55 pages • 1 hour read
William ShakespeareA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
“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.
By William Shakespeare
All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Antony and Cleopatra
William Shakespeare
As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Coriolanus
William Shakespeare
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry IV, Part 2
William Shakespeare
Henry V
William Shakespeare
Henry VIII
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 1
William Shakespeare
Henry VI, Part 3
William Shakespeare
King John
William Shakespeare
King Lear
William Shakespeare
Love's Labour's Lost
William Shakespeare
Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Measure For Measure
William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare
Othello
William Shakespeare