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1. Though
2. Consider Brutus’s actions. Is he right to join the conspiracy against Caesar? What are his reasons? Does he choose to join the conspiracy, or is he tricked by Cassius? How do Cassius’s motivations compare to Brutus’s? Are they more noble or less noble?
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4. Discuss friendship in the play. Consider Caesar and Brutus, Caesar and Antony, Brutus and Cassius, Antony and Octavius, or any other pairings. Are these true friendships or merely political alliances forged for the sake of convenience and self-preservation? How do they compare with the heterosexual relationships in the play—the relations between husbands and wives? Are they more profound or less profound, more revealing or less revealing of their participants’ characters?
5. Who is the protagonist in this play? Is it Caesar, who dies well before the end but whose power and name continue on? Or is it Brutus, the noble man who falls because of his tragic flaws?
6. Consider theatricality in this play. Think particularly of the scene of Caesar’s murder (and Cassius’s reference to future productions of the scene), the speeches in the Forum (particularly Antony’s), and the speeches given over the dead conspirators. How do acting and rhetoric affect the events of the play? How do they interact with politics? Does the play reference its own political power as a theatrical production?
7. Discuss inflexibility in this play, focusing on Caesar and Brutus. How is each man inflexible? Is this rigidity an admirable trait or a flaw? Do the rewards of this rigidity outweigh the consequences, or vice versa?
