Portia is dead by her own hand. She's swallowed coals, a most painful — and some would say, fitting — way of death. By her suicide she takes on the sins of the men and attempts to expiate them; that is, in the manner of her suicide she, in metaphorical terms, internalizes the painful, rash, hot decisions that have brought the state to civil unrest.
But in doing so, she does not contain and remove the difficulties facing Rome. She is ineffective, for this is not a play about what a woman could do, but a play about men and men's affairs. The news of her death to Brutus is delayed. For the first one hundred and forty-six lines of the scene, the reader is unaware that Portia's death is probably the underlying motivation for Brutus' passionate quarrel with Cassius. What is Shakespeare's purpose in delaying such news?
The sudden realization of what has happened gives Cassius and the audience a sudden insight into Brutus: the action of the scene and its real motivations and the change in Brutus' and Cassius' friendship. Moments of impact such as these offer a pause, a catching of breath that reveals multitudes. Note that the love that Brutus felt for Portia is transferred to the male, non-sexual sphere in his friendship with Cassius.
Loss and betrayal are essential elements of grief, but Brutus, unable to speak these disloyal thoughts against his wife, transfers his feelings to Cassius. It is Cassius who has betrayed him. It is Cassius who leaves him. Having transferred his grief over Portia into a test of his friendship, Brutus feels that he can go on with the military aspects of his life with stoicism, yet while the feminine is left behind shown by Brutus expelling the poet because his soft and rounded verses , Brutus still seeks and requires comfort.
By banishing thoughts of his wife, Brutus is left with his companions of war. He asks his loyal men to stay with him and looks to Lucius for the calming and expressive quality of music. They all fall asleep, however, and leave Brutus to face the ghost of Caesar alone. Now, ironically, he searches for ways to turn these funds into cash in order to raise an army against Brutus and Cassius.
Lepidus proves an effective tool for them in that he is malleable and apparently not intelligent enough to devise his own motives. Meanwhile, questions of honor plague the conspirators as well, as Cassius and Brutus exchange accusations. Their argument seems to arise partially from a misunderstanding but also partially from stubbornness. Though Brutus claims that his honor forbids him from raising money in unscrupulous ways, he would still use such money as long as it was not he himself, but rather Cassius, who raised it.
We see that Brutus speaks against corruption, but when he has no other means of paying his army, he quickly consents to unscrupulousness, if only indirectly. What do Cassius and Brutus finally agree on? What do Brutus and Cassius say to each other before the battle? What is the source of conflict between Brutus and Cassius? This conflict indicates what about Brutus and Cassius facing the challenges ahead of them? When Brutus talks of Julius Caesar being might still, what does it mean?
How does Brutus die? What 2 things happen to Titinius in Scene 5? Lucilius pretends to be whom? At the end of the play, does the triumvirate forgive the conspirators? What is compared to a setting sun? In Scene 1, which 4 characters confront each other? Question 1 Who does Brutus see the night before the battle at Philippi? The ghost of Caesar.
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