For Your Consideration


Week Two: March 8-14:
Act II, Scene i:
Power to the People?
"Th' abuse of greatness is when it disjoins
Remorse from power. And, to speak truth of Caesar,
I have not known when his affections swayed
More than his reason." (II i 19-22)

"But 'tis a common proof
That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;
But, when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees..." (II i 22-27)


  • 1. What do these two passages mean? Is there any irony in the charge of separation of remorse from power? Who has been left behind on the ladder of success? What of Brutus's motivation is revealed in these few words?


    ...the base degrees
    By which he did ascend. So Caesar may,
    Then, lest he may, prevent.

  • 2. What is it Brutus says he is afraid Caesar may do here?

    "And since the quarrel
    Will bear no color of the things he is<,
    Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
    Would run to these and these extremities.
    And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,
    'Which, hatched, would as his kind, grow
    Mischievous,
    And kill him in the shell." (II i 29-36)

  • 3. What does "since the quarrel/ Will bear no color of the thing he is" mean?


  • 4. Why do the conspirators hide their faces when they come to talk with Brutus? It is night, and most people are asleep.

  • 5. What are Brutus's reasons for wanting Caesar dead?

  • 6. What is meant by "the genius and the moral instruments..." in lines 69, 70 of Act II i.


  • 7. What is the reason Brutus gives for rejecting Cicero as a conspirator? Does his reason support or detract from the "honor" of the enterprise?



    "Speak, strike, redress! Am I entreated
    To speak and to strike? O Rome, I make thess promise,
    If the redress will follow, thos receivest
    Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.

  • 8. Why has the letter Brutus has received impelled him to murder? Who is it from? Why does he trust the advice in it without questioning? What does he assume from the mysterious letters left around about the feelings of the Roman people?

  • 9. What is ironic about this line, "And what other oath
    Than honesty to honesty engaged
    (II, i, 139). When does a man need to swear an oath? Does Brutus see this enterprise as "noble?"

  • 10. What reasoning does Portia use to convince Brutus to tell her what is bothering him? How does she know that he is troubled? What do Brutus's answers reveal about his own resolution in this enterprise? What do Portia's feelings represent and what does it mean when Brutus spurns them?

  • 11. "Indeed, he is not fit." (II, i, 166) The conspirators decide who to ally with them and who to include in the murders. How does this one remark show the motivation and instability of the group of conspirators? What does it symbolize for the entire enterprise? What other plans have they for the government after the murder (Jan).

  • 12 Is assassination ever justified? If so, when?

  • 13. How many instances of Brutus's misunderstanding and misinterpretation take place in this scene.

    Brutus's town orchard (garden):

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    Questions ~ Act I Scene i

    Questions ~ Act I Scene ii

    Questions ~ Act II Scene i

    Questions ~ Act II Scenes ii, iii, iv

    Questions ~ Act III Scene i, ii, iii

    Questions ~ Act IV Scenes i, ii, iii

    Questions ~ Act V Scenes i, ii, iii, iv, v