Julius Caesar Solo/Duet Acting Assignment

ACT II, SCENE 2, LINES 58-107

DECIUS BRUTUS

Caesar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Caesar:

I come to fetch you to the senate-house.  

CAESAR

And you are come in very happy time,

To bear my greeting to the senators

And tell them that I will not come to-day:

Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser:

I will not come to-day: tell them so, Decius.

CALPURNIA

Say he is sick.

CAESAR

Shall Caesar send a lie?

Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,

To be afraid to tell graybeards the truth?

Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come.

DECIUS BRUTUS

Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause,

Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.

CAESAR

The cause is in my will: I will not come;

That is enough to satisfy the senate.

But for your private satisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know:

Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home:

She dreamt to-night she saw my statue,

Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,

Did run pure blood: and many lusty Romans

Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it:

And these does she apply for warnings, and portents,

And evils imminent; and on her knee

Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.

DECIUS BRUTUS

This dream is all amiss interpreted;

It was a vision fair and fortunate:

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,

In which so many smiling Romans bathed,

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck

Reviving blood, and that great men shall press

For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance.

This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.

CAESAR

And this way have you well expounded it.

DECIUS BRUTUS

I have, when you have heard what I can say:

And know it now: the senate have concluded

To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar.

If you shall send them word you will not come,

Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock

Apt to be render'd, for some one to say

'Break up the senate till another time,

When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'

If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper

'Lo, Caesar is afraid'?

Pardon me, Caesar; for my dear dear love

To our proceeding bids me tell you this;

And reason to my love is liable.

CAESAR

How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!

I am ashamed I did yield to them.

Give me my robe, for I will go.

CONTEXT

This is the Ides of March. Caesar is in his house having a conversation with his wife Calpurnia about her dreams and Caesar not going to the Senate. Finally they come to a decision that Caesar would not go to the Senate. But at that time Decius enters to take Caesar to the Senate house. At that time he gets to know about the dream. But knowing that Caesar would not come to the Senate, Decius reinterprets Calpurnia’s dreams as a fortunate dream. This convinces Caesar to go to the Senate. To help Decius, Brutus, Publius and the other conspirators come except for Cassius. Finally Mark Antony enters to take Caesar to the Senate.

SIGNIFICANCE

The significance of this scene was to show the hubris of Caesar. Caesar says, “The cause is in my will. I will not come. That is enough to satisfy the Senate”. This line shows his arrogance that because he rules Rome, he can do anything and they will have to obey him. The other reason was to characterize Caesar that he believes everything. He was convinced by Decius to go to the Senate because of his flattery which shows that he is an accepting person. Also this passage shows a bit of verbal irony.