" Like a Colossus - Cassius from Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare (poetry reading)

Cassius needs a certain kind of crafty, insinuating manner. I do have strong opinions about how it should be done, but the role doesn't really suit me.

The Big Mistake is to do it in the usual declamatory Shakespearian fashion. At it's worst it can become a hurried gabble as if the actor does not realise the importance of what he is saying. This is the key speech upon which the rest of the action depends.

It is a clandestine conversation between the two men. From this seed the conspiracy against Caesar grows. It would not have been shouted out to the world. Cassius is dripping poison into Brutus' ear, using him as his stooge for ignoble ends. It is Cassius who is the real murderer and Brutus who is the noble but misguided cat's paw.

Caesar suspects Cassius' motives and he says:

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
...
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be moved to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.

In the BBC production below Cassius starts the speech starts well but his manipulative Machiavellian nature doesn't come across. Well, not to me, anyway.

However, in this same production Charles Gray as Caesar is wonderful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ttQB3wtYc
The speech starts at 4:18

When searching the web, I noticed that the quotation, "He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus" is sometimes used as praise when in fact it means "He's too big for his britches".

The Colossus of Rhodes (statue of Helios), was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient World, The engraving was by Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574).

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[z3bigmonst3r]

At line 155, is it "her wide walks" or "her wide walls"? You said it as walls, but in my book it says walks. Online it varies. Why is this?

[SpokenVerse]

Walls is more likely. If not, what does he mean?

[donpearson61]

Thanks, yet again.

There is a small but significant omission from your note of Caesar's words about Cassius.

Caesar said, "Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: Such men are dangerous."

[SpokenVerse]

Thanks, you're right, it was an important omission. I've modified the notes to include whole of Caesar's speech which relates to Cassius.

[beaulieu4008]

Each man has the responsibility of doing what is right by his fellow man, to be so easily persuaded is a crying shame, when a much lesser man would taken compensation. It is a testament to Shakespeare's writing that such characters imitate life as exactly. So which character do you play in life? - Brutus, Cassius, or Caesar?

I have met all 3 such characters in my life and have played the parts myself, at times, unknowingly.

[OhioYankee1862]

You have wonderful voice.

You broke up the verse a bit, but it was quite a pleasure to hear you read.

Thank you very much for this treat.

[berlinerdom]

wonderful