3.1.1.6The play at a glance
Caesar returns to Rome in triumph. Cassius persuades Brutus that Caesar's growing power threatens the republic, and the conspirators assassinate him in the senate. Brutus allows Antony to speak at the funeral; Antony turns the crowd against the conspirators, and civil war follows. Brutus and Cassius quarrel, then die at Philippi.
The play was written around 1599, late in Elizabeth I's reign. She was ageing, had no heir, and the question of succession was dangerous to discuss openly. Elizabethan doctrine held that deposing a ruler was unlawful whatever the provocation, and plays depicting rebellion were censored.
- the republic
- Rome's system of elected government, which the conspirators believe Caesar threatens
- tyrannicide
- the killing of a tyrant, debated as to whether it could ever be lawful
- rhetoric
- the formal art of persuasion, taught in Elizabethan grammar schools and central to the play
3.1.1.6Characters
Brutus is honourable and catastrophically wrong. His orchard soliloquy reaches its conclusion before the reasoning begins, and every strategic decision he makes afterwards is mistaken.
Cassius sees clearly and acts from envy. Antony is underestimated by everyone and proves the most capable politician in the play.
Caesar dies in Act 3 and becomes more powerful afterwards. Portia and Calpurnia are both right and both disregarded, which the play presents as a political failure rather than a domestic one.
3.1.1.6Themes
Rhetoric is the play's real subject. Cassius talks Brutus into the conspiracy, Brutus talks the crowd into accepting it, and Antony talks them out of it again, all without new evidence.
Ambition is asserted rather than demonstrated: Caesar refuses the crown three times, and the audience must judge whether the charge is fair.
Fate and interpretation run together: every omen in the play is accurate and every character misreads it.
Common mistake
Describing the conspirators as simply villains or simply patriots. Shakespeare gives Brutus genuine principle and lets it lead to civil war, which is the tragedy.
3.1.1.6Shakespeare's methods
Antony's funeral oration is the most studied speech in the play: the repeated 'honourable' is turned by degrees into an accusation without ever being stated.
Brutus speaks his oration in prose and Antony in verse, and Antony wins, which suggests emotional command defeats reasoned argument.
The murder of Cinna the poet is placed immediately after the oration so the audience must judge what Antony has unleashed.
Worked example
Answer:
- Persuasion, not force, decides every turn of the plot
- Caesar is more powerful dead than alive
- The omens are accurate and are always misread
- Cinna's murder measures the cost of Antony's rhetoric
AO1-AO4How this text is examined
This text is examined in Paper 1, Section A. The question is worth 34 marks and an extract from the play is printed, and the question asks you to start with that extract and then write about the play as a whole. Allow about 55 minutes.
The marks are divided as AO1 12 marks, AO2 12 marks, AO3 6 marks, AO4 4 marks. AO1 rewards a clear argument supported by well-chosen references. AO2 rewards analysis of how the writer achieves an effect, which means writing about choices rather than about events. AO3 rewards context used to deepen a reading of the text.
Common mistake
Retelling the plot. Narrative summary earns nothing under any assessment objective, however accurate it is. Every paragraph should be making a point about how or why, not about what happens.
Four of the marks are for AO4: vocabulary and sentence structures used to control meaning, and accurate spelling and punctuation. These are the cheapest marks on the paper and the easiest to lose by rushing the final paragraph.