The30MinuteShakespeare

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

The following is a list of characters that appear in this cutting of Julius Caesar.

For the full breakdown of characters, see Sample Program.

SOOTHSAYER CHORUS

JULIUS CAESAR: A great Roman general

CALPURNIA: Caesar’s wife

ANTONY: A loyal friend of Caesar BRUTUS: A high ranking nobleman PORTIA: Brutus’s wife

CASSIUS CASCA CINNA

DECIUS BRUTUS

METELLUS CIMBER TREBONIUS

CINNA CITIZENS

CINNA THE POET GHOST OF CAESAR

Patricians; conspirators against Caesar

PINDARUS: Slave to Cassius

TITINIUS MESSALA CLITUS VOLUMNIUS STRATO NARRATOR

Officers and soldiers in the armies of Brutus and Cassius

✴ SCENE 1. (ACT I, SCENE II)

NARRATOR

A soothsayer warns Caesar of a dangerous day for him. Cassius is afraid that Caesar will become king and urges Brutus to oppose him. An ill wind blows. 

 CHORUS "DOO to do DOO! (Trumpet sound).

CAESAR

Calpurnia!

CASCA

Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.

CAESAR

Calpurnia!

CALPURNIA

Here, my lord.

CAESAR

Antonius!

ANTONY

Caesar, my lord?

SOOTHSAYER

Caesar!

Beware the ides of March.

 Beware the ides of March.

CAESAR

He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

CHORUS DOO to do DOO! (trumpet sound)

STAGE LEFT CHORUS

Hail Caesar!

BRUTUS

What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king.

CASSIUS

Ay, do you fear it?

Then must I think you would not have it so.

BRUTUS

What is it that you would impart to me?

CASSIUS

I was born free as Caesar; so were you: We both have fed as well, and we can both Endure the winter’s cold as well as he: And this man

Is now become a god.

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS

Hail Caesar!

CASSIUS

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus—

CHORUS

Brutus!

CASSIUS

—and Caesar.

CHORUS

Caesar!

CASSIUS

What should be in that ‘Caesar’?

Why should that name be sounded more than yours?

BRUTUS

My noble friend, chew upon this: Brutus had rather be a villager

Than to repute himself a son of Rome Under these hard conditions as this time Is like to lay upon us.

CHORUS DOO todo DOO! (trumpet sound)

CAESAR

Antonius!

ANTONY

Caesar?

CAESAR

Let me have men about me that are fat; Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. He hears no music.

CHORUS

No music!

CAESAR

Seldom he smiles.

Such men as he be never at heart’s ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, And therefore are they very dangerous.

CHORUS

Dangerous!

CHORUS DOO to do DOO ! (trumpet sound) .

CASCA [to BRUTUS]

I saw Mark Antony offer Caesar a crown; he put it by, but, to my thinking, he was very loath to layhis fingers off it. And still as he refused it, the

rabblement hooted and clapped their chapped hands.

STAGE LEFT CHORUS hoot;

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS clap hands.

Then Caesar fell down in the marketplace, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless.

BRUTUS

’Tis very like: he hath the falling sickness.

CASSIUS

No, Caesar hath it not; but you and I,

And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.

CASCA

BRUTUS

Farewell, both..

For this time I will leave you too: Tomorrow, I will wait for you.

CASSIUS

I will do so: till then, think of the world.

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, Thy honorable metal may be wrought From that it is disposed:

For who so firm that cannot be seduced? Caesar doth bear me hard; but he loves Brutus: Caesar’s ambition shall be glanced at:

And after this let Caesar seat him sure;

For we will shake him, or worse days endure.

✴ SCENE 2. (ACT II, SCENE I)

Rome. BRUTUS’S orchard.

NARRATOR

Brutus and the other conspirators decide to kill Caesar but spare Antony. Portia begs Brutus, her husband, to explain his change in mood. Storm clouds gather.

BRUTUS

It must be by his death: and for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn at him, But for the general. He would be crown’d:

It is the bright day that brings forth the ad          

                            Therefore think him as a serpent’s egg

Which, hatch’d, would, as his kind, grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell.

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #1 (“Knocking”).

They are the faction. O conspiracy,

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough To mask thy monstrous visage? .

BRUTUS

Give me your hands all over, one by one.

CASSIUS

And let us swear our resolution.

DECIUS BRUTUS

Shall no man else be touch’d but only Caesar?

CASSIUS

Let Antony and Caesar fall together.

BRUTUS

Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,

For Antony is but a limb of Caesar: Let’s kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;

Which so appearing to the common eyes, We shall be call’d purgers, not murderers.

CASSIUS

Yet I fear him;

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar—

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #2 (“Clock striking three”).

CASSIUS

The clock hath stricken three.

TREBONIUS

’Tis time to part.

PORTIA

Brutus, my lord!

BRUTUS

Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now?

PORTIA

You’ve ungently, Brutus, stole from my bed: And when I ask’d you what the matter was,

You stared upon me and stamp’d with your foot; Dear my lord,

Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.

BRUTUS

I am not well in health, and that is all.

PORTIA

What, is Brutus sick,

And will he steal out of his wholesome bed, To dare the vile contagion of the night

To add unto his sickness?

No, my Brutus;

You have some sick offense within your mind, Which I ought to know of 

And, upon my knees,

I charm you, by my once-commended beauty, That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, Why you are heavy, and what men tonight Have had to resort to you.

BRUTUS

PORTIA

Kneel not, gentle Portia.

I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Dwell I but in the suburbs

Of your good pleasure? .

If it be no more,

Portia is Brutus’s harlot, not his wife.

BRUTUS

You are my true and honorable wife, As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart.

PORTIA

If this were true, then should I know this secret.

BRUTUS

O ye gods,

Render me worthy of this noble wife!

 Portia, go in awhile;

And by and by thy bosom shall partake The secrets of my heart. Follow me, then.

✴ SCENE 3. (ACT II, SCENE II)

CAESAR’S house.

NARRATOR

The dangerous day has arrived. Fearing for his safety, Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, urges him to stay home.But does he listen? No. Typical man

.

CALPURNIA Murder! Caesar!

STAGE LEFT CHORUS make sounds of thunder;

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS make sounds of rain.

. STAGE RIGHT CHORUS

Caesar!

STAGE LEFT CHORUS

Murder!

CAESAR

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight:

Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, ‘Help, ho! They murder Caesar!’ .

CALPURNIA

What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth? You shall not stir out of your house today.

CAESAR

Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten’d me Ne’er look’d but on my back; when they shall see The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

CALPURNIA

Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, Yet now they fright me.

A lioness hath whelped in the streets; Dead; 

Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,

And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets,

14 ✴ JULIUS CAESAR

CHORUS scream out loud.

And I do fear them.

CAESAR

What can be avoided

Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

CALPURNIA

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

CAESAR

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.

CALPURNIA

Alas, my lord,

Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. Do not go forth today: call it my fear

That keeps you in the house, and not your own. Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

DECIUS BRUTUS

Caesar, all hail! Good morrow, worthy Caesar: I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

CAESAR

Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

DECIUS BRUTUS

Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause.

CAESAR

The cause is in my will: I will not come; That is enough to satisfy the senate.

But for your private satisfaction,

Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home: She dreamt tonight she saw my statue,

                             Which, like a fountain with a hundred spouts,       Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it.

DECIUS BRUTUS

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck Reviving blood. The senate have concluded To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.

If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper ‘Lo, Caesar is afraid’?

CAESAR

How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! I am ashamed I did yield to them.

I will go.

✴ SCENE 4. (ACT III, SCENE I)

Rome. Before the Capitol.

. NARRATOR

The conspirators surround Caesar. His wife was right: he should have stayed home.

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #3 (“Drums”)..

CAESAR [to SOOTHSAYER]

The ides of March are come.

SOOTHSAYER

Ay, Caesar; but not gone.

CAESAR

Are we all ready? What is now amiss That Caesar and his senate must redress?

METELLUS CIMBER

Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar, Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat

An humble heart, for the appealing of my banished brother.

CAESAR

I must prevent thee, Cimber.

These couchings and these lowly courtesies Might fire the blood of ordinary men,

But I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fix’d and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament.

That I was constant Cimber should be banish’d, And constant do remain to keep him so.

DECIUS BRUTUS

Great Caesar,—

CAESAR

Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?

CASCA

Speak, hands for me!

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #4 (“Drums .

[CONSPIRATORS, in slow motion, stab at CAESAR, slowly killing him.]

CAESAR

Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.

[CAESAR dies.]

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #5 (“Final drumbeat

CINNA

Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!

CONSPIRATORS

Tyranny is dead!

BRUTUS

Stoop, Romans, stoop,

And let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords: Then walk we forth, even to the marketplace, And, waving our red weapons o’er our heads, Let’s all cry ‘Peace, freedom, and liberty!’

CONSPIRATORS

Peace! Freedom!

Liberty!

But here comes Antony.

CONSPIRATORS: Welcome, Mark Antony.

ANTONY

O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low?

Fare thee well. I know not, gentlemen,

Who else must be let blood:

If I myself, there is no hour so fit As Caesar’s death hour.

BRUTUS O Antony, beg not your death of us.

Though now we must appear bloody and cruel, Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful;

And pity to the general wrong of Rome—

ANTONY

I doubt not of your wisdom.

Let each man render me his bloody hand: How like a deer, strucken by many princes, Dost thou here lie!

[to BRUTUS]

I am suitor that I may

Produce his body to the marketplace; And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, Speak in the order of his funeral.

BRUTUS

You shall, Mark Antony.

CASSIUS

Brutus, a word with you.

[aside to BRUTUS] Do not consent That Antony speak in his funeral:

Know you how much the people may be moved?

BRUTUS

By your pardon;

I will myself into the pulpit first,

And show the reason of our Caesar’s death.

CASSIUS

I like it not.

BRUTUS

ANTONY

Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar’s body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us.

O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,—

And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.

✴ SCENE 5. (ACT III, SCENE II)

The Forum.

NARRATOR

Brutus justifies to the mob the killing of Caesar. Then Antony cleverly turns the crowd against Brutusand the conspirators. Politicians and their speeches—some things never change.

. CITIZEN ONE

We will be satisfied!

CITIZEN TWO

Let us be satisfied!

CITIZEN THREE

The noble Brutus is ascended: Silence!

BRUTUS

Romans, countrymen, and lovers! If any dear friend of Caesar’s demand why Brutus rose against Caesar,

this is my answer:—Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. As Caesar loved me, Iweep for him; as he was valiant, I honor him: but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS

None, Brutus.

STAGE LEFT CHORUS

None!

BRUTUS

Then none have I offended. As I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when itshall please my country to need my death.

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS

Live, Brutus!

STAGE LEFT CHORUS

Live, live!

BRUTUS

Good countrymen, Stay here with Antony:

And grace his speech

Tending to Caesar’s glories; which Mark Antony, By our permission, is allow’d to make.

CITIZEN ONE

Stay, ho! And let us hear Mark Antony.

CHORUS

Antony!

CITIZEN FOUR

’Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.

CITIZEN ONE

This Caesar was a tyrant.

CHORUS

Tyrant!

CITIZEN TWO

Peace! Let us hear what Antony can say.

CHORUS

Antony!

ANTONY

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it. For Brutus is an honorable man;

Caesar hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man.

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse: Was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an honorable man.

You all did love him once, not without cause: O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason.

CITIZEN ONE

Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.

CHORUS

Reason!

CITIZEN TWO

Caesar has had great wrong.

CHORUS

Wrong!

CITIZEN FOUR

He would not take the crown;

Therefore ’tis certain he was not ambitious.

CHORUS

Not ambitious!

CITIZEN THREE

There’s not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.

CHORUS

Antony!

ANTONY

I fear I wrong the honorable men Whose daggers have stabb’d Caesar;

CITIZEN FOUR

They were traitors.

CHORUS

Traitors!

ANTONY

Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, Shall I descend?

CHORUS

Come down.

CITIZEN FOUR

A ring; stand round.

CHORUS

Round!

CITIZEN TWO

Room for Antony, most noble Antony.

CHORUS

Most noble Antony!

ANTONY

If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle:

Look, in this place ran Cassius’s dagger through: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb’d; Mark how the blood of Caesar follow’d it,

This was the most unkindest cut of all;

Here is himself, marr’d, as you see, with traitors.

CITIZEN TWO

O noble Caesar!

CHORUS

Caesar!

CITIZEN FOUR

O traitors, villains!

CHORUS

Villains!

CITIZEN TWO

We will be revenged.

CHORUS)

Revenged!

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS)

Revenge!

STAGE LEFT CHORUS

Seek!

STAGE RIGHT CHORUS

Fire!

STAGE LEFT CHORUS

Slay!

CHORUS

Let not a traitor live!

ANTONY

Sweet friends, let me not stir you up.

I am no orator, as Brutus is; but were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Would ruffie up yourspirits and put a tongue In every wound of Caesar that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

CHORUS

Seek the conspirators!

CITIZEN TWO

Most noble Caesar! We’ll revenge his death.

CHORUS

Revenge his death!

ANTONY

Here was a Caesar! When comes such another?

CITIZEN ONE

Never, never. Come, away, away! We’ll burn his body in the holy place,

And with the brands fire the traitors’ houses. Take up the body.

CHORUS

Take up the body!

CITIZEN TWO

Go fetch fire.

CHORUS

Fire!

ANTONY

Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!

Bring me to Octavius.

✴ SCENE 9 (ACT V, SCENE V)

Another part of the field.

NARRATOR

Brutus dies by the same hand that killed his friend Caesar: his own. Antony praises Brutus as the only honorable conspirator.

. BRUTUS

Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock.

 Hark thee, Clitus.

CLITUS

What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. I’ll rather kill myself.

BRUTUS [to VOLUMNIUS]

Come hither, good Volumnius; list a word. The ghost of Caesar hath appear’d to me:

I know my hour is come.

Our enemies have beat us to the pit:

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #10 (“Drums”).

38 ✴ JULIUS CAESAR

Good Volumnius, I prithee,

Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it.

VOLUMNIUS

That’s not an office for a friend, my lord.

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #11 (“Drums”).

BRUTUS

Farewell to you. Countrymen,

My heart doth joy that yet in all my life I found no man but he was true to me. I shall have glory by this losing day.

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #12 (“Drums”).

ALL

Fly, fly!

CLITUS

Fly, my lord, fly.

BRUTUS

Hence! I will follow.

I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:

Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,

While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

STRATO

Give me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord.

JULIUS CAESAR ✴ 39

BRUTUS

Farewell, good Strato.

BRUTUS runs into his own sword, held by STRATO.

Caesar, now be still:

I kill’d not thee with half so good a will.

BRUTUS dies.

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #13 (“Drums

ANTONY

This was the noblest Roman of them all:

CONSPIRATORS

All the conspirators save only he

Did that they did in envy of great Caesar.

PORTIA AND CALPURNIA

He only, in a general honest thought

And common good to all, made one of them.

ALL

His life was gentle, and the elements

So mix’d in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world

‘This was a man!’

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