 Let's discuss the character of Julius Caesar. Now, this play is interesting in the sense that it has two key protagonists. The first, major protagonist, contrary to what we might assume, is not Julius Caesar, but actually Brutus. He is the person that of course sets off the tragic chain of events by killing Julius Caesar, and the play focuses on him. He speaks even more than Julius Caesar. However, of course, the second main protagonist is Julius Caesar himself. The play is named after him, and of course it's a historic play by William Shakespeare, which looks at the events surrounding his death. Now, Julius Caesar is presented within this play as a very successful military leader. Indeed, the play even begins with him returning after a really successful battle against the general Pompeii. However, Julius Caesar is kind of depicted as being a shadow of his former self. In other words, he became a really successful military leader because he was very valiant. He fought for Rome. He was very focused on the ideals of a Roman democracy, but also the ideals of building Rome as a whole. However, by this stage in the play, we find that Julius Caesar has become somewhat of a shadow of his former self. He's become very imperious. He's become very easily flattered. And also, we sense that Brutus is correct in his worry that he is becoming ambitious indeed. We do realize that Julius Caesar does want the crown. However, perhaps we're not entirely sure when he does want to become emperor. So it's still very unclear. And that is why, once he is assassinated, Mark Antony and other key figures within Rome are really upset because they strongly believe that Julius Caesar really never wanted to gain any more power. He was completely focused on only serving Rome. However, we do find that whilst on the one hand, he's a very, very successful military leader. On the other side, his flaw is the fact that he becomes at this stage within the play very, very imperious and very focused on flattery for himself. Now, if you're writing about this play and, of course, about Julius Caesar's character, you do need to be able to remember key quotations, especially if this is for your course of career exams. And when you're picking out quotations relating to Julius Caesar's character, you do need to do word level analysis. So I have selected all the key quotations that need to bear in mind when it comes to Julius Caesar's character, which I'm going to go over right now. Now, the first quotation, which I will suggest remembering with Julius Caesar's character is when he notes Cassius, he doesn't realize Brutus is also against him. However, he does realize that he cannot trust some members of the Senate. And of course, Cassius is one of them. Okay. And of course, also this foreshadows that Cassius does, of course, betray him. He states, you're Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. Now here we can see that Julius Caesar is very mistrustful of Cassius. He is kind of mistrustful because he sees within Cassius the very same elements that he has. He sees ambition within Cassius, but also he sees that Cassius probably wants to usurp him, he wants to kill him, who wants to maybe gain more power by getting Caesar out of the way. So we can see that he's very mistrusting of him. And correctly so because he does participate in the killing of Julius Caesar. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is a literation of L in lean and look, which of course focuses on the ambition that Julius Caesar mistrust within Cassius, but also the adjective dangerous, which foreshadows that he is indeed dangerous. He does participate in stabbing Julius Caesar. Now closely tied to this, and this is the second quotation, is when Julius Caesar says such men as he be never at heart's ease whilst they behold greater than themselves. Now this quotation is interesting because it shows Julius Caesar's imperious nature. He's saying, oh, people like Cassius are never at ease when they're in the presence of greatness like me. Now on the one hand, of course, he is a great and successful military leader, but this quotation is also showing us that Julius Caesar is becoming very conceited. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is firstly the illiteration of H in he and heart, but also there's lots of abstinence of E as you can see here in men, he be never heart ease whilst they, okay? Now of course what this is illustrating and the final word level analysis you want to focus on the comparative adjective greater than themselves. This is Julius Caesar saying, oh, I'm so perfect. I'm an amazing leader and people like Cassius, of course they will become really jealous when they're around me because I'm just so perfect and I'm just such an amazing military leader. Here we can see that he is incredibly imperious, he is incredibly conceited, and of course this is something that he believes is a threat to other people, but of course here we can also see that this is kind of a character flaw that Julius Caesar has. The other quotations you remember with Julius Caesar's character is when he states, nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace tonight. Now this is when he's basically describing how his wife Capulnia is, you know, tossing and turning, this is on the eve of his death, okay, before the aides of March. She's tossing and turning, he's already ignored the soothsayer who warned him that he needs to be aware of the aides of March. Now he's realizing, oh, hang on, the weather is really terrible and my wife is not sleeping, she's tossing and turning. I don't know what's going on, okay? Now of course this is foreshadowing that he is going to be killed, and of course when we're watching this as the audience, this is setting up the dramatic tension. We're realizing the slow and tragic inevitable events that will happen later on, which is he is slowly creeping forward towards his assassination. Now the word that one of us who wants to do here is firstly the use of celestial language, heaven and earth. This is talking about how an unnatural event will happen, which is the killing of him. And also the other word of analysis you want to do is the mention of tonight, and this is an example of pathetic fallacy, which sets up a really dark tragic atmosphere. Closely related to this of course is when Capulnia, he states and he notes, thrice half Capulnia in her sleep cried out, help her, they murder Caesar. Now here, he's basically saying his wife was having these terrible, terrible nightmares and she's crying out, oh my gosh, help, my husband has been killed. And again, this foreshadows the killing of Caesar and how she will react and she realizes that her beloved husband has been killed. The word of analysis you want to do for this quotation is firstly the Onomatopoeia cried to show that Capulnia is going to be mourning his death very soon. And the exclamatory sentences help her and they murder Caesar. The next quotation and this is when he seems very steadfast, very stubborn about not listening to his wife, not avoiding the Senate. He's basically saying, no, if I avoid the Senate, I'm being a coward. I'm going to go there, okay? And he states and this is actually arguably a very famous quotation, even generally speaking, this is to do with how cowards are described. And Julius Caesar says, cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once, basically he's saying, you know, a coward dies a thousand times. And that's actually just a very general kind of idiom. This idea of cowardliness being something that really kind of corrodes your soul. And here what Julius Caesar is saying, no, if I keep on avoiding the Senate, I'm going to be seen as a coward. I'm not a coward. I'm a very valiant, brave person. Now the word of analysis here and of course on the one hand we can see that he's being very stubborn, which is a character flaw. But on the other hand, actually this is illustrating how Julius Caesar is really brave. He doesn't shy away from any kind of challenge. And in this case he's seeing the idea of avoiding the Senate as something that would make him a coward. Now the word of analysis you want to do firstly is oxymoron, the opposite words of cowards and valiant, valiant means brave, okay, brave people the opposite of cowards. And also the hyperbole, cowards die many times. Of course this is showing how Julius Caesar is definitely not a coward. He will not shy away from any threats that are facing him within the Senate. The next quotation for his character is when he states, and again here he's justifying especially to his wife, I'm not going to listen to your nightmare just because you had a nightmare. Caesar and he states, Caesar would be a beast, ellipsis, if he should stay at home today for fear. And he's basically telling his wife, I would be an animal. I'd be less than human. If I out of fear of what you dreamed last night, stay at home and I don't go and do my duties as the leader of Rome in the Senate. So of course here again we're seeing that he's very stubborn but also he's really focused on not appearing to be somebody that shies away from any type of challenge. Now the one level analysis you want to do here is firstly the metaphor, Caesar should be a beast, and the siblings should stay as well as the alliteration when he's saying for fear. He's basically saying I will not be guided in my actions out of fear. Of course he then obviously goes to the Senate and he is unfortunately killed. And the final quotation to bear in mind, and this is actually his shock at how his very good friend Brutus is involved in this assassination, he states a two-brute, then full Caesar. So now this exclamatory sentence shows his shock at how one of his very very good friends who he trusted was involved in his assassination and ultimately he is the person that delivers the crushing blow to his life. Of course it's not a blow, he is stabbed by Brutus. However what this quotation is illustrating, especially the exclamatory sentence here, is that Brutus does betray his very good friend Caesar. And what this illustrates is that Caesar is not only shocked and horrified but also he was so far removed from understanding what was going on. He became so imperious and so focused on himself that he didn't realize the change in other people around him, the change in the dynamics. So of course what this illustrates, this quotation, is Caesar is really shocked. Also we kind of get elements of kind of biblical language, kind of like the way Judas betrayed Jesus. And what this illustrates is kind of this tragic character of Julius Caesar because of his growing level of ambition but also his imperiousness. He ultimately ends up dying. So that's it when it comes to all the key quotations. Remember when revising or writing about Caesar's character to bear in mind that you do need to engage in this level of word analysis and of course to bear in mind that on the one hand whilst he is portrayed by Shakespeare as being very valiant, very honorable, on the other hand his main fatal flaw is that he's way too imperious and way too ambitious. Thank you so much for listening.