Act I
What are all the workers/commoners celebrating at the start of Act I?
Caesar's military success; victory over Pompey
What has Cassius distributed in Brutus's study?
Notes/letters that influence him to join the conspiracy/kill Caesar
Who tries to warn Caesar of his impending death at the beginning of Act III?
Artemidorus
Et tu Brute?
Caesar
The play takes place in what city?
Rome
Why is Brutus conflicted at the beginning of Act I?
He doesn't want Caesar, his best friend, to become king.
What does Portia do to convince Brutus to share the reason why he is distressed?
Stabs herself in the thigh
What are the senators begging Caesar to do at the beginning of Act III?
Even better if you can explain why.
To pardon Publius Cimber and bring him back from exile (they are trying to distract him)
"Beware the Ides of March"
The Soothsayer
The play opens during what festival?
The Lupercal Festival
What does Caesar do when he is offered the crown?
He rejects it (three times!)
True or False: Brutus wants to kill Caesar AND Mark Antony.
False: "Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, / To cut the head off and then hack the limbs" (II.i).
Who stabs Caesar first?
Casca
"let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood / Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords"
Brutus
Where do Brutus and the other conspirators meet here to discuss their plans to kill Caesar?
Brutus's house
How does Caesar react to the Soothsayer's warning to "Beware the ides of March?"
Caesar calls the Soothsayer a dreamer; he is dismissive of superstition and believes he is invincible.
True or False: Brutus wants the conspirators to take an oath to kill Caesar (to make sure everyone stays true to their word)
False: "do not stain / The even virtue of our enterprise, / Nor the insupressive mettle of our spirits / to think that or our cause or our performance / Did need an oath;" (2.1).
How do the people react to Caesar's murder?
They are stunned/terrified: "Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run, / As it were doomsday" (3.1).
"But I am constant as the northern star, / Of whose true-fixed and resting quality / There is no fellow in the firmament"
Caesar
Where is Caesar killed?
The Capitol / The Senate
Why does Caesar ask Antony to bump into Calpurnia during the Lupercal Festival races?
To lift the curse that has kept Calphurnia childless
What vision does Calpurnia see in her dream?
Calpurnia sees blood spurting from Caesar's statue and men bathing from his blood.
What does Mark Antony request of the conspirators?
- An explanation of why they have killed Caesar
- To display Caesar's body in the marketplace
- To speak at Caesar's funeral ceremony
"I have made strong proof of my constancy, / Giving myself a voluntary wound Here in the thigh. Can I bear that with patience, And not my husband’s secrets?" (2.1).
Portia
Name one of the bad omens that occurs before Caesar's death.
- Calpurnia's vision
- A lioness gives birth in the street
- Graves split open and revealed the corpses
- Strange weather phenomena
- People heard ghosts in the street