Women in Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar could not see his death coming, but perhaps his wife did. In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, there is more to it than betrayal and death. Besides Caesar and Brutus, other characters play a major role in the story and they are not all men. Two of the main men in the plays, Caesar and Brutus, their wives have a big role in the story line. One of them is Portia Brutus´ wife and the next is Calphurnia Caesar's wife. Portia and Calpurnia have small but yet significant scenes, that goes on and is remembered throughout the whole play. Their roles and actions foreshadow the biggest part of the story, Caesar´s death and then later, Brutus´s.

One necessary female roll in the play was Portia, she is the daughter of Cato. She is also Brutus’ wife. Portia, in all the chaos and drama goes on and proves her loyalty to Brutus. To prove her loyalty and that she can be trusted, first she cut her leg open to prove that if she could handle that then she can handle whatever Brutus was dealing with. She later killed herself. ¨Impatient of my absence ,and grief that young octavius with Mark Antony”(IV.3.150-151). She does this for reasons that brutus is gone and two bad men are in charge. He does not trust her to tell her where he is going an what is happening, he believes she cant handle it because she is a woman.

Calphurnia, Caesar's’ wife, has an unexpected dream that changes everything. Calpurnia has a dream about a bloody caesar statue and the people of rome were washing their hands in the blood. This is a very odd because what come to happen to Caesar. This dream probably had Calphurnia very worried and scared for what can happen. “Help, ho! They murdered Caesar!”(2.2.3). She did not even keep it in she let Ceaser know. She does everything she's capable of doing to keep him home. She tells him all the signs that has happened that he should not go out to where something bad can happen. Ceaser did stay home but eventually left.

Both Caesar's’ and Brutus’ wives had a impact on both of them. Of course if they were were couples the men had their thoughts of them. The women were very strong, to be in the positions going through the death and confusion. Although Caesar did eventually he considered Calpurnia's feelings and her concerns. This showed that he indeed did care and love her. Brutus and Portia had a complicated relationship. Brutus felt that he couldn't tell her everything and kept very important things from her. Brutus seen how Portia is determined to prove her loyalty to him by slashing herself in the thigh “Here in the thigh, can i bear that with patience”(2.1.301). She proves that she is more than just another girl. And not just used to have sex with. And that she can be trusted.

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