Theme: Power

Theme: Power

1. "BRUTUS: What means this shouting? I do fear the people Choose Caesar for their king. CASSIUS: Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. BRUTUS: I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well. (1.2.85-89)" Brutus is telling us how he loves Caesar, but is fearful of what will happen once he comes into power

2. "Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. (1.2.142-145)" Cassius is explaining to Brutus that Caesar needs to be taken down out of power by painting a vivid picture of Colossus, a Roman leader.

3. CAESAR Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous. (1.2.202-205) Caesar believes that all of the men who think, such as Cassius, and are not the yes-man type are a threat to his power

4. "He would be crowned: How that might change his nature, there's the question. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, [...] And therefore think him as a serpent's egg Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell. " In this quote, Brutus says that Caesar is like a snake and if he is killed while he's still in the egg, then he can do no harm to Rome

5. "And why should Caesar be a tyrant then? Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf But that he sees the Romans are but sheep; He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. Those that with haste will make a mighty fire Begin it with weak straws. What trash is Rome, What rubbish, and what offal when it serves For the base matter to illuminate So vile a thing as Caesar!" Cassius is explaining that Caesar became the way he is because the people acted like sheep and let him turn into the wolf.

6. "Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his throat to cut." Casca is discussing how Caesar dramatically refused the crown in order to gain favor among the people