Brutus and Julius Caesar III

Brutus III

Bill Long

Deciding Against Caesar (2.1)

Brutus makes up his mind to join the conspiracy at the beginning of Act II. Earlier, he hinted to Cassius that he was warm to the idea ("Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:/ Brutus had rather be a villager/ Than to repute himself a son of Rome/ Under these hard conditions as this time/ Is like to lay upon us"--.1.2.171-175), and Cassius gloated to his conspirators that "Three parts of him/ Is ours already (1.3.154-155)," but Brutus doesn't really come "on board" until 2.1. When he does so, however, it is through processes of reasoning that are frighteningly "unreasonable."

"It must be by his Death (2.1.10)"

Brutus has been unable to sleep, in contrast to his clear-conscienced servant Lucius, who would seemingly sleep the sleep of Endymion unless wakened by Brutus. While waiting for his candle, Brutus launches into his conclusion, "It must be by his death." Why must Caesar face death? Three analogies from nature present themselves, two referring to snakes and one to a ladder. If Caesar is crowned, it may be (Brutus admits he is ignorant of this) that his nature will change and he may become like the adder which comes forth in the day and "craves wary walking (2.1.15)." Even though Brutus frankly admits that "I have not known when his affections sway'd/ More than his reason (2.1.20-21)," he knows the danger of an adder in daylight.

Again, Brutus knows by experience, though no application to Caesar's condition is given, that a man generally, after climbing a ladder and reaching the "upmost round," looks down and scorns "the base degrees/ By which he did ascend (2.1.26-27)." What to do? The best thing is to launch a preemptive strike; "So Caesar may [scorn us];/ Then lest he may, prevent [let's stop it lest he be able to do so] (2.1.27-28)."

Then, in reaching his conclusion, Brutus returns to the analogy of the snake. "And therefore, think him as a serpent's egg,/ Which hatch'd, wopuld as his kind grow mischievous,/ And kill him in the shell (2.1.32-34)." Brutus knows that Caesar currently isn't dangerous, and he has no indication from Caesar's past behavior that he would become so. Analogies from nature and from life experience become his method of "reasoning it out" even while the word "may" with respect to Caesar's possible future danger rings in our ears.

The Role of the Letter

After he has made his decision against Caesar, Brutus is informed by Lucius that he found a sealed letter while looking for the candle. The "exhalations whizzing in the air" (portents) provide sufficient light for Brutus to read it. It is a brief letter with gaps, whose words allow Brutus, like Malvolio in Twelfth Night, to fill in the empty spaces. While Brutus is afraid that Cassius will fill up the empty spaces of his life with things that are not "in me," he shows no such fear in his own filling up the empty spaces of the letter with things that are "in me." The things he uses to fill it up, as I have shown in Interpretation, are, ironically, Cassius' earlier words.

The letter is very brief, "'Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself!/ Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress (2.1.46-47)!" Despite the fact that he will later say, "Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar,/ I have not slept (2.1.61-62)," he seemingly accepts the words of the letter that he has been "asleep." After interpreting the "etc" in words that Cassius spoke to him in 1.2, he goes on, "My ancestors did from the streets of Rome /The Tarquin drive when he was call'd a king (2.1.53-54)." But rather than this being a "sovereign" thought of Brutus, taken directly from the pure mind through reflection on the historical role his ancestors played in the expulsion of the Tarquins in 509 B.C., these words, too, are directly suggested by Cassius. Cassius said in concluding his words to Brutus in 1.2,

O! you and I have heard our fathers say /There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd /Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome/ As easily as a king (1.2.158-61.)"

Now that Brutus is putty in the hands of Cassius, he says with great resolution, "O Rome, I make thee promise,/ If the redress will follow, thou receivest /Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus (2.1.56-58)!" Brutus has spoken, he will strike, and redress will follow. He is fully behind the scheme of the letter.

Brutus is blind to the forces leading him to his decision. But, in a nice piece of Shakespearean irony, once Brutus is "on board," the weight of his authority will override the reasonable desires of the other conspirators, even Cassius, so that they too will be washed along by the man who cannot look into himself.