What It Is
The date in March against which a soothsayer warns Caesar and which the play treats as a deadline: the day the Senate meets and Caesar is killed. Before it arrives, it is announced; afterward, it becomes the mark of everything that came from the assassination.
Where It Appears
In Act I, Scene 2, at the Lupercal procession, a soothsayer shouts from the middle of the crowd that Caesar should beware the Ides of March. Caesar has him come closer, hears the same phrase again, and dismisses him as a dreamer.
In Act II, Scene 1, in the early morning, Brutus asks Lucius whether the next day is not the Ides and tells him to look at the calendar. Lucius returns and says that March has already used up fifteen days.
In Act III, Scene 1, on the way to the Capitol, Caesar tells the Soothsayer that the Ides of March have come, and he answers that they have come, but have not yet gone.
In Act IV, Scene 3, in the quarrel in the tent, Brutus tells Cassius to remember March, the Ides of March: if Caesar bled out of justice, none of those who struck him can now soil their hands with bribery.
In Act V, Scene 1, before the battle, Brutus says that this same day must finish the work that the Ides began.
But this same day / Must end that work the Ides of March begun;(V.1)
What It Means
The date plays three roles. At the beginning it is a warning, repeated twice and scorned by Caesar; in the middle it is a moral reminder, which Brutus uses to refuse Cassius's bribe; at the end it is an origin, the mark of a cycle that only Philippi closes. The Soothsayer of the scene at the Capitol gives the measure: the date has come, but it has not passed.
The play treats the day as a deadline that no one uses: Caesar calls it a dream, Brutus checks it on the calendar to confirm the date, and after the death it is invoked as a justification. From warning to justification, the date passes from something that could be avoided to something that is explained.
Relationships
- Standard themes: Fate and Free Will, Honor and Reputation.
- Characters: Julius Caesar, Brutus, Cassius.
- Neighboring symbols: the omens, where the signs of heaven accompany the warning; Caesar's ghost, which reopens the date at Philippi.