Julius Caesar Julius Caesar Quotes

Caesar makes light of his desire to be surrounded by fat and complacent yes-men, yet he realizes this is necessary to the safety of his power.  What does this suggest about his leadership style and ideas about how Rome should be governed? 

During Caesar's famous "I'm the brightest star" speech, he claims to be the most "constant" (steady) guy in the universe. This is an attempt to elevate himself above all others and make it look like he's the only guy fit to rule Rome.  The irony here is that just as Caesar declares how "unshak[able]" and immovable he is, the conspirators surround him and stab him to death, unseating him from power. 

Calphurnia experiences an ominous dream that foreshadows Caesar's death just before the Ides of March.  But will Caesar pay attention?  Keep reading... 

When Calphurnia dreams of Caesar's body spurting blood like a fountain, she correctly interprets this to mean that something bad is going to happen to her husband and warns him to stay home that day. (It turns out that Caesar is stabbed 33 times and does, in fact, look like a bloody fountain.) At first it seems like Caesar is going to heed his wife's warning. But Calphurnia's attempts to protect him are completely undermined when Decius shows up and says women don't know how to interpret dreams. If this dream hadn't come from Calphurnia (who is a woman, so implicitly considered less insightful during Caesar's day), would Caesar have listened?  

Geez, could Caesar be any more arrogant or misguided?  After being warned in advance to watch his back on March 15 and blowing off Calpurnia's ominous dream about being killed, Caesar ventures out to the Capitol (on the Ides of March!) and mocks the soothsayer.  Of course, we all know what happens to him a few lines later – he's stabbed by the conspirators, who wash their hands in his blood.  We do, however, wonder: even if Caesar had paid attention to the warnings, would it have made any difference?

This is one of the most famous and moving lines in literature.  After being stabbed by his so-called pals (33 times, according to Octavius in 5.1), Caesar looks up at his friend and says something like "Even you, Brutus?  I thought we were homies!"    

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.)

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).

For Caesar, being a man means being completely fearless in the face of death.

When Calphurnia dreams of Caesar's body spurting blood like a fountain, she correctly interprets it to mean that something bad is going to happen to Caesar and warns her husband to stay home that day.  At first, it seems like Caesar is going to heed his wife's warning (even though he doesn't want people to think he's staying at home because he's afraid).  But Calphurnia's attempts to protect her husband are completely undermined when Decius shows up.  Keep reading... 

In the last passage we saw Decius warn Caesar that he would be seen as weak if he listened to the advice of a woman.  Here Caesar completely disregards Calphurnia's interpretation of her ominous dream in favor of what Decius has to say.  Of course, it turns out that Calphurnia was right all along – Caesar gets stabbed in the guts 33 times and his assassins wash their hands in his blood.  So even though Caesar and the other characters don't put much stock in what women have to say, it seems pretty clear that Calphurnia isn't so dumb after all.  In fact, it also seems like things would have turned out differently if the play's female characters hadn't been ignored.  

Caesar is unashamed of his arrogance.  He doesn't see his condescension as arrogance; instead it's a quality he has earned by proving himself a powerful man.

Ever notice the way Julius Caesar likes to talk about Julius Caesar in the third person?  He sounds a lot like Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, don't you think?  Grrr.

Caesar is shockingly cocky.  Even if he just talks a good game, it's hard to be sympathetic toward him.

During Caesar's famous "I'm the brightest star in the sky" speech, he claims to be the most "constant" (steady) guy in the universe because he can't be swayed by the personal appeals of other men. This says a whole lot about Caesar's character, don't you think? When Caesar aligns himself with the "northern star," he attempts to elevate himself above all other men. According to Caesar, even though there are other stars (men) in the sky (Rome), "there's but one in all doth hold his place." In other words, Caesar claims that he's the only guy solid enough to rule Rome (as evidenced by his refusal to relent after having banished Cimber).

The irony here is that Caesar delivers this big, fancy speech mere seconds before he's assassinated. Just as our superstar declares how "unshak[able]" and immovable he is, the conspirators surround him and then stab him to death (33 times!), obviously unseating him from power. But before we conclude that Caesar isn't as "constant" as he claims to be, we should also keep in mind that, centuries after the historical (and still famous) Caesar was assassinated, Shakespeare wrote a play about him...and we're still reading it.