NEW: Listen to a free audio recording of Julius Caesar through July 1, 2020.
Shakespeare may have written Julius Caesar as the first of his plays to be performed at the Globe, in 1599. For it, he turned to a key event in Roman history: Caesar’s death at the hands of friends and fellow politicians. Renaissance writers disagreed over the assassination, seeing Brutus, a leading conspirator, as either hero or villain. Shakespeare’s play keeps this debate alive.
Caesar’s assassination is just the halfway point of Julius Caesar. The first part of the play leads to his death; the…
In Rome the people are taking a holiday to celebrate the triumphant return of Julius Caesar. The tribunes Marullus and…
A soothsayer advises Caesar that the fifteenth of March will be a dangerous day for him. When Caesar and others…
Casca, meeting Cicero, describes the marvels visible in the streets that night and suggests that the marvels foretell important events…
Brutus anxiously ponders joining the conspiracy against Caesar. When he is brought one of the unsigned letters that Cassius has…
It is now the fifteenth of March. Calphurnia, Caesar’s wife, persuades him to stay home because she fears for his…
Artemidorus waits in the street for Caesar in order to give him a letter warning him of the conspiracy.
Portia, who has been told of the conspirators’ plan to kill Caesar, waits anxiously for news of their success. She…
In the street Caesar brushes aside Artemidorus’s attempt to warn him of the conspiracy. Once inside the Capitol, the conspirators…
Brutus explains to the people that the cause of Caesar’s assassination was the preservation of the Roman Republic from Caesar’s…
Cinna the poet is attacked and killed by the Roman mob because his name is the same as that of…
Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius meet to condemn to death those who may oppose them. Sending Lepidus for Caesar’s will, Antony…
Brutus and Cassius each feel wronged by the other. They prepare to withdraw from the view of their armies to…
Brutus and Cassius exchange accusations in Brutus’s tent. They grow angry with each other but are quickly reconciled, and Brutus…
The opposing armies confront each other at Philippi. Before the battle, Brutus and Cassius exchange insults with Antony and Octavius….
Brutus sends Messala to throw all Brutus’s legions into the battle.
Cassius, mistakenly believing that the battle has been lost and that Titinius has been taken captive, orders Pindarus to kill…
Brutus’s forces are defeated in the second battle. Lucilius calls attention to himself and away from Brutus by announcing himself…
Brutus begs four of his followers to assist him in his suicide. All but the fourth decline. Brutus kills himself….
