Julius Caesar Character Development

Julius Caesar Character Development Paper

Throughout history love has been the cause of war and death; from the Trojan wars to the promiscuous ways of Zeus in Greek mythology. Similarly, In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar love was the cause of Portia's downfall. Although it is made clear that Portia is a strong and independent character, she too fell prey to the clutches of love. Through the development of her character Shakespeare was able to show the reader that love can lead to the death of even the strongest of people.

The first scene in which Portia appeared was in a fight between her and her beloved Brutus. Throughout this argument she pleads Brutus to allow her to know and understand what is upsetting him. She demonstrates that she loves

In this scene she is first seen speaking with a servant, begging him to run to the capitol and make sure that her beloved Brutus is safe. She then speaks with the Soothsayer; it is indicated through the text that she already knows of the nature of Brutus’ conspiracy. She asks the Soothsayer “Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not?” and “Why, know’st thou any harm’s intended towards him?” The fact that her questions were so specific leads the reader to believe that she had prior knowledge of the conspiracy. This shows that although she was not explicitly told the plans of her husband she was able to piece together what little information. This in turn shows the reader that Portia is a woman of high intellect and that she is no trophy wife. Additionally, when she continually inquires about the well being of Caesar indicates that she believed him to be in danger. Also, her questions cause the reader to believe that she does, in fact, care about Caesar and his well being. This passage shows that although she suspected her husband to be involved in the killing of Caesar she did not waver in her devotion to Brutus. In this section Portia is shown to be of high intellect, but she set aside her morals to stay by Brutus’ side throughout. This is shown through her constant questioning of the Soothsayer about Caesar. She had reason to believe that he was in danger and yet she

This scene takes place after Brutus had left Portia to hide from the Mark Antony. This, of course, drove her to her breaking point. Up to this part in the book Portia had been portrayed as a strong minded person of high intellect. Once the third encounter happens the reader would realize that the cause of her death was her love for Brutus. In this scene Cassius questions "Upon what sickness?" to which Brutus replies "Impatient of my absence". Through this line it is shown that he is the reason for her death. As Brutus left Rome so quickly Portia believed he had died, and that was too much for her to bear. The extent of her strength did not go that far and thus she perished. A few lines later in the passage Brutus casually dicusses the exact way that his wife killed herself, to this Cassius replied "And died so?". Brutus replied "Even so". As there are no directions from the author for sadness to be displayed it can be inferred that Brutus was talking about this event in a calm unemotionally tone. Through this Brutus clearly shows the reader that he did not love her nearly as much as she did him. One might argue that he was unemotionally due to the presence of his fellow conspirator. This though argument holds no ground due to the fact that if Brutus truly loved his wife to the extent that she loved him then he would have been completely overcome with emotions.