Editing Julius Caesar (play) (section)

==Synopsis==
The play opens with two [[tribunes]] [[Flavius]] and [[Gaius Epidius Marullus|Marullus]] (appointed leaders/officials of Rome) discovering the [[plebeians|commoners]] of Rome celebrating [[Julius Caesar]]'s [[Roman triumph|triumphant return]] from [[Battle of Munda|defeating]] the sons of his military rival, [[Pompey]]. The tribunes, insulting the crowd for their change in loyalty from Pompey to Caesar, attempt to end the festivities and break up the commoners, who return the insults. During the [[Lupercalia|feast of Lupercal]], Caesar holds a victory parade and a [[Fortune-telling|soothsayer]] warns him to "Beware [[Ides of March|the ides of March]]," which he ignores. Meanwhile, [[Gaius Cassius Longinus|Cassius]] attempts to convince [[Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger|Brutus]] to join his [[Liberatores|conspiracy]] to kill Caesar. Although Brutus, friendly towards Caesar, is hesitant to kill him, he agrees that Caesar may be abusing his power. They then hear from [[Servilius Casca|Casca]] that [[Mark Antony]] has offered Caesar the crown of Rome three times. Casca tells them that each time Caesar refused it with increasing reluctance, hoping that the crowd watching would insist that he accept the crown. He describes how the crowd applauded Caesar for denying the crown, and how this upset Caesar. On the eve of the ides of March, the conspirators meet and reveal that they have forged letters of support from the Roman people to tempt Brutus into joining. Brutus reads the letters and, after much moral debate, decides to join the conspiracy, thinking that Caesar should be killed to ''prevent'' him from doing anything against the people of Rome if he were ever to be crowned.

[[File:'Julius Caesar', Act III, Scene 2, the Murder Scene George Clint (1770–1854) Royal Shakespeare Theatre.jpg|thumb|''"Julius Caesar", Act III, Scene 2, the Murder Scene'', [[George Clint]] (1822)]]After ignoring the soothsayer, as well as his wife [[Calpurnia (wife of Caesar)|Calpurnia]]'s own premonitions, Caesar goes to the Senate. The conspirators approach him with a fake petition pleading on behalf of [[Metellus Cimber]]'s banished brother. As Caesar predictably rejects the petition, Casca and the others suddenly stab him; Brutus is last. At this, Caesar asks "[[Et tu, Brute?]]"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shakespeare-navigators.com/JC_Navigator/JC_3_1.html#speech36|title=''Julius Caesar,'' Act 3, Scene 1, Line 77.}}</ref> ("And you, Brutus?"), concluding with "Then fall, Caesar!"

[[File: Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852–1917), as Mark Anthony in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare Charles A. Buchel (1872–1950) Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg|thumb|''[[Herbert Beerbohm Tree]] (1852–1917), as Mark Anthony in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare'', [[Charles A. Buchel]] (1914)]]
The conspirators attempt to demonstrate that they killed Caesar for the good of Rome, to prevent an autocrat. They prove this by not attempting to flee the scene. Brutus delivers an oration defending his actions, and for the moment, the crowd is on his side. However, Antony makes a subtle and eloquent speech over Caesar's corpse, beginning "[[Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears]]!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/JC_Navigator/JC_3_2.html#speech30|title='' Julius Caesar,'' Act 3, Scene 2, Line 73.}}</ref> He deftly turns [[public opinion]] against the assassins by manipulating the emotions of the [[plebeians|common people]], in contrast to the rational tone of Brutus's speech, yet there is a method in his rhetorical speech and gestures. Antony reminds the crowd of the good Caesar had done for Rome, his sympathy with the poor, and his refusal of the crown at the Lupercal, thus questioning Brutus's claim of Caesar's ambition; he shows Caesar's bloody, lifeless body to the crowd to have them shed tears and gain sympathy for their fallen hero; and he reads Caesar's will, in which every Roman citizen would receive 75 [[Ancient drachma|drachmas]]. Antony, even as he states his intentions against it, rouses the mob to drive the conspirators from Rome. The mob takes Caesar's body to the Forum, lights his funeral pyre, and uses the pyre to light up torches for burning down the homes of the conspirators. Amid the violence, an innocent poet, [[Helvius Cinna|Cinna]], is confused with the conspirator [[Lucius Cornelius Cinna (praetor 44 BC)|Lucius Cinna]] and is taken by the mob, which kills him for such "offences" as his bad verses.

Brutus then attacks Cassius for supposedly soiling the noble act of [[regicide]] by having accepted bribes. ("Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? / What villain touched his body, that did stab, / And not for justice?"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shakespeare-navigators.com/JC_Navigator/JC_4_3.html#speech8|title='' Julius Caesar'', Act 4, Scene 3, Lines 19–21.}}</ref>) The two are reconciled, especially after Brutus reveals that his [[Porcia (wife of Brutus)|beloved wife]] committed suicide under the stress of his absence from Rome; they prepare for a [[Liberators' civil war|civil war]] against Antony, Caesar's adopted son [[Caesar Augustus|Octavius]], and [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Lepidus]] who have formed a triumvirate in Rome. That night, Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus with a warning of defeat. (He informs Brutus, "Thou shalt see me at Philippi."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shakespeare-navigators.com/JC_Navigator/JC_4_3.html#282b|title=''Julius Caesar,'' Act 4, Scene 3, Line 283.}}</ref>)[[File:Brutus and the Ghost of Caesar 1802.jpg|thumb|right|220px|The ghost of Caesar taunts Brutus about his imminent defeat. ([[Copperplate engraving]] by Edward Scriven from a painting by [[Richard Westall]]: London, 1802.)]]

At the [[Battle of Philippi]], Cassius and Brutus, knowing that they will probably both die, smile their last smiles to each other and hold hands. During the battle, Cassius has his servant kill him after hearing of the capture of his best friend, [[Titinius]]. After Titinius, who was not captured, sees Cassius's corpse, he commits suicide. However, Brutus wins that stage of the battle, but his victory is not conclusive. With a heavy heart, Brutus battles again the next day. He asks his friends to kill him, but the friends refuse. He loses and commits suicide by running on his sword, held for him by a loyal soldier.
[[File: Henry Fuseli, The Death of Brutus, a charcoal drawing with white chalk (c.1785).jpg|thumb|''[[Henry Fuseli]], The Death of Brutus, a charcoal drawing with white chalk'' ({{Circa|1785}})]]
The play ends with a tribute to Brutus by Antony, who proclaims that Brutus has remained "the noblest Roman of them all"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shakespeare-navigators.com/JC_Navigator/JC_5_5.html#speech36|title='' Julius Caesar,'' Act 5, Scene 5, Line 68.}}</ref> because he was the only conspirator who acted, in his mind, for the good of Rome. There is then a small hint at the friction between Antony and Octavius which characterizes another of Shakespeare's Roman plays, ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]].''

[[File:Caesar-Coulouris-Welles.jpg|thumb|250px|Antony ([[George Coulouris]]) kneels over the body of Brutus ([[Orson Welles]]) at the conclusion of the [[Mercury Theatre]] production of ''[[Caesar (Mercury Theatre)|Caesar]]'' (1937–38)]]