Chapter 14 — Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar is written by William Shakespeare (1564–1616), the English playwright described in the text as "the greatest of all dramatists." It is a tragedy; the Class 10 excerpt presents it as a drama.

The excerpt covers Act II Scene II (Caesar's house on the night before the Ides of March, where Calpurnia pleads with Caesar not to go to the Capitol) and Act III Scenes I and II (the assassination at the Capitol and the funeral orations in the Forum).

Calpurnia has had a nightmare in which she saw Caesar's statue spouting blood while Romans bathed their hands in it. She also reports omens — a lioness whelping in the streets, graves opening, ghosts shrieking — and begs Caesar to stay home, saying the heavens "blaze forth the death of princes."

Decius Brutus reinterprets Calpurnia's dream: the blood-spouting statue means Rome will draw reviving spirit from Caesar, and great men will press around him for honour and relics. He then adds that the Senate plans to crown Caesar that day, and warns that if Caesar does not come, they may change their minds — appealing to Caesar's vanity and ambition.

Casca strikes the first blow. The other conspirators — including Brutus — then stab Caesar. Caesar's last words are "Et tu, Brute!" (Even you, Brutus!), expressing shock at being stabbed by his closest friend, after which he says "Then fall, Caesar" and dies at the foot of Pompey's statue.

Antony returns to the Capitol, grieves over Caesar's body calling him "the ruins of the noblest man that ever lived," and shakes hands with the conspirators to secure his safety. He asks Brutus for permission to speak at Caesar's funeral, which Brutus grants over Cassius's objections.

Brutus tells Antony he must not blame the conspirators in his speech, must say he speaks by their permission, and must speak after Brutus from the same pulpit. Antony agrees to these conditions, then uses them cleverly — he repeatedly notes he speaks "by leave" while still turning the crowd against Brutus.

Brutus argues in logical, plain prose that he killed Caesar not out of hatred but out of love for Rome: "Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more." He claims Caesar was ambitious and that his death was necessary so Romans could live as free men rather than slaves.

Antony uses "Brutus is an honourable man" and "they are all honourable men" as verbal irony. Each time he states it, he has just cited evidence that contradicts the conspirators' claim that Caesar was ambitious — Caesar wept for the poor, filled Rome's treasury with war ransoms, and refused the crown three times at the Lupercal. Repeated in this way, the phrase becomes increasingly sarcastic and turns the crowd against the conspirators.

Caesar's will leaves 75 drachmas to every Roman citizen and bequeaths his private walks, orchards, and gardens beside the Tiber to the public forever. Antony first tantalises the crowd by saying he "does not mean to read" the will, inflaming their curiosity, then reads it aloud — making them see Caesar as generous, not ambitious, and sparking outrage at his murder.

In his soliloquy after the conspirators leave, Antony prophesies that Caesar's spirit, accompanied by Ate (goddess of revenge), will range through Italy and cry "Havoc" to let slip the dogs of war, causing domestic fury, fierce civil strife, and widespread destruction — blood and death so common that "mothers shall but smile when they behold their infants quarter'd with the hands of war."

Cassius tells Brutus aside: "You know not what you do: do not consent that Antony speak in his funeral: know you how much the people may be moved by that which he will utter?" He recognises Antony as a skilled orator who can sway the mob, and fears the crowd's emotional attachment to Caesar. Brutus overrules him, fatally underestimating Antony.

The crowd shifts from calling Caesar a tyrant and praising Brutus ("Live, Brutus!") to demanding revenge — shouting "Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!" They resolve to burn Caesar's body in the holy place and set fire to the traitors' houses, and exit with Caesar's body. Antony's closing aside — "Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot" — shows the outcome was deliberate.

The Latin phrase means "Even you, Brutus!" It is Caesar's dying exclamation upon seeing that Brutus — his most trusted friend — has joined the conspirators in stabbing him. The line encapsulates the play's themes of betrayal and the destruction of trust; Brutus's participation is what finally breaks Caesar's will to live.

Yes, the NCERT Class 10 English Communicative Literature Reader PDF is free to download from the official NCERT website and is also available on cbseprepmaster.com.