The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act III

Dramatic Speeches:Playwrights use dramatic speeches to achieve several purposes: to provide background, to reveal a character’s thoughts and feelings, and to advance the plot. In Act III, two key monologues advance the plot by inspiring the citizens of Rome to do something! Turn to page 722 in your literature book, define the following terms, then give an example as you’ve already seen it in Julius Caesar.

  1. Soliloquy
  2. Definition:
  3. Example:
  4. Monologue
  5. Definition:
  6. Example:
  7. Aside
  8. Definition:
  9. Example:
  10. State Directions
  11. Definition:
  12. Example:

Act III Study Questions

  1. Who tries to warn Caesar of the plot
  2. How do the conspirators get Caesar isolated from the rest of the senate?
  3. What is Caesar’s attitude during this encounter?
  4. Caesar falls at the base of Pompey’s statue. Why is this ironic?
  5. How did the citizens initially react to Caesar’s death?
  6. Why does Antony send his servant to speak with the conspirators?
  7. What do the conspirators do after killing Caesar? What words do they shout?
  8. What does Antony ask of the conspirators?
  9. What three conditions do the conspirators put on Antony’s request?
  10. What words does Antony repeat during his speech to the people?
  11. Why is Antony’s speech considered the turning point in the play?
  12. Why is Cinna the Poet’s death significant?
  13. What happens to the conspirators after Antony’s speech?
  14. Who is Caesar’s official heir?

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar Act III Important Quotations

For each of the following quotations, identify the speaker and the importance of the quotation.

Quote / Speaker / Importance
“The Ides of March are come.”
“Ay, Caesar, but not gone.” p. 807
“…I am constant as the Northern Star,
Of whose true fix’d and resting quality
There is not fellow in the firmament.” P. 809
“Et tu, Brute?” p. 810
“Fates, we will know your pleasures:
That we shall die, we know; ‘t is but the time” p. 811
“If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony
May safely come to him and be resolved
How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death,
Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead
So well as Brutus living…” p. 812
“You know not what you do; do not consent
That Antonyspeak at his funeral. You know how much people may be moved.” p. 815
“Oh, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meet and gentle with these butchers!” p. 817
“Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” p. 820
“…With this I depart, that, as I slew my best lover for the food of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death.” p. 820
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”
p. 822
“But Brutus says he was ambitious
And Brutus is a noble man.” p. 822
“Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.”
“If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrong….”
“There not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.” p. 823
“This was the most unkindest cut of all”
p. 826