after the mantle and the body. |
| Antony saw the stabbing | He was drawn away by Trebonius; he only claims to know each cut. |
| Octavius was still seven leagues away | By the end of Scene 2 he has reached Rome, at Caesar's house with Lepidus. |
| Cinna the poet was a conspirator | He was an innocent poet with the same name. |
| Antony openly broke Brutus's conditions | He kept them in words — he never directly blamed them, and called them "honourable". |