The assassination that shook Rome … retold in modern English verse.
The complete Julius Caesar study guide – every line translated; every rhythm kept; every scene, character and theme explored – free for students, teachers, actors, and theatregoers.
Julius Caesar Overview
Julius Caesar Deep Dive
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ACT 1
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Julius Caesar – Act 1 Scene 1
A holiday crowd and two angry tribunes
Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 1 retold in modern English verse: the tribunes scatter a crowd celebrating Caesar's triumph.
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Julius Caesar – Act 1 Scene 2
"Beware the ides of March"
Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 2 retold in modern English verse: a soothsayer warns Caesar and Cassius tempts Brutus.
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Julius Caesar – Act 1 Scene 3
A night of storms and strange portents
Julius Caesar Act 1, Scene 3 retold in modern English verse: omens fill the sky as Cassius recruits Casca.
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ACT 2
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Julius Caesar – Act 2 Scene 1
Brutus makes his decision in the orchard
Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 1 retold in modern English verse: Brutus decides Caesar must die and the plot is sealed.
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Julius Caesar – Act 2 Scene 2
Calpurnia's dream and Caesar's fatal choice
Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 2 retold in modern English verse: Calpurnia's dream almost keeps Caesar at home.
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Julius Caesar – Act 2 Scene 3
A paper that could save Caesar's life
Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 3 retold in modern English verse: Artemidorus writes a warning naming all the conspirators.
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Julius Caesar – Act 2 Scene 4
Portia's fear on the morning of the ides
Julius Caesar Act 2, Scene 4 retold in modern English verse: Portia, sick with the secret, waits for news.
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ACT 3
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Julius Caesar – Act 3 Scene 1
The daggers fall at the Capitol
Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 1 retold in modern English verse: the conspirators kill Caesar and Antony plans revenge.
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Julius Caesar – Act 3 Scene 2
Two speeches that turn Rome upside down
Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 2 retold in modern English verse: Antony's funeral speech turns the crowd to riot.
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Julius Caesar – Act 3 Scene 3
The wrong Cinna meets the mob
Julius Caesar Act 3, Scene 3 retold in modern English verse: the rioting mob kills Cinna the poet for his name.
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ACT 4
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Julius Caesar – Act 4 Scene 1
The new masters of Rome draw up a death-list
Julius Caesar Act 4, Scene 1 retold in modern English verse: the triumvirs prick names on a death-list.
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Julius Caesar – Act 4 Scene 2
An old friendship begins to cool
Julius Caesar Act 4, Scene 2 retold in modern English verse: cold looks between Brutus and Cassius at Sardis.
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Julius Caesar – Act 4 Scene 3
A quarrel, a death, and a ghost in the night
Julius Caesar Act 4, Scene 3 retold in modern English verse: the quarrel, Portia's death, and Caesar's ghost.
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ACT 5
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Julius Caesar – Act 5 Scene 1
Taunts and farewells at Philippi
Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 1 retold in modern English verse: the generals trade insults, then Brutus and Cassius part.
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Julius Caesar – Act 5 Scene 2
Brutus seizes his moment
Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 2 retold in modern English verse: Brutus orders a sudden charge against Octavius's wing.
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Julius Caesar – Act 5 Scene 3
A fatal mistake on the field of battle
Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 3 retold in modern English verse: a fatal error drives Cassius and Titinius to their deaths.
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Julius Caesar – Act 5 Scene 4
Young Cato falls and Lucilius is taken
Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 4 retold in modern English verse: Cato falls and Lucilius passes himself off as Brutus.
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Julius Caesar – Act 5 Scene 5
The noblest Roman makes his end
Julius Caesar Act 5, Scene 5 retold in modern English verse: Brutus dies on his own sword; his enemies honour him.
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Frequently asked questions about Julius Caesar
What is Julius Caesar about?
Julius Caesar is Shakespeare's tragedy of political conspiracy, set in Rome in 44 BC. Fearing that Caesar's growing power will end the republic, Cassius draws the honourable Brutus into a plot, and the conspirators assassinate Caesar on the ides of March. But the play's second half belongs to the consequences: Mark Antony's funeral oration turns the Roman crowd against the conspirators, civil war follows, and Cassius and Brutus are defeated at Philippi, where both die by their own hands.
When was Julius Caesar written?
Julius Caesar was written in 1599, and was one of the first plays performed at the newly built Globe theatre – a Swiss traveller, Thomas Platter, recorded seeing it there in September of that year. Shakespeare's source was Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, in Thomas North's 1579 English translation, which he follows closely and sometimes versifies almost line for line. The play was first printed in the First Folio of 1623.
What genre is Julius Caesar?
Julius Caesar is a tragedy, and the first of Shakespeare's Roman plays drawn from Plutarch (followed by Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus). It is above all a political tragedy: its great set pieces are not battles but speeches, and its central weapon is rhetoric – the play turns on Antony's ability to move a crowd that Brutus has just persuaded. It also sits on the doorstep of the great tragedies, written immediately before Hamlet.
Who is the real tragic hero of Julius Caesar?
Caesar gives the play its name but dies halfway through, speaking fewer lines than Brutus, Cassius or Antony. Most readers since M. W. MacCallum (1910) have seen Brutus as the true tragic hero: an honourable man whose fatal error is believing that killing Caesar will save the republic. Antony's verdict over his body – "This was the noblest Roman of them all" – invites that reading, though the play lets us weigh it against everything Brutus's nobility has destroyed.
What level is Julius Caesar studied at?
Julius Caesar is a staple of American high-school English – it has introduced generations of US students to Shakespeare – and it also appears at Key Stage 3 and GCSE in the UK, at A-Level, on the IB Diploma, and on undergraduate courses worldwide. This study guide is written to support all of these levels, with modern English translation, scene-by-scene analysis, character profiles, theme guides, and key quotes.
What are the most famous lines in Julius Caesar?
Julius Caesar has furnished English with an extraordinary number of quotations. Among the most famous: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears", "Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Caesar.", "Beware the ides of March.", "Cowards die many times before their deaths", "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars", and "Cry 'Havoc', and let slip the dogs of war". Each is analysed in depth on the key quotes page.