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Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

The Snare of Vanity

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In Act 2, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar, Decius Brutus uses “betrayed” to mean fooled, tricked or misled. A person can escape a unicorn by hiding behind a tree; a bear can be misled by seeing itself in a mirror; an elephant can be tricked into falling into a hole; a lion caught in a trap; and men seduced by flatterers.
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Political Rhetoric and the Masses

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Brutus’s tour de force of interwoven rhetorical devices in Julius Caesar (3.2.14) sways the crowd away from their anger at the assassins to cheering them. This speech, however, is outdone by Mark Antony’s masterpiece of manipulation (3.2.82), which whiplashes the crowd back to outrage and riot. But, in fact, Brutus had failed in his speech even before Mark Antony opened his mouth.
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Video: Romans, countrymen, and lovers

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James Mason as Brutus in the 1953 film of  Julius Caesar directed by Joseph Mankiewicz.
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Let me have men about me that are fat

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Caesar
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.
Mark Antony
Fear him not, Caesar, he’s not dangerous,
He is a noble Roman, and well given.
Julius Caesar
Would he were fatter!
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Source:
Act 1
Scene 2
Line 202

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Spoken by:
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Figures of Speech:
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Such men as he be never at heart’s ease

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Such men as he be never at heart’s ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
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Source:
Act 1
Scene 2
Line 218

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Themes:

When beggars die there are no comets seen

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Calphurnia
When beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
Julius Caesar
Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
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Source:
Act 2
Scene 2
Line 31

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Themes:
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Figures of Speech:

Alas, my lord, Your wisdom is consum’d in confidence

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Calphurnia
Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consum’d in confidence.
Do not go forth today; call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We’ll send Mark Antony to the Senate-house,
And he shall say you are not well today.
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.
Julius Caesar
Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
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Source:
Act 2
Scene 2
Line 52

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Spoken by:
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Themes:
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Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar

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Metellus, kneeling
Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar,Anaphora
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat
An humble heart.Synecdoche
Caesar
I must prevent thee, Cimber.
These couchings and these lowly courtesies
Might fire the blood of ordinary menSynecdoche
And turn preordinance and first decree
Into the law of children.
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