Quote 7
CAESAR
[...] he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous. (1.2.213-220)
Oh snap! When Julius Caesar wants to insult Cassius, he hurls the worst insult ever – Cassius doesn't like "plays"! (That's Shakespeare the playwright's way of saying that Cassius is a "dangerous" guy.)
Quote 8
CAESAR
Caesar should be a beast without a heart
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not. Danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible.
And Caesar shall go forth. (2.2.45-51)
Ever notice the way Julius Caesar likes to talk about himself in the third person? This is called "illeism," and it's pretty common in the play – Cassius and Brutus do it too. What's up with that?
In a book called Roman Shakespeare, literary critic Coppelia Kahn argues that when characters talk like this, it is "as though they are spectators and audience of themselves as public figures" (78). Sounds right to us, and we also might add that Caesar is a pretty admiring "audience" of himself.
According to Kahn, the repeated third person references are examples of the play's "public mode." In other words, Caesar, Brutus, and Cassius are very much aware of the public roles they play. We also know that these guys are pretty active when it comes to shaping and creating their public images.
Brain Snack: During the 1996 US presidential election campaign, candidate Bob Dole often referred to himself in the third person. (At one point, he said, "If you had to leave your children with Bob Dole or Bill Clinton, I think you'd probably leave them with Bob Dole" (source). Other famous "illeists" include Fez (That 70's Show), Elmo (Sesame Street), The Rock (actor Dwayne Johnson), and The Todd (Scrubs).
Quote 9
CAESAR
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come. (2.2.34-39)
For Caesar, being a man means being completely fearless in the face of death.