Julius Caesar Essay, Research Paper

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Assignment

3. Explain why the following minor characters are important to the play Julius Caesar:

Calpurnia , Portia, The Soothsayer, Decius, Cinna, the Poet,

Artemidorus

In Julius Caesar there were many important characters throughout the play like Caesar, Brutus and Mark Antony. These characters were the main part of the story line and made the story line work. Like any other play there also needs to be minor characters to help let the play flow smoothly and make it more interesting. Minor characters are even needed to help people understand the play more and add important statements throughout the novel to make it more enjoyable. Here are several minor characters that were important to the play Julius Caesar.

Calpurnia was Caesar’s wife. She loved him dearly and cared for him. She didn’t want to see him hurt in any way at all. She just wanted to be with him forever so they could live a happy life together in peace. She played a very important role in the play. Calpurnia had a strange dream one night before the conspirators killed Caesar. She dreamt that something horrible was going to happen to Caesar, that he was going to be killed. She tried to tell him not to go to his meeting by telling about this dream. He considered staying home but then Decius talked him out of it. Calpurnia said “We’ll send Mark Antony to the senate-house; and he shall say you are not well today: Let me upon my knee, prevail in this.” (Act 2, sc. 2, lines 52-54) but Caesar was very important in the play. She tried to save Caesar, but he would not listen to her. Although her role in the play was very small it was still very important to the play. Like Calpurnia, Portia was also a wife of a major character in the play. She was the wife of Brutus, Caesar’s best friend and also one of the conspirators against Caesar. Portia played a very small role in this play but it was still a very small role in this play but it was still a very important role and she was important to the play. When Brutus was talking to another conspirator about killing Caesar, Portia overheard them. She thought this was terribly wrong and he should not go through with the conspiracy and he should try to stop the other conspirators from going through with it too, but Brutus would not listen although he was Caesar’s most trusted and best friend. Portia tried harder and she said to Brutus, “No my Brutus you have some sick offense within your mind” (Act 2, sc. 1, lines 267-268) Portia tried to help Caesar and stop Brutus, by doing this she played a very important role in this play.

Another minor character that played an important role in Julius Caesar was the Soothsayer. He warned Caesar to be careful. “Beware the Ides of March” (act 1,sc. 2, lines 19 and 23) was what the Soothsayer said to Caesar. Caesar just brushed him aside saying he is a dreamer, and ignored him. The Soothsayer knew something bad was going to happen to Caesar though as did Calpurnia, with her dream. The Soothsayer probably played the smallest part in the play but he was also a very important minor character in the play.

Decius was one of the conspirators in the play. He is another minor character which played an important role in the play Julius Caesar. When Calpurnia was trying to convince Caesar not to go out the day he was murdered because she had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen to him, because of a dream that she had, Decius convinced him otherwise. Decius says that her dream should be interpreted as a good dream and talks Caesar into going out to his meeting. He says, “ the senate have concluded to give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. If you shall send them word you will not come, their minds may change” (Act 2, sc. 2, lines 93-96) He says this to talk Caesar into going, and it works. Decius plays an important role in the conspiracy because if he never talked Caesar into going, the whole conspiracy would’ve been ruined.

In the play there were two Cinna’s, Cinna, the poet and Cinna the conspirator. Cinna, the poet ran into a bit of misfortune. After Mark Antony convinced all the towns people that the people involved in the conspiracy should be punished and Caesar should have lived the townspeople went around killing all the conspirators. When they came to Cinna the poet and they asked him his name they decided that they should kill him although he wasn’t a conspirator. They decided that since he had the same mane as one of the conspirators he should be punished buy death. “It is no matter, his name’s Cinna; Pluck but his mane out of his heart, and turn his going” (act 3, sc. 3, lines 33-34) said one of the citizens and then they killed him. He was an important character because his death showed how much the citizens wanted the conspirators dead.

Artemidorus is the last minor character that I will discuss. He was a teacher of rhetoric. Artemidorus was very important. He tried to notify Caesar of all the conspirators by sending him a letter. “Oh Caesar read mine first; for mine’s a suit that touches Caesar nearer: read it, great Caesar” (Act 3, sc. 1, lines 6-7) Artemidorus says this to try and get Caesar to read his letter first but it does not work and Caesar leaves to go to the Senate-House. If Caesar had listened to Artemidorus then he would have lived but he chose not to listen to him and read his letter. Because of this Artemidorus was a very important character to the novel.

All of the characters that I have mentioned were all very important to the play. Without them the play would’ve been missing very important parts. Although they only had very small roles, they were needed in the play just as much as Brutus or Marcus Antonius. They all helped the play Julius Caesar come together making it another marvelous play by William Shakespeare.

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