1. Julius Caesar
ACT III

2. ACT III Scene i
Artemidorus waits for Caesar in the street with a letter of warning.
Caesar refuses the letter because, “What touches us ourselves shall be last served”, meaning his personal concerns are his last priority.
The soothsayer is also there to warn Caesar again.

3. Public vs. Private selves
There is a split between Caesar’s personal and public selves. He believes his public self is so strong that his private self cannot be harmed. This is reflected in his comparison of himself to the North Star and to Mount Olympus, two infallible , unmoving objects. We can see that he considers himself more than just a man, but more of a godlike or divine figure.

4. ACT III Scene i The conspirators enter the Senate with Caesar.
Trebonius takes Antony away from the area.
Metellus talks to Caesar about bringing his brother Publius Cimber back from banishment.
Caesar claims he is as “constant as the Northern star” with his decision

5. ACT III Scene i
Brutus, Cassius and Cinna come forward to kneel at Caesar’s feet and plead to repeal the banishment.
While they are all gathered there, Casca is the first to stab Caesar.
All others follow, but finally ends with Brutus.
Caesar recognizes Brutus and says, “Et tu, Brute?” meaning “And you too, Brutus?” Caesar cannot believe Brutus betrayed him.

6. ACT III Scene i
The conspirators proclaim triumph and Brutus tells them to bathe their hands and swords in Caesar’s blood and to walk through the Roman forum proclaiming their liberty and freedom from tyranny.
Cassius agrees that this act will be repeated throughout history to commemorate their actions.

7. Shakespeare references himself
When Casca states that future generations will retell or reenact their actions, Shakespeare is referencing himself as a re-teller of Plutarch’s Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans, which was Shakespeare’s source for this play.Plutarch gave Caesar his famous last words, “Et tu, Brute?” and Shakespeare keeps those words in Latin to preserve the original source. By this time, the famous last words would have been known by Shakespeare’s audience and they would have expected to hear them in the murder scene.

8. ACT III Scene i
Antony sends a message to Brutus asking if it is safe for him to give his allegiance to Brutus even though he loved Caesar.
Brutus promises Antony will not be harmed and encourages him to come join their group.
Cassius is worried about Antony’s honesty in his allegiance to them and fears he will start and uprising against them.

9. ACT III Scene i
Antony enters and sees Caesar’s corpse. He wonders how a man so mighty could end up so low.
Antony tells the conspirators to kill him now if they intend to, because there would be no better place to die, than next to Caesar.
Brutus tells Antony not to worry about them, and that he will explain why they killed Caesar after they have calmed the public.

10. ACT III Scene i
Antony shakes the bloody hands of the conspirators to symbolically represent Caesar’s blood on their hands.
After the conspirators exit, Antony addresses Caesar’s corpse, asking for his forgiveness for making peace with the conspirators.
Cassius questions Antony’s loyalty, but Antony says he will be loyal to them if they can explain why Caesar had to die.

11. A Bloody Symbol
Antony marks each of the conspirators with the blood of Caesar, even Trebonius, who did not physically stab Caesar, but the blood symbolically places as much blame on him for his role in the conspiracy.
The blood now on Antony’s hands, however, is symbolic of war paint and that he will be an instrument of Caesar’s revenge.

12. ACT III Scene i Antony asks if he can speak at Caesar’s funeral.
Brutus agrees, Cassius does not.
Brutus concludes that he will speak first to prevent Antony from moving the people against the conspirators.
Brutus thinks that the people will admire him for letting a friend of Caesar’s speak at the funeral.

13. A Fickle People
Cassius is worried about Antony’s speech because the Roman people tend to change their minds very quickly, just like they were praising Caesar at the beginning, when they were previously loyal to Pompey.
This worry proves to be true because initially the people rally around Brutus, but as soon as Antony speaks, the people change their mind about Caesar’s murder.

14. ACT III Scene i
The conspirators leave and Antony’s soliloquy asks Caesar to pardon him and predicts a public uprising and if his death is not avenged by the people, Caesar’s ghost will get revenge.
Caesar’s nephew (and adopted son) Octavius was to come to Rome, but Antony tells Octavius’ servant to keep him away because it is not safe. But then they decide to see how the public reacts to the funeral speech before they decide what to do.

15. ACT III Scene ii
Brutus and Cassius enter the Forum with a crowd of plebians.
Brutus addresses the crowd saying it was not his lack of love for Caesar that motivated his murder, but rather his greater love of Rome itself.
He claims it was Caesar’s ambition that caused his death and that Romans would have been slaves under his rule.

16. ACT III Scene ii
Brutus asks if any disagree with him and none speak up, so he takes that as he has not offended anyone.
Brutus introduces Antony as he brings in the body of Caesar. He tells the audience that Antony was not part of the conspiracy, but now is a part of the new regime.

17. ACT III Scene ii
Antony takes the stage as the plebians discuss how Brutus was right to murder Caesar.
Antony lists Caesar’s accomplishments which convert the audience’s idea that Caesar was ambitious.
Earned money for Rome
Cried with the poor
Refused the crown 3 times

18. The Power of Rhetoric
Both Brutus and Antony use rhetorical devices and appeals to sway their audience, but Antony proves to be a much more eloquent speaker and moves the people to riot and revolt through his words.
Brutus’ speech is in prose, in order to appear to be on the same level as the commoners or plebians. Antony’s is in blank verse, which is loft and passionate and uses repetition of the phrase, “honorable men” to increase the level of sarcasm with each time it is repeated.

19. ACT III Scene ii
The plebians now consider Brutus and the conspirators to be at fault because of Antony’s stirring speech.
The plebians want Antony to read Caesar’s will, but he claims that they will just want to revolt against the “honorable men” if they find out just how much Caesar loved his fellow Romans. This serves to stir the plebians even further.

20. ACT III Scene ii
Antony comes down from the pulpit to be near Caesar’s body to read his will. He shows the stab wounds to the people, but again tells them they should not rebel against the “honorable men”
Antony says he is not as good of an orator as Brutus, which is ironic, because Antony’s speech is much more rhetorically fluent than Brutus’ and does much more to stir the crowd.

21. ACT III Scene ii The people declare mutiny.
Antony reads Caesar’s will.
Gives every man in Rome some money
Makes several of his land holdings public for the people’s recreational use.

22. ACT III Scene ii The people charge off to destroy the city.
Antony wonders alone if he has done wrong by unleashing the madness.
Octavius’ servant informs Antony that Octavius has arrived in Rome and that Cassius and Brutus have been driven from Rome.

23. ACT III Scene iii Cinna the poet is accosted by the public rioters.
They mistake him for a conspirator.
The murder of the wrong man parallells another murder of the wrong man (Caesar).
He proclaims his innocence, but the plebians beat him to death anyway.
The scene serves to show the mob mentality and how easily the people are stirred to riot and how irrational they really are.

24. Results of ACT III
Caesar, although dead, lives on in the hearts of the people
“Caesar” becomes synonymous with “ruler”
The people now desire a monarchy instead of a republic