The "Body Count," the Cast, and miscellaneous notes about the play:

Cast List

Julius Caesar -- A popular general in ancient Rome;

Octavius Caesar -- Another popular general;

Marc Antony -- (also known as Marcus Antonius); a popular leader, and general;

Lepidus -- (M. Aemilius Lepidus); another general;

Senators who eventually form a conspiracy:

Marcus Brutus -- a senator, and also a good friend of Julius Caesar;

Cassius -- (Caius Cassius); another senator;

Casca -- A somewhat older senator;

Trebonius -- A senator;

Ligarius -- (Caius Ligarius); another senator;

Decius Brutus -- another senator, not related to Marcus Brutus;

Metellus Cimber -- yet another senator;

Cinna -- yet another senator;

Senators who are NOT involved in the conspiracy:

Cicero -- a senator known for his excellect speaking skills;

Publius -- another senator;

Popilius -- yet another senator;

Others in the play:

Flavius -- A tribune

Marullus -- A tribune

Artemidorous -- A teacher of rhetoric;

A soothsayer -- One who claims to be a sort of a prophet;

Cinna -- A poet, who happens to have the same name as Senator Cinna;

Another poet -- an unnamed poet;

Lucilius -- a friend to Brutus and Cassius, who helps them fight a war;

Titinius -- a friend to Brutus and Cassius, who helps them fight a war;

Messala -- a friend to Brutus and Cassius, who helps them fight a war;

Young Cato -- a friend to Brutus and Cassius, who helps them fight a war;

Volumnius -- a friend to Brutus and Cassius, who helps them fight a war;

Lucius -- a servant to Marcus Brutus;

Varro -- a servant to Marcus Brutus;

Clitus -- a servant to Marcus Brutus;

Claudius -- a servant to Marcus Brutus;

Strato -- a servant to Marcus Brutus;

Dardanius -- a servant to Marcus Brutus;

Pindarus -- a servant to Cassius;

Calpurnia -- the wife of Julius Caesar

Portia -- the wife of Marcus Brutus;

The Ghost of Julius Caesar

Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attendants, Servants, etc.

The Body Count:

A total of 5 people die onstage, plus various soldiers;  10, total.

Julius Caesar  (he of the three-and-thirty stab wounds)
Marcus Brutus  (runs onto his own sword, held by Strato)
Portia  (offstage death;   "she swallowed fire, and died")
Cassius  (asks Pindarus to stab him)
Titinius  (stabs himself, in shame)
Flavius  (offstage death;   caught removing decorations)
Marullus  (offstage death;   caught removing
decorations)
Cinna, the poet  (killed by the mob, for having the
wrong name)
Cicero  (offstage death;   mentioned as one of
seventy senators who were killed by Antony)
An Ensign  (offstage death;  Cassius explains that
he killed the guy)

Before the play begins, but his death is mentioned:
Old Cato, Portia's father  (committed suicide)

Themes in the play

Gotta write a paper? Did your teacher assign you an essay? Stuck for some ideas? All of the following lend themselves to discussion, and any of them could be used as a potential topic. There are many others, of course, but perhaps one of these will help you.

--Suicide -- is suicide in the intent, or in the action? This play presents many examples of suicides, as well as deaths which may or may not be suicide. Cassius asks a friend to assist him in his suicide. The friend does. Is the friend guilty of murder? Cassius takes his life because he believes he is losing, yet he is not. He also believes he has caused a good friend's death. He has not. Yet he still takes his own life. Seconds later, his friend returns to tell him happy news. This pathetic scene then causes his friend to take his own life. What is Shakespeare saying about suicide? Portia's ancestor, old Cato, took his life before the play begins. Portia does the same. Depending on your definition, so does Cassius, Titinius, and Brutus. One man asks an enemy soldier to assist in his death: "Here is so much money that thou wilt kill me..." However, he is doing this to try to give his general, Brutus, more time to escape. Is this act a suicidal one? When Strato holds Brutus' sword, is Brutus guilty of suicide? He has said he will never take his own life.
--Stoicism -- Brutus' philosophy. Brutus apparently believes that any showing of emotions is a sign of weakness, and that emotions must be overcome at all costs. A stoic also believes that suicide is an emotional act, and Brutus even denounces it at one point. Brutus suppresses emotions throughout the play. There are (apparently) only two exceptions to this. Once, in the tent with Cassius, he loses his temper, in an argument with Cassius. Later, we learn that he has learned of his wife's death, and that he has been suppressing these feelings. Is Shakespeare trying to depict the flaws of this particular belief, or philosophy? Finally, Brutus is apparently crying just before his own death. One of his lieutenants describes him as having a face which is red with tears. Has Brutus failed in his attempt to remain the true stoic until the end?
--Threes -- Shakespeare's favorite "magic" number, apparently. It is used throughout this play.
--Ambition -- power corrupts; absolute power corrupts, absolutely! Brutus states his belief that Caesar has not truly done any wrong. However, he believes that Caesar's ambition makes him dangerous, and that justifies his killing. He believs that Caesar will become dangerous in the future, corrupted by power. Does power tend to corrupt a human being? Can a person remain "good" even when faced with all of the "perks" and "opportunities" which accompany power? Are there exceptions to this rule? Is this true of our leaders today? Did most of them also start out as sincere, with a desire to help their fellow man? Was this goal somehow "lost" amid the rise to the top?
--Friendship vs. Duty -- Brutus kills his best friend, because he thinks the country will be better. Caesar is depicted as somewhat flawed. Does one have a "duty" or a responsibility to take action in order to prevent future calamity? Is this vigilante justice? If you could go back in time, and place yourself in a room with an infant Adolf Hitler, could you take his life?
--Persuasion -- Brutus is "persuaded" or seduced by Cassius. Cassius says, "for who is so firm that cannot be seduced?" He spends one month subtly "working on" Brutus, until the man is turned against his own best friend. It works. Is Cassius correct? Given the right techniques, can any man be persuaded to take any action? The people are swayed by Brutus' speech, after the murder of Caesar. Brutus explains that they had to kill Caesar, to keep Rome from having a single king. The people respond by suggesting that Brutus be their king. Only minutes later, they are persuaded again by Antony's speech. Antony plays upon their emotions, and even deceives them, at times. The people are so swayed, they leave to try to hunt down the conspirators, forgetting their previous support of Brutus entirely. Are the people that wishy-washy? Can the art of persuasion still be a strong force today? Can clever manipulation and propaganda cause an entire people to take the wrong actions?
--Political assassination -- is it ever justified? Our society is still not rid of this problem. Whether it is the work of a single activist, or a group of people who desire a leadership role, assassinations have occurred throughout history. Rarely a year goes by when some country does not lose a leader through a bloody takeover, or a conspiracy, or a lone gunman's bullet. If one truly believes that a leader is "dangerous," or "immoral," or "destructive," does this justify a takeover? Ever?


Famous Lines Dept.
A few of the more famous lines from the play:

Friends!   Romans! Countrymen!  Lend me your ears!
-(Marc Antony,  Act III, Scene 2,  line 80)

Et tu, Brute?  Then fall Caesar...
-(Julius Caesar,  Act III, Scene 1,  line 84)

Beware the ides of March
-(Soothsayer,  Act I, Scene 2,  line 21)

But, for mine own part,  it was Greek to me.
-(Casca,  Act I, Scene 2,  line 288-289)

Cry "Havoc!"    -And let slip the dogs of war.
-(Marc Antony,  Act III, Scene 1,  line 294)

This was the most unkindest cut of all.
-(Marc Antony,  Act III, Scene 2,  line 194)

This was the noblest Roman of them all.
-(Marc Antony,  Act V, Scene 5,  line 74)



© 1996 by Bruce Spielbauer.  All Rights Reserved
Do not reproduce without permission of the author.

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