Julius Caesar

“Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome

To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?

You blocks, you stones, you cruel men of Rome,

Knew you not Pompey?” 

Caesar returns to Rome after winning a civil war against Pompey, who ruled Rome in the First Triumvirate, along with Caesar and Crassus. Pompey was beloved by Roman citizens. Here, Murellus chastises the plebeians’ celebration of Pompey’s fall. This shows the fickle nature of the Roman populace with regard to its leaders and therefore foreshadows the political turmoil that makes up the bulk of the play’s narrative. 

“I rather tell thee what is to be feared

Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar.

Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,

And tell me truly what thou think’st of him.” 

Caesar’s deaf ear, an invention of Shakespeare, symbolizes his refusal to listen to advice. Caesar’s arrogance is ultimately his undoing; he would rather dictate to others than take council from them. Though he is wary of Cassius, he arrogantly ignores every sign of conspiracy that is presented to him.

“Beware the ides of March.” 

One of the most famous lines from Julius Caesar, the soothsayer’s warning is one of many that Caesar receives and ignores. The Ides of March (March 15th) was a Roman holiday that, among other things, was a deadline for settling debts. It is also the day Caesar was assassinated. Shakespeare often used prophecies in his plays to advance the action and foretell doom for his characters. One of the most famous examples of this literary technique is in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.