The Theme in the Work
In Act I, Scene 2, Brutus says he loves Caesar and at the same time fears that the people will make him king; Cassius offers himself as a mirror and works on that fear, until he decides to forge letters to push him. In Act II, Scene 1, the conspiracy surrounds itself with precautions that are also matters of loyalty: Brutus refuses the oath, because the word of honorable men needs no promise, and Portia demands to know her husband's secret in the name of their marriage.
In Act II, Scene 2, Caesar welcomes into his house the conspirators who have come to fetch him, while Trebonius and Brutus comment aside on what this friendship hides. In Act III, Scene 1, the conspirators surround him under the pretext of Metellus Cimber's plea, Casca gives the first blow and Brutus the last; Antony approaches and pretends alliance.
In Act IV, Scene 2, Lucilius tells that Cassius received him without his former intimacy, and Brutus recognizes in this a friend who is cooling: a sick love resorts to forced ceremony. In Act IV, Scene 3, the quarrel reaches threats, Cassius offers his breast to the dagger, and the two are reconciled.
In Act V, Scene 3, Titinius, on seeing the body, kills himself, and Pindarus obeys the order to kill his own master. In Act V, Scene 4, Lucilius passes himself off as Brutus so as to be captured in his place. In Act V, Scene 5, Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius refuse to kill Brutus, and Strato holds the sword.
The play sets two loyalties in conflict: the one owed to Rome, which orders the friend struck down, and the one owed to the friend, which Brutus finds again only at the end, in those who refuse to kill him and in the one who holds the sword. Brutus's blow against Caesar and Strato's hand on Brutus appear as the two ends of the same thread.
Where It Appears
- Act I, Scene 2: Brutus loves Caesar but fears that the people will make him king, and Cassius, who offers himself as a mirror, decides to forge letters to push him.
- Act II, Scene 1: Brutus refuses the conspirators' oath, and Portia demands to know her husband's secret, citing the wound she made in her thigh as proof of her firmness.
- Act II, Scene 2: Caesar welcomes the conspirators who have come to fetch him, while Trebonius and Brutus comment aside on what this friendship hides.
- Act III, Scene 1: The conspirators surround Caesar under the pretext of Metellus Cimber's plea, Casca gives the first blow and Brutus the last, and Antony pretends alliance.
- Act IV, Scene 2: Lucilius tells that Cassius received him without his former intimacy, and Brutus recognizes a friend who is cooling.
- Act IV, Scene 3: In the tent, the argument between Brutus and Cassius reaches threats, Cassius offers his breast to the dagger, and the two are reconciled.
- Act V, Scene 3: Cassius orders Pindarus to kill him with the sword that killed Caesar, and Titinius, on seeing his friend's body, kills himself.
- Act V, Scene 4: Lucilius passes himself off as Brutus so as to be captured in his place, and tells Antony that no enemy will ever take Brutus alive.
- Act V, Scene 5: Exhausted and surrounded, Brutus asks Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius to kill him, the three refuse, and Strato holds the sword on which he throws himself.
Passages
Brutus feels his friend cooling:
When love begins to sicken and decay / It useth an enforced ceremony.(IV.2)
Lucilius, taken in his friend's place, says how Brutus will be found:
When you do find him, or alive or dead, / He will be found like Brutus, like himself.(V.4)
Antony, over the body, sets Brutus apart from the other conspirators:
This was the noblest Roman of them all. / All the conspirators save only he, / Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;(V.5)