"Scene 2.5 (Julius Caesar)"
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Ricardo Ramos (Class of 2027) is pursuing a double major in Politics and Sociology and a minor in Studio Art.
This essay was written under the supervision of Dr. Seth Smith in Fall 2024.
The Cornerstone Transformative Texts II Writing Prizes are awarded to the best creative projects written in HIST 208.
Essays are nominated by the instructor and the winners are selected by the Director of the Cornerstone Program.
Prompt: “So,” your friend asks, “what did I miss?”
Imagine you're a member of the audience present for speeches by main characters in Julius Caesar: that is, you’re one of the Roman citizens who listens to the funeral orations by Marc Antony and Brutus (Act 3, scene 2). Afterwards, you encounter a friend who wasn’t present, and asks you the question above. In roughly one page, explain what your friend missed. What did each speaker say? How did the audience react? Write from the perspective of an audience member as portrayed in the play, speaking to someone who shares your general outlook.
[Scene 2.5]
Enter Marcus and Lucius [two carpenters]
Lucius: Slow down, slow…Slow down! What’s going on? The streets are on fire! Marcus, what happened?
Marcus: There is no time! Take this
hands torch and dagger
follow me, these conspirators will die at the hands of carpenters! We must take Rome back! Lucius: Marcus whose blood is on your hands? Who has enflamed the people?
Marcus: No one has enflamed the people but the people themselves! We are finally free from the bonds of the Senate, those traitors no longer hold our minds captive. Marc Antony, the voice of Caesar, has freed the people.
Lucius: Did Brutus not provide reasons for Caesar’s death?
Marcus: You misspeak Lucius. You mean to say Caesar's murder. The worst of the conspirators: Brutus, attempted to deceive the people, but to no avail.
Lucius: How do you mean?
Marcus: The traitor used his education in rhetoric to attempt to get away with murder. He claimed that Caesar's ambition called the conspirators to action. Ironically, he claimed that Caesar’s ambition would lead Rome to slavery. In truth, Caesar was Rome’s liberator from the tyranny of the Senate. We have been held down long enough by the manipulative rhetoric of the Senate. Brutus is the ambitious one!
Lucius: There seems to be much truth in your speech.
Marcus: This is just the beginning. Brutus wants the crown! He murdered his closest friend, who he still claims to love, out of jealousy. When Brutus concluded his crafty speech, the people wished to crown him. Brutus must have heard these shouts and, unlike noble Caesar, he did not refuse these offers! Brutus’ ambition and jealousy led him to convince his fellow Senators to kill Caesar. But the people are not so easily swayed. We but needed a voice of reason to remind us of Caesar's love.
Lucius: Is this the liberating voice of Marc Antony you speak of?
Marcus: Precisely! Oh, most noble Antony, he truly is the voice of the people. He speaks for all of us! Brutus speaks with a mind to deceive while Antony speaks with a heart to love; to love Caesar, the people, and Rome. Antony is no orator, he only spoke with the desire to pay homage to a most noble man. He is a better man than me. I wish to kill and avenge Caesar, while Antony still holds Brutus to be noble. The true nobleman is Antony, the man who can forgive the murderers of his friend.
Lucius: What? You mean to tell me that Antony did not call you to action, to rioting and vengeance?
I will not rest till all the conspirator's blood is spilled! My hands are already covered in the blood of men who were deceived by Brutus’s words!
Marcus: No, on the contrary, he did not wish to stir our blood. He only wished to give his friend a proper burial and show the people Caesar's love. Antony wept over Caesar's body. His tears are contagious; I wept with him. For Caesar loved Rome, he was a champion of the people! He left seventy-five drachmas to each man and all his walks, private land, and orchards to us.
Lucius: How do you know this!?
Marcus: For Antony reluctantly read us Caesar's will! Oh noble Antony, he did not wish to overstep and disrespect Brutus, the traitor, and murderer, again he is a better man than me!
Lucius: So our noble Caesar, the lover of the people, is truly dead?
Marcus: Not just dead but desecrated. Antony to allow the crowd to weep properly showed us the Holy corpse. Oh how vicious Brutus is. He is no man. Only an animal, a vile animal can kill a man as Brutus did. I dipped this handkerchief in the sacred blood of Caesar! It will be an heirloom in my lineage. But now is no time to mourn! I will not rest till all the conspirator's blood is spilled! My hands are already covered in the blood of men who were deceived by Brutus’s words!
Lucius: You killed your fellow citizen?
Marcus: A sympathizer of Brutus is no citizen of Rome!
Lucius: Rightfully said! By Antony’s words, I too have been freed from the deceitful words of Brutus and the Senate! Let us go and kill all the conspirators! I pray that noble Antony will put aside his forgiveness and join the fight for vengeance!
Marcus: By Zeus, Antony will, he must join us! Look there is Cinna, one of the conspirators!
They exit
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